Building your reputation

There are lots of ways to build your reputation, but it’s easier to influence people who already have some experience of you, than to start cold with someone who doesn’t know you at all.

That’s where a newsletter is invaluable.  It serves three main purposes:

1. Keeping you visible
2. Reminding people of your expertise
3. Educating people about your services

1: Keeping you visible

Even if the recipient doesn’t open the email, your newsletter appearing in their inbox is enough to remind them that you exist.

If they are too busy to read it or the subject line doesn’t tempt them enough, then at least you’re ticking one of your three boxes.

If they’re not interested they may unsubscribe, but at least you know you’re not sending information out to people who don’t fall into your potential client category.

2: Reminding people of your expertise

If you’re doing it right, your newsletter is an opportunity to deliver value to your readers.  It’s not primarily an email campaign with an offer or promotion, it’s an opportunity to share your knowledge and wisdom and create reciprocity.

If you send a monthly newsletter with great value in every issue, people will start to look forward to receiving it and begin to feel they ‘know’ you (even if you’re never had any other communication with them).

Q: What’s the best way to deliver value?  

A: Share your current blog articles.

If you’re writing a couple of articles for your blog each month, they can be repurposed to lead your newsletter with value.  Better still, if you’ve written a great engaging headline, you can use that as your newsletter’s subject line.

This kills two birds with one stone - you’re showing off your expertise AND you only have to come up with one great headline!

Rather than include your entire blog in the newsletter, provide the first two or three paragraphs and add a ‘read more’ button, linked to the actual article on your blog.  This gets the reader onto your website - which is where you want them.

3: Educating people about your services

Your newsletter can do this in two ways, firstly, through the content of the main article and secondly, you can add a second item underneath this with a promotion, offer or feature about one of your products or services.

Even existing customers are often unaware of all the things you can do for them.  A newsletter is a great way to educate existing and potential customers about the range of services you offer. 

Just pick one at a time - don’t overwhelm them with too much information at once.

I often use this section of my newsletter to offer a free webinar, where people can experience a little of my services.  This is an excellent way to deliver even more information and, maybe, upsell them to a paid service or product.

What a newsletter isn’t’

It’s not about you!  If your newsletter is full of information about you, your company, your staff and a thinly disguised vehicle for selling your wares - your list will shrink as people disengage.

While you may be really proud of your business and its progress, most people outside the business aren’t that interested.  It may be reassuring to know you’ve won an award, but it’s not going to make them open your next newsletter.  There has to be something in it for the reader.

Try using this formula and see how you get on.

Which social platform is best for business?

In a recent business networking event the group was asked ‘where do you hang out on social media?’  The answers were interesting.

First everyone wanted to know whether this was business-wise or personally - and for some people the answer was the same for both, but most in the group operated on one platform for business, but communicated socially on a different platform.

It seems that some platforms have clear profiles - even if they haven’t deliberately set out to attract a particular audience. 

• Apparently, younger people (under 30s) don’t use Facebook at all, they prefer TikTok and Instagram.  Facebook is for ‘old’ people!
• LinkedIn is seen by most people as a business platform - and most people on LinkedIn see it as a business connection tool, but there are social factions on there too. 
• Pinterest appears to be for yummy mummies if you believe what some people say, but the sales of products resulting from Pinterest posts outstrips Facebook by a mile.
• Twitter is full of celebrities and journalists!

Every platform has its own look and feel - and its unique way of attracting and influencing people.

How to choose the right platform for your business

The first step is to know who you’re trying to reach.  If you have a clear profile of your perfect client, you’ll find it much easier to track them down.  If you don’t know what they look like, then your content will be unfocused and ineffective.

Then you need to review all your options.  Social media includes:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• TikTok
• Snapchat

… and many more, but these are the main social platforms, used widely.  If you have a very niche marketplace, you may need to research other platforms where this group are active.

Don’t overlook the groups that exist on some of these platforms, they can be goldmines where many people who match your ideal client profile hang out.  Get to know your chosen platforms so you’re comfortable with how they work.

