On Tuesday night on a stroll through Arctic Liverpool I was whingeing to princess that lethargy and a significant life change in ’09 had meant I hadn’t connected with as many influencers and knowledge workers as that year’s Me Manifesto had desired.All the self-development experts, from Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie right through to the modern-day masterminds of motivation such as Tony Robbins, advocate you should surround yourself with a network of smart people with proven success in the area of business you aspire to.
But none of these demi-gods trained and refined their philosophies under a digital sky. Sure, Robbins is on TED.com but most of his stuff even preceded CD.
What’s a guy to do to get himself recognised in 2010?
- Comment widely – you have to get the word out to show people what you know. As long you as know it. This is important, otherwise you’re impotent and need to go stretch your wings and find someplace else to play. Once you know you have the smarts for a particular subject matter, you need to haul your intellectual derriere over to someplace like Technorati to find the blogs practising what you preach. Get in there and spread some delight. Forums are great for commenting, too, but I don’t know a place you should go to find an encyclopaedia of forums so you’ll have to do that bit yourself.
- Know. Find your niche. Niche has been nice ever since forever but it’s especially critical now. There are more people online in 2010 than before. This means more people competing for your space. It’s not helped by the fact that there are literally more people, as opposed to more readily available internet access everywhere. If you can’t stir lusty women to commit to birth control, then at the very least you should get ahead by expanding your mind and sharing the spoils with you devoted disciples.
- Speak. So once I have my niche, where do I put it? Well, you need to comment widely (a-ha!), literally taking your ‘keyboard pen’ to sites far and wide. But more than that – you need to talk to people. Pass your business card around, for sure. But talking – making a lasting impression – renders you instantly awesome. And the best way to do that is to go and deliver a fascinating talk or take to the podium at a conference or Tweetup. Keep it short, keep it relevant, and keep them wanting more.
- Make headlines. There are no end of article marketing services out there (ezine, today.com, helium etc) desperate to make your scribbly genius widely available and craved. There are free PR distribution services if you’ve carved up your own unique niche that people need to know about. So get it out there. Befriend a journalist. Hijack some column inches, pixellated or printed. Failing that, start your own ezine and market yourself in the media on your own terms.
- Think ‘tribe’. Connect, identify, show and tell, lead. Epitomised in a far sweeter rendition of intelligence by the God of marketing, Seth Godin.
- Get expert status. Credibility is currency. Read The Expert’s Edge by Ken Lizotte to find out how you can become a thought leader. You need to be recognized as a go-to expert with an impeccable reputation. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
- Review your gains, bin your losses. Focus on what got you the greatest traction last year. Dump stuff you struggle with (unless there’s a way through the mud this year).
- Host webinars. I absolutely flickin love watching and listening to people. You’re in one of two camps with this – you either learn from books, or you don’t. In my case I definitely don’t, yet video and audio learning has been my crook on a number of occasions, supporting me in my bid to learn code, deconstruct Dreamweaver and go pro with Photoshop. To host your own, try it free at Vyew or if you want to go audio-only, either Talkshoe or Blog Talk Radio.
- Write an ebook. Hey this is on my list for 2010, too! You’ll be immeasurably amazed – your cohorts and companions, too – when you knock up a sweet serenade of hints and tips focused on your core expertise.
- Get out there. Get a Facebook Fan Page; use LinkedIn Answers. Make Twitter work for you by checking out the invaluable guide at Mashable. Connect using buzom.com. Follow the trending topics and pass comment if it’s your area of expertise. Spread your word and tell people to RSS you.
- Monitor yourself. Three of the best – StepRep, SocialMention and Monitter will help you get to the bottom of what’s being said. About you. A great method of self-discovery and discerning feedback. So you think you have all the answers? Maybe not.
- Know your audience. Sounds simple? I can’t think of more than a handful of writers who could say, hand on heart, they truly understand the needs of their readers. Swear to God. It surprises and shocks me that this is the case. I thought that just applied to me. But seriously: how much do you know about the people you’re reaching out to? With a bit of research you can easily figure this one out.
- Write a series of posts. Connect them to form a tutorial or offer a practical solution to a popular problem. That’s where blogs are going in 2010 – solve-me-statements. Don’t miss out; think of all the things you get asked for on a regular basis and teach people how to overcome their deficiencies in five easy-to-understand articles.
- Talking articles… When you write some pillar content for your site – that is, one of the posts on your site that defines you, and really sets out your stall as an expert – you might consider sharing it on an article directory. It’s one way of getting your word out to a wider audience, and those worth their salt let you add a signature to drive people back to your site. Check out Article Fever and Buzzle to get started.
- Start an enewsletter. Get an account with aweber or Mail Chimp or Campaign Monitor. Surmise everything you just learned and bam it out to your readers, who will by now be multiple in number and hanging off your every word.
With the bonus five just mentioned, you know now more than ever that I love you.
Addendum
I asked an associate to define a bulletproof brand to me. Evidently in a whisky-fugged environment he replied thus:
NOTHING is bulletproof. It’s merely bullet-resistant.
And you gotta worry about who is selling you the stuff too… Had a friend about 15 years ago who was buying a boat. He was concerned about piracy (it was a bit on the “large” side…). The manufacturer assured him that the bridge and control area was completely bulletproof. Being from Missouri, he required them to send him a section of the wall material.
Which we took to a shooting range.
We figured we’d start the testing easy. Very easy. A .38 Special target load (very mild) zipped right through it. Okay… So we tried a .22… Ditto.
He didn’t buy the Hole In The Water.
When I was working for Monsanto, I became familiar with the stuff that is used to make “bulletproof” glass. Basically you layer tempered glass, plexiglass, and a flexible “interlayer” material in a hot vacuum oven. You want something that’ll stop a rifle bullet? You’re gonna need some major springs under your truck, and (a) it will only stop a couple; and (b) you won’t be able to see out of it after the first one.
Steel plate? Yeah, it’ll work, but then someone will show up with a bigger rifle. Anybody have any idea how much 1″ thick plate weighs per square foot?
Damn, but I’m a font of useless trivia… You know all those 1970s and 1980s TV shows that had the heroes ducking behind garbage cans as the bullets sparked (they don’t…) off? Bad TV, worse physics.
Bulletproofing a brand? Not too darn likely. Best you can hope for is damage control, but you can try to avoid situations by offering excellent quality and service. Reputation, reputation, reputation… You can try armor plate, but then you’re not going to be able to move.
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