Patricia V. Davis, author and marketing expert, spoke at the November meeting of the Bay Area independent publishers Association (BAIPA). One of her comments reminded me of one of the best ways to get attention for your business. Write about what you do. Building your platform means helping people understand the results of what you do for them.
People don’t always need to know the details of how you accomplish what you do. They are really interested in the results you produce.
Where can you share information about your results? Here are just a few of the places you may have tried or have overlooked;
Your local newspaper. That’s right I said newspaper. It may be a skinny hard copy, but people are still buying them and most newspapers have an online presence. Where I live, we have:
- The Sonoma Sun - Sonoma
- the Kenwood Press - Kenwood
- The Marin Independent Journal - Marin
- The San Francisco Examiner - Bay Area
- The Argus Courier - Petaluma
- North Bay Bohemian - Sonoma County
- Independent Coast Observer - Gualala
- Santa Rosa Press Democrat - Santa Rosa
- The Business Journal - North Bay
- Sonoma West Times and News - Sebastopol
- The Community Voice - Rohnert Park
- Sonoma Index-Tribune - Sonoma
- NorthBay Biz - North Bay
I think you get the idea. This is not an exhaustive list, but just what I came up in a few minutes time. While print news may be on the decline, our thirst for information is growing. We are in the midst of a shift in the way in which we interact, and contribute and consume information.
And I forgot to mention: patch.com – which is hyper local news.
There are many small groups that make up your audience. Each one may have their own newsletter, online community, forum, meet up group, wiki Facebook Group, or LinkedIn Group. I think you get the picture.
Go Where People Already Are
I have a blog. You might have one too. You may be reading this article on my blog right now, but someone could have sent it to you as a email, or it may have been printed out. Where else can the article show up? Did you know you can link your blog to your Facebook page and twitter feed automatically? Now they’re certainly far more people on Facebook and on twitter than are subscribed to my blog. It makes sense to be seen and be active where a group of your customers congregate.Get their attention first and then invite them to your website or blog. That is how you grow your audience.
I’m a strong proponent of telling your story using video. YouTube averages over 200 views a day. More and more people are using you to as their primary search engine when they’re looking for solutions. If you go back to the beginning of this article you will see I recommend telling your story and making it all about the solutions you produce for your clients. Video is a perfect medium for telling your story and demonstrating results.
Write it Once – Share it Many Ways
In our new age of distributed media, you can take your story and share it in many ways and in many places with relative ease.
A written article can become the basis for the script of your video. It could become an audio recording that you share via iTunes in the form of a podcast. That same article can be shared on your blog, with those many local newspapers, both online and in print, with associations, well the list goes on and on.
And once you have a collection of stories, you could create an e-book that you could sell or offer for free to your readers on your website. Okay back to that article, what if you created a slideshow?
Next Steps
I’ve given you a lot to consider. If you’d like help sorting through the best ways for you to leverage your stories, get in touch with me and I’ll help you map out an action plan.
You might also look for places where you can be a regular contributor or columnist. Publications in print and online are constantly looking for good content. Having a byline increases your visibility whether or not people read the articles you write, they do see your name and become aware and then familiar with who you are. It takes time to build your platform. Awareness grows exponentially. Adding content over time is like making deposits into your savings account, their value and interest grow over time.
The longtail model of offering information for free as a way to gain followers works. And if you think you have writers block, try using a program like Dragon Naturally Speaking that translates spoken word into the written word. I’m using it right now to create this article. It allows me to get my ideas on paper or in this case into the computer without my needing to focus on the mechanics of the process. I find that speaking helps me keep the article conversational.
Conclusion
So writing is just one way to get your name in front of the public. It can lead to other opportunities, such as speaking, training, and of course getting hired to help people solve the problems they have. And if writing isn’t your mode of communication, check out my posts on using video to demonstrate your problem solving skills.
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