Next you need to decide on a strategy for each platform.  That will depend on the platform as each one operates differently - and are used differently.

Then schedule time to create a consistent presence.  It’s no good doing lots of activity this week and then being too busy next week.  If you’ve posted something and don’t respond to comments, whether on the main feed or in a group, you’ll lose credibility fast.

There isn’t a ‘perfect’ social media platform

Just because LinkedIn has worked well for a business connection, doesn’t mean it’s right for you.  It depends on who you’re trying to reach and where they are most active.  If that’s TikTok - then you’d better be there. 

Don’t try and be everywhere, choose the social media that helps you to make the most impact on the right people.

What is reputation marketing?

This is a question I’m often asked - sometimes people mishear it as ‘reputation management’, which is a different animal altogether.  Some people just hear ‘marketing’ and assume we do all marketing activities.  So it’s time to set the record straight.

Reputation marketing is all about creating the image you want to project and then putting it where your target audience are looking.

Our RAVE acronym explains it:

• R is for Reputation - creating it by influencing what people say about you
• A is for Authority - so you’re the ‘go-to’ person people think of when your industry is mentioned
• V is for Visibility - so you’re seen in all the right places and people don’t forget you exist.
• E is for Expertise - demonstrating how good you are at what you do.

Of course this all comes under the marketing umbrella, but marketing covers a lot more than we do.  We don’t do ‘marketing maths’ (comparative analysis of competitors, demographics statistics, etc.).  We don’t do research and development of products or services.  We don’t do product launches or other events.

The reputation marketing portfolio

These are the core activities that are included:

• Building ideal client profiles
• Developing the list of client benefits
• Finding where ideal clients ‘hang out’
• Choosing the tools that will reach them best
• Identifying means of measurement for your activities
• Planning website structures and creating content to attract, engage and persuade
• Writing articles for blogs, newsletters and other publications
• Creating social media profiles that present you professionally
• Creating content for social media and managing your social media activity
• Building sales funnels from lead magnet to email campaigns to nurture your list
• Writing content for marketing material e.g. flyers, leaflets, brochures, etc.
• Creating influencer videos and getting them showing up at the top of the searches on YouTube
• Getting articles placed with relevant publications and invitations for podcast or video interviews
• Sourcing awards and writing entry submissions
• Planning, ghost-writing/editing books and helping you to get published.

Everything on this list is aimed at making you and your company shine in the public arena.  Whether you want to make a splash locally or are looking to get on the international stage.  

The secret is not in doing everything, but choosing carefully what will be the most effective way to reach and influence your audience - and then consistently going for it.

As Hannibal Smith used to say ‘I love it when a plan comes together’!

The article with 9 lives

Once upon a time there was an article.  The author had written a great 500 words to publish on their website’s blog, but then, like the fabled cat, the article was reincarnated many different times.

Life 1

The blog appeared in written format on the author’s website with a nice image (or two) to make it look attractive.  

Life 2

As the blog featured some of the business’s key words and phrases it became a search engine magnet to attract high ranking for those phrases.

Life 3

The article appeared as the lead item in the business’s newsletter - delivering loads of value for the reader and leading the recipient back to the company website.

Life 4

Bits of the article were used to populate social media posts - on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Life 5

The article was posted on the author’s LinkedIn profile as an article, giving them credibility and showing off their expertise.

Life 6

The article was put together with two other articles on the same subject to create an ebook, featuring great tips.  This was then offered as a lead magnet in the form of a free download to grow the business’s mailing list.

Life 7

The article was rewritten and offered to an industry journal popular with the company’s target audience.  It subsequently appeared and got lots of coverage on the publication’s social media too.

Life 8

The article was chopped into sections and used as the focus for an email campaign promoting the company’s services, giving value alongside the promotion.

Life 9

The author got busy and turned the article into a video to load onto their YouTube channel adding another level of exposure to their shared wisdom.

And so the company that the author or the article worked for received many new customers and gained a reputation for being the industry guru in their business.