Step 1: Don’t fake excellence. Be the elite.
a) Refine your positioning
> Identify your niche, a very specific topic where you spend most of your time/money/effort/skill, and understand the value you can bring to your audience. It will attract a very narrow YET very interested audience/distribution list to maximize your visibility
> Find what makes you unique and build that into your overall brand identity
> Embrace your position, adopt a “host” mindset
> Find your combination of keywords with a Google Keywords analysis
> Be first on these keywords on word-of-mouth and Google with a good SEO
> Use your story to reinforce confidence in your industry expertise by designing a strong branded message to emotionally connect and relate with your audience on a level that goes beyond just instilling confidence in the results you can deliver for them. Make sure your customers know you’ve been through their problems before, and that you have the answers they need. Sell a product along with your image/reputation/yourself, an experience, and an emotion.
Ex: Digital marketing consultant builds a lot of statistics and figures into your brand story, that serves to demonstrate the measurable, positive impact that your services have had on the businesses you’ve helped.
b) Establish your expertise
> Invest in yourself, learn, and get 10,000 hours of immersive practice to acquire expertise in your area and avoid a sudden credibility loss.
> Be aware of trends and core events in your industry, watch your market trends and keep up with your customers through direct messages
> Yield results and let them be your noise
> Own data from research/surveys in your area (with your audience or mobile research panels for shorter surveys and have a conversation with your respondents)
> Acknowledge your value is now legitimate (in both sharings and competence) and claim your expertise by creating a catchy tagline that explains what you do and be consistent across your channels
> Publicly address industry changes with a detailed opinion and actionable tips to drive interest and thus traffic through your online and offline platforms. Adopt a humble tone (acknowledge you always have a margin for improvement which signals an accurate perspective on your own capability)
c) Outteach your competition
> Be timely, relevant, deep, helpful, and innovative (variate/add and break the status quo) to get noticed and connect with your audience Ex: If you are a fashion photographer, take a stand on the changing perspectives of beauty intentionally photograph women of all body styles.
If you are a designer, create a series of infographics that calls attention to an important social issue.
> Teach what you learned. Consistently create and distribute memorable/epic and sharable content (seminar, radio broadcasts, webinars, books, ebooks) to be read and shared with enthusiasm to address your target audience’s wants/needs/challenges. Turn all your knowledge into articles for online or print publications to share your opinions and gain exposure. Then combine the articles into a book. Take the book and rework it to become a seminar or webinar. Focus on one area and do a speech on that. Convert the advice you gave into something educational for a broader audience (ebooks, special reports, white papers, workbooks, podcasts, or videos). Offer free relevant downloadable resources (guides, white papers, etc.) to qualify visitors as potential customers and generate leads. Give away content that’s powerful and builds a relationship with your potential customer and they’ll be much more inclined to pay for your services. Buyers will instantly identify you as an authority in your field, and that can lead to other opportunities such as consulting offers or speaking engagements.
Step 2: Surround your target with transmedia
a) Online
> Pick your channel where your users spend their time (Email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, a website on Google)
> A Website and Invest in Design to build credibility (references, portrait)
> A Blog to connect with your audience, increase traffic to your website, and establish yourself as an expert in your subject matter. 2-3 posts per week.
> A YouTube Channel (good SEO) invest in a good camera and microphone. Promote your landing page.
> An Online Course to teach in-depth and answer questions
> A Podcast/Radio Show and feature experts in your area for win-wins.
> A Teleseminar for training and guests speaking. Free until you can’t, then make them pay.
> An Online Event with a series of guests. Charge for admission and sell the recordings
> A Webinar (serious marketing and promoting energy + charge + promote + Record and reuse)
> A Group (vs a Page) has the authority of the democracy (trust)
> Let your followers know you’re paying attention and that you appreciate them.
> Share links to your blog posts, news, quick tips, opinions, and questions.
b) Offline
> A Book/eBook/Kindle for legitimacy and profit. Authors are perceived as instant subject matter experts, which can attract media attention, dazzle clients and prospects, create opportunities for speaking engagements
> Public Speaking: Schedule professional speaking engagements and speak at Events. (time, money and energy++ easy start) presentation skills + subject matter. There’s nothing like the captive audience you can have as a speaker. Write a compelling description for one or more presentations and reach out to places where you can locate your target audience (local trade organizations, schools, networking groups, churches, …) Speak with authority from your diaphragm (not throat) more ‘humpf’/body project voice whole room Certainty Finish sentences with down accent straight line at least (vs Seek validation No “Does that make sense”) Pause & take your time before you speak Speak less (remove ‘like, I guess, I think, perhaps, maybe’) Decisive vs Not getting to your point effectively Stand with authority (army authority, excellent posture) Palms down & open = authority open & up = trustworthy Expand your arms & legs / Gorilla expansive gestures Display control. Never be ALL out, always have some restraint
> Classes and Workshops (at local college, adult learning center, your own office, etc.)
> Seminars (serious marketing and promoting energy + charge + promote)
Step 3: Carry your campaign of influence
a) Secure symbolic capital
> Adopt an amplification Strategy
> Tell your story and make a compelling case to your peers and clients for why you and your business are the best in class.
> Write guest articles for high traffic blogs. Send the editor a killer article. Make sure that it will bring traffic to them as well as yourself. Educate, inform, and influence their audience.
> Put links to your other posts in your posts
> Put outbound links to a larger reputable blog in your industry, reach out to the author, and let them know. They will reciprocate. Make sure your content is aligned with their audience.
> Using your craft as a vehicle for good in the world and Get Free Media and Publicity Exposure
> Post ready-to-print Press Releases on your blog.
> Register on Forums with a similar audience and post valuable content with your info (username or bottom of your post)
> Share your content consistently and persistently
> Use release distribution services
> Guest post on all of the authority sites in your industry to be everywhere
> Be featured in media as often as possible by having something of value and expertise to add to the segment.
> Nominate yourself and your clients in Influencer projects (list of influencers, living list/database, and a promotional opportunity) as communities of trusted experts (Fast Company’s “The Influencer Project” / SMBInfluencer Awards) and promote their progress in the project.
> Form Strategic Alliances: connect with others who already reach your audience and find ways you can work together for immediate sales.
(reciprocate newsletters, co-sponsor events, send each other referrals)
> Be a featured Guest (15min/1h) on Internet Radio Shows with a strong niche following.
b) Monetize 😉
> Drain traffic
> Be read and shared
> Build your audience
> Reach clients and build lasting, deep relationships.
> Develop a reputation respected authority in your industry
> Become known for giving out compelling, useful, complimentary advice that helps your target customers achieve their goals.
> Stand out against the competition set yourself apart from your competition
> Wake up every morning to people reaching out to you. They actually look up to and respect you. Is where people turn naturally to solve a specific issue (natural mission)
> Generate leads/clients/prospects/customers,
> Monetize
> Charge high prices to a happy tribe. Your price is your status and the value you bring. Avoid a community of happy non-buyers. The happiest customers are the ones who buy the most.
> Connect with influencers, add massive value and promote them and become the champion of their network
> Be an asset to any organization
> Be famous
> Dominate your target market by being an authority, an expert or an influencer.
> Re-invest benefits in your education to bring more value
> Serve
> Help others succeed. For each action, partner and co-brand/cross-promote with other experts and get referred to their list and vice-versa
> Maximize the 4 Capitals: Financial => Cultural => Symbolic => Social
Congratulations, you made it!
(now you can die in peace)
