The key to gaining the attention you crave from the media, prospective clients and influencers is to be interesting. That means doing or saying interesting things people want to hear and talk about. All fulfill one or more of the following criteria:
- Has distinct point of view (even if some people will not agree).
- Introduces people to something new.
- Tells them something they don’t already know.
- Tells them something they might know, but causes them to see it in a new way.
- Displays a sense of humor and whimsy.
Why is it so important to be interesting? Because of what happens when you’re boring. Seth Godin explains, in his blog post, “You’re Boring.” Want to be more interesting? Start with being curious. Answer this question: “Hmmmm. What would happen if we ________?”
Some actual examples, from my clients:
- Created a spoof healthcare news website?
- Designed a series of booklets showing how design, printing and copywriting amplifies the impact of photography?
- Crafted an over-the-top bass for an over-the-top bass player?
That’s a start, but to make it interesting, you have do something with the idea. Something like:
- The Weekly Probe: This spoof healthcare news website generated a huge buzz and increased ambient awareness for Interval within the healthcare marketing community.
- “Route 66: A Road Traveled“, the first book of a planned series by Decker Design, was featured on several graphic design blogs, including Communication Arts. It also caught the attention of Route66 fans.
- The Lakland “Burning Earth” bass — held by Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls — appeared on Times Square Jumbotron 11 times in one day.
For additional insight on how to be interesting, read “How to Be Interesting” by Copybloggers’s Jonathan Morrow. To discuss how you can become more interesting to your potential clients, influencers and the media, contact me.
Last week we talked about how to expand your pool of loose connections through in-person contact. This week I will talk about how to make new connections over the Internet.
You probably wonder why, as a PR person, I am harping on all this connection business. Frankly, your ability to easily connect and quickly establish trust with others is a pretty good indicator of your ability to nurture the leads that come from PR and marketing channels into new business.
PR and marketing is critical to lead generation and provides evidence prospective clients can point to if they need to confirm (or defend) the wisdom of their decision to hire you. I just want to help connect the dots or point out ways you can actively leverage the recognition to start conversations with people who want your services.
Anyway, back to the task at hand. Here are five things you can do to widen your circle of loose connections online:
- Email the author of the last good business book you read, complimenting them and letting them know what insights you gleaned from it and how it will positively impact your business.
- Follow a few influential blogs and join the conversation in the comments. Email the blogger and offer yourself up as a resource. How to pitch to bloggers.
- Study the connections of others on your LinkedIn and ask for an introduction. Once introduced offer yourself (and your connections) up as a resource.
- Join Twitter, follow people you admire and comment on their tweets via the @ function. Also consider creating or participating in an industry Tweet Chat.
- Search for former colleagues or school alumni on LinkedIn and send them a note asking to reconnect.
Feel free to add your own ideas to this list in the comments, I’ll do the same as I think of them.
So, the objective of expertise PR is actually pretty simple: Raise awareness of you as an marketing thought leader and specialist with opinion leaders so they will talk about you and prospects so they will contact you, rather than you having to contact them first (e-newsletter, mailings or cold call, etc.). The process works but depending on a number of factors — sometimes it can take a while.
Anyway, in the meantime, the bills keep coming in and so you still need to pull in some new business. One way to do this is to expand your network of loose connections. Loose connections are people you have met and exchanged enough information with that you have established a baseline of mutual trust.
You can do this a number of ways; LinkedIn and Twitter for example, are both ways to establish loose connections. I will write a whole post on how to develop loose connections over the Internet, next week. I can tell you, however, that the loose connections I’ve established in person are much stronger than most of those I’ve established online. I can think of one exception and even that relationship was quickly confirmed by a couple of phone calls. Loose connections that are formed (or at least confirmed) personally are much stronger and more actionable than those formed online because of the extra information we receive from the person based on their image, the way they carry themselves and their overall vibe.
Any place people gather together for social purposes is an opportunity to form loose connections. In fact, sometimes it’s really good to get out of the business environment. Think art gallery opening. 10K run. Martial arts class. Classical music performance. Ballroom dance classes. And, of course, the golf course.
If none of that appeals to you, find an industry association luncheon in a vertical you serve and attend as a guest. Interview the people at your table and get them talking about their businesses. Probe for problems. Wait for the right moment and then share a quick anecdote about how you’ve solved a similar problem. If what they need is not within your purview, mine your network and refer them to someone who can. What goes around really does come around.
What truly differentiates you as a marketer: What you think, and the way you think about it. True, you can’t put the way you think in a box, like cereal on a supermarket shelf, though the results of your thinking may end up there. But you can and should package and distribute your thinking like a product.
The best thought-packages (articles, presentations, blog posts, etc.) give a lot of generalized knowledge away. They have a strong point of view. They also are well-written, instructive and not self promotional.
These beautifully packaged pearls of wisdom then need to be distributed to those who can share them with your target audience. These requests for distribution (aka pitches) need to be short and to the point. And they must pass the “Who cares?” test meaning you have good reason to believe the people you’re sending stuff to actually will be interested in what you have to say.
Packaging and distribution (aka PR) not only raises awareness of your thinking with the people who might hire you (as well as with those who might recommend you), it also enables you to more easily gain permission from prospects to show more of your product (thinking). And when the time comes, these packages also may serve to reassure the your new client that it really is the right decision to engage you to help solve their marketing challenges.
