I talk with a lot of professionals each week. Everyone seems to have a similar problem…
…they are overwhelmed on where to start or what to do next to continue growing their brand that leads to profits.
Maybe you can relate to this?
If so, I have good news for you.
Today, I’m going to break it down into 5 simple steps but before I do, I want you to consider this wisdom I learned from Catherine Ponder.
She said, “Great truths and powerful secrets often appear simple. So simple, in fact, the average person overlooks them in trying to find a more difficult way.”
I’ve found this to be one hundred percent accurate with every single person I’ve ever worked with, myself included at times.
What I’m about to show you may seem to simple to work, yet I would have you consider it is possible to produce more by doing less things.
More does not always equal more.
The right things executed consistently over a period of time generate massive results.
I first learned this process from Jon Morrow.
This is one of the many processes I guide my clients though to help them increase their influence, impact and income.
So let’s get into it.
Step 1: Strangers
All businesses must have a strategy in place to get in front of their ideal clients who’ve “never” heard of them or their business before. Let’s call these people “strangers.”
What are you doing to get in front of “strangers” each week?
Here are a few ideas:
- Be a guest on industry podcasts
- Write guest posts for authority sites
- Run targeted Facebook Ads
- Post value-driven articles to Linkedin’s Publisher once a week
- Befriend 5 people in your industry a day on Facebook or Linkedin
My advice is to pick 2 of the above strategies and go all in and master them.
Step 2: Readers/Viewers
Getting in front of “strangers” each week is a start, yet the reality is “strangers” are most likely not going to purchase your product or service.
They may, just not likely and it’s not because you or or your offer isn’t on point, it’s just do to the fact that they just met you.
At this point, they haven’t had the opportunity to build trust and respect with you.
This is where Step 2 comes to play.
I would have you consider you need a strategy for people to be able to read or view your content.
With this said, what’s your current strategy for creating and promoting content each week?
Pick a medium in which you feel you have a natural aptitude for. This could be video, audio or written.
Notice I said “natural aptitude” and not a medium you are great at. You get great at it by doing it a lot.
Macklemore said it best, “The greats weren’t great because they could paint, the greats were great because they paint a lot.”
Creating great content is the same.
If you’re new to the game, I recommend creating content on a weekly basis. This could be a written blog like you are reading now, a podcast or a video show on YouTube.
Why Create Content?
Your content is what helps you to nurture your “strangers” as well as attract new “strangers.”
The better your content, the more trust and respect you will build with people over time.
Keep in mind, content marketing is like farming. You cannot plant a seed in the ground today and expect to feed your family in the evening.
Instead, you have to nurture your crop before you can reap a harvest.
If you follow my lead here, you’ll reap a harvest as long as you create great, quality content.
Once you have your content created, pick a day you’ll ship your content into the market place.
I don’t care what day it is and there are arguments out there that say Tuesdays or Thursdays are better than other days and there may be a lot of truth in that.
What I can tell you is more important is you picking a day and being consistent.
After your content is created and you’ve shipped it into the market place by publishing it on your blog, you need a strategy to promote your great content.
Promoting Your Content
Unfortunately, I see a lot of people who get addicted to the game of content creation and forget if you don’t promote it, no one will know your amazing stuff exists.
Don’t make this mistake.
Instead, spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% marketing it.
Here’s are a few ideas to promote your content after it’s published:
- Create 5 different tweets and tweet out the content the day the content releases
- Take the 5 different tweets and add them into MeetEdgar so I can promote the content for as long as it’s relevant
- Pull 2 Quotes from your content that you feel will resonate with your audience and use Canva to create quote images to share on Instagram and Twitter
- Create a little mini blog post that sumarizes the main benefit of the content and share it on Facebook with a link back to your content
- Run Facebook Ads to your content
- Send out an email to your list with a link to your new content
All of the strategies listed above can be used to promote your content each day, by creating various images, tweets, quotes, etc.
