When I consider different ways to make a blog or business stand out from the rest, many ideas come to mind. However, I am a public relations and exposure specialist, so am going to take you through those from my own discipline as this is what I am experienced at.
Create expert status
Literally every strategy I work on with my clients comes back to creating that highly coveted expert status. Therefore, if you only take away and put in place one tip, this would be it. If you are considered to be the expert in your industry, everybody will naturally want to work with you, and often without regard to the cost! One small blog article is really not enough space to give in-depth advice and instructions on how to go about doing it, but I will briefly give you some pointers to consider to start building it.
- Provide regular commentary to your relevant media channels, both traditional (newspapers, magazines, etc) and online about your area of specialty. And I am not talking about sales copy – I mean useful information on what is happening in the industry, as well as advice.
- Become the go-to person that media, council, industry leaders and even government approach for advice and commentary.
- Join your professional association, and why not take it one step further, become the President! That says credibility to me!
- Write and publish a book on your area of speciality. Authors are instantly credible and this is a wonderful product to give to your clients as a promotional item or gift, or to sell.
- Speak at relevant industry, community and professional/corporate events in your area of interest. The audience, and your clients, will automatically assume that because you have been invited to speak, you must know what you are talking about!
Communicate with your client base regularly
One thing most businesses fail to do well, or fail to do altogether, is communicate regularly with their clients – even if they are currently not doing business with them. Send your database a regular newsletter with interesting and informative articles, regularly send them genuine offers on your products or services they can utilise, blog and guest blog frequently, find out when their birthday is and send them a card… the list is endless. The point is that the majority of most business is built on repeat business and referrals, so spend more time, money and energy on your current client base rather than on constantly attracting new business.
Form mutually beneficial joint ventures and relationships
Chances are there are many businesses and individuals who are not in competition with you but have a similar client base. Well, why not share your client bases so that you both benefit? For example, guest blog for each other, prepare articles for one another’s newsletters, or offer special deals to one another’s client bases.
About Kerry McDuling
With over ten years experience in the public relations sector and journalism, and the owner of Stratosphere Me and McDuling PR, Kerry is highly adept at finding the smartest profile raising approach.
Kerry knows what stories and material are most likely to inspire the media to run with them. She also keeps up-to-date with the latest digital marketing advancements and social media opportunities so your profile gains maximum coverage. Through Stratosphere Me, Kerry offers a service that is the most logical and powerful way to build your personal profile. It also allows for incredible creative opportunities.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Become the go to guy in your market and prosper.
Definitely, not just creating expert status, but keeping it as well…
It reminds me of high school or college. Building relationships and keeping them is key. I guess you could call it a popularity contest for grown-ups. We all need ego boosts and if our audience is happy so are we…
Thanks Dudes!
Ryan K
Hello there John,
I just wanted to say thank you for your teaching and guides,i have learned a lot from your skills.Now i am applying your techniques and strategy on building a great relationship with my subscribers with all my efforts and respect,its all thanks to you and your teaching.I would love to learn more from you in the near future.
Thanks john,
Your techniques has inspired me to learn more about marketing etc,i really have learned a lot from your techniques which gives me a great idea in the affiliate marketing arena!
Hi John,
Thanks for the post. You really do come up with some great ideas. One point that you made and I do more than ever now in my offline business. Is looking after your current customers.
You can really chase your tail and spend quite a lot of time and money gaining new subscribers and customers. If you put as much effort into the customers you already have you will reap the rewards instantly.
As they have already showed an interest in your knowledge or services. They now have a trust or started a relationship with you. It is far easier to communicate with them and offer further products or services than getting a new customer that knows nothing about you.
Cheers
Craig
@Dan and @Ken,
I agree with both of you. This is a GREAT guest blog posting by Kerry. This stuff works and works and works. Always has, always will.
~ John
John -
I’m living, breathing proof that each and every one of these techniques work! The great part is that the vast majority of your competition DOES NOT do most of them! And, you don’t really have to be perfect – you just need to do it a little better than your competitors. What you have given here in a few paragraphs is a complete business plan. Even if you do just 25% of what’s laid out here, you will be miles ahead at the end of the day.
Hey John, Great post! You’ve laid out an excellent step-by-step process toward becoming and achieving the status of “influential”. It’s certainly a grand plan for anyone that has the determination & confidence to just go for it (take action) and to your recipe I’d like to add “mastering your mindset” to begin with. I think the saying is something like, “if you can see it, you can be it” (just make sure your seeing what you really want though). Thanks for taking the time to post such valuable pointers … some of what you wrote could be easily forgotten because it makes so much sense, like communicating with your clients. It should always be about them.