Building your brand takes time. Remember that Rome certainly was not built in one day and your business will likely not be either. If you accept that this is a process and that you do need to invest your time and energy in building it up, you are already a winner! It is a fine skill to learn how to get things done. Persistence is the key but a great plan is your door. Here is how to grow and keep that growth at a great pace.
Learn to Write About Your Niche
You don’t have to be a great writer. You are certainly not expected to start writing articles worthy the top publications in your niche. The key is – you have to start somewhere and perhaps at the start value progress over perfection. If you set yourself a goal to write one article a week for the next 52 weeks, you suddenly make 52 opportunities for your knowledge to be not only read and understood but also appreciated. You could also try and send your articles to other blogs or publications to see if they gage any interest. Do make sure to only send externally the content you have not published anywhere before.
Give Interviews
Podcasters always look for good people to interview on their shows. The key is to present yourself as somebody with a good amount of knowledge who is happy to share it openly. Remember that nobody likes a self bragging smarty pants. People appreciate a genuine approach to any topic, think of it as having a conversation with a friend about what you do and try to deliver your interviews as such.
- Set a budget of £10/$15 a month for this. This really is such an easy task to complete any virtual assistant would be able to send 20 emails or so per month to potential podcasters or radio shows that cover your niche.
- Have a short email template that explains who you are and what topics you cover. Make it clear that you are easy going and approachable. Reassure the podcaster that you have a good internet connection and can settle yourself in a quiet environment for the interview.
- Make sure to always connect headphones to your laptop or smartphone when giving interviews too. If you are serious about this invest in a small external microphone. Who knows perhaps you will start podcasting yourself?
- Learn a little about podcasting. I have prepared those seven tips for beginners.
Start Speaking
If you are good at what you do, you will have enough knowledge to speak about it to others. Giving interviews will give you the confidence you need. I suggest you start with meetup.com. You can check and see if there are any small events devoted to your niche near to where you live. Contact the organisers and offer yourself for free with a number of topics that may be of interest to them. Remember that this isn’t about starting to make a living from speaking gigs but it is about spreading the word about your business in the most ethical way there is – through sharing knowledge. Look for conferences and events in your niche and keep applying to be one of the speakers. The more time you invest in giving interviews, the more podcast episodes you will be featured in and the greater chance of your success.
Have a Decent Online Home
Make sure to have a decent website or webpage (you can have “about” page on your business site) and gather all the links to interviews, posts and publications you have done. Furthermore make sure that this page has your contact details and is written in a very approachable way.
When you answer the questions and talk about what you love the most (hopefully that is your work niche!). Your personal authority grows as a result of that and your business grows too. That’s what I call win-win.