By picking a strategy to create great content and promote it consistently, it will help you to start building more trust and respect with the “strangers” you are getting in front of.
This brings you more brand awareness, reach and trust, so when they are ready for you to solve their problem, they will.
This brings us to step 3.
Step 3: Subscribers
This is where the rubber meets the road. That’s what we say here in Texas when it’s time to get down to the work that moves the needle.
Building your email list.
There’s nothing more important to your personal brand than an email list full of your perfect ideal customers or clients.
All you need to do is create some type of “free” offer people can receive in exchange for their name and email address.
I call this a Lead Magnet.
You could create a PDF, a video series, audio program, Facebook Group, free course, 5 day challenge, etc.
What I’ve found is the more simple you make this the more it converts for you.
I’ve also found that pain converts better than pleasure.
So think through what is a huge problem your target market has and how can you solve it.
Once you know the answer to this question, create a short PDF that addresses this problem, gives them an immediate solution and then gives them the opportunity to take the next step on this.
Once you have a lead magnet created, I would have you consider you must also have a strategy to nurture the people on your email list each week.
If you do not, they will forget about you and your business and they will build trust and respect with someone else who is nurturing them each week.
My suggestion is to create a weekly newsletter you can send out once a week.
Please do not make the mistake of sending emails that do nothing but promote your shit each week.
If you do this, email marketing will not work for you.
Instead, take the time each week to add value to your email list.
Play the long game.
This doesn’t mean you cannot sell your stuff to them. You should.
If you never ask for something from your list, they will never give it to you.
Instead, lead with value first and at the end of your newsletter promote something for them to buy or their next steps.
If you’d like a great example of this, go to www.bitly.com/ecfcommunity to request to join to be part of the Entrepreneur’s Creating Freedom Community and you’ll also receive my weekly email called the Creator’s Tribune.
It’s a great template for you to model, plus receive lots of value from.
To wrap up step 3 here, you simply need to have a lead magnet that’s appealing to a major pain point of your ideal market and have a strategy to send out a weekly email to your list.
Step 4: Raving Fans
Subscribers are great. Yet I would have you consider a crucial step many successful professionals miss is having a strategy for raving fans.
Google did a study on how many times it takes before people will Like, Know and Trust you.
I call it the 7-11-4 Principle.
Essentially it states people need to spend 7 hours with you, have 11 touch points or meet you in 4 locations before they have trust and respect for you.
This makes perfect sense to me in the game of building a highly profitable brand and why I’m advising you to play the long game and to create a strategy to convert “subscribers” in to raving fans.
Here are a few ways you could do that:
- Host a monthly webinar
- Host a monthly Meetup Group
- Create Monthly Challenges
By doing this, you’ll be able to build more trust and respect with your “subscribers” and ultimately get to step five.
Step 5: Customers and Clients
This is what’s it’s all about. Increasing your impact and income and this is what step five is all about.
I would have you consider you must be clear on how you can help people.
Create a few ways people can work with you at different price points.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you must create a lot of new products, instead you could create options that give people more access to you.
Here’s an example you may be able to apply to your business model:
- Online, On-Demand Training Course – $97-$197
- One-on-One Coaching or Various Services you offer – $397-$997+
- In-Person Intensives or Live Events – $2,000+
The content you teach in all of these offers do not have to be different.
The only thing that differs is the access to you, customization of the concepts and the accountability someone receives.
There you have it my friend, the five overlooked steps to building a highly profitable personal brand.
Next Steps
Now that you understand how to simplify growing your business, if you’re wanting to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs who are committed to creating a life of health, harmony and success, thenjoin the Entrepreneurs Creating Freedom Community.
Building a business gets lonely at times. Sometimes you may feel like you’re weird and you start doubting what you’re doing.
Maybe you can relate to this?
If so the Entrepreneurs Creating Freedom Community is a great place to connect with other amazing, “strange” entrepreneurs.
It’s time Creator.
Conquer.
