Louise Albin
Social media has made ‘influencers’ more accessible than ever. Yet there is still an intimidation factor I witness in myself and my clients. It can feel scary to approach the Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s and Arianna Huffington‘s of our era.
My antidote to getting overly nervous about BIG PROSPECTS is to create a drip campaign–an organized calendar and plan for tapping the people you most want to become aware of you over an extended period of time.
This is best illustrated by a client’s successful example: Louise Albin of Cafe Louise. For years I’ve heard Louise express a wish to have Faith Middleton, the NPR host of Food Schmooze, know about her cafe. Louise, in her third decade as a caterer, has been offering a series of exclusive dinners, by invitation only, at her location to introduce her work to women leaders in the Hartford area. Every other month she creates an interesting menu that re-interprets old standards like Super Bowl Party, St. Patrick’s Day or Memorial Day fare and turns them into a gourmet feast.
“Invite Faith to these,” I recommended. So in addition to her bi-monthly email blasts, she has been snail-mailing a personal invitation to Faith’s office in New Haven.
Faith Middleton
“Did you hear anything from Faith?” I’d ask after each event.
“Nada,” was the reply. This went on for several months.
Then, this month, Louise posted in our private Facebook page. “I’m thrilled! I got a personal email from Faith. She knows I’m alive!”
It had been one full year of knocking on that door, getting by a gatekeeper and persistently and politely saying, “You should know about me.” Now she does.
Louise has lots to talk about with a new cookbook in the works, a celebration of her upcoming 25th year in business as well as breaking into new markets and always offering a creative twist in her menus.
Whose attention would you like to get, and what are you doing to attract it?
Filed under: Be Inspired, Marketing, Meet Remarkable Women, Persistence, PR, Small Business, Success
