Get Slightly Famous

Thought Leadership Marketing

Marketing used to be about “getting in front of” prospects. But in the era the empowered consumer, traditional marketing methods like advertising, direct mail, cold calling -- or just sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring -- just don't work anymore.

Today, customers are in charge. In an Internet-driven age, consumers expect to find companies on their own terms, often through a search engine, and actively seek solutions to their own problems. We live in an era of increasing buyer distrust, where everyone finds marketing “claims” suspect, or meaningless.

In this new marketing environment—where the old rules of marketing no longer apply--businesses are increasingly turning to thought leadership marketing— a marketing mindset based on earning trust, credibility and cultivating recognition as a trusted resource.

Building a Niche Community: Targeting Your Niche with the Right Message (Pt. 2 of a 4-part series)

Think about it. A niche is a group of people that share common situations, needs, and goals. When these people get together, they immediately feel a common bond; they understand each other and can easily provide mutual support.

Like David Steele, the Silicon Valley relationship coach whose Friday Night Social singles gathering has been a success since 1997, you too can establish yourself as a trustworthy resource whose reputation and work is beyond scrutiny. The secret to success is targeting a group of people with specific interests. And that group of people can be your target market!

Examples of groups that would be attracted to, and benefit from, participating in a niche community include:

Fortune 500 CEO’s
Real Estate Investors
Singles Over 50
Tai Chi Practitioners
Small Business Owners
Unemployed/Laid Off Tech Workers
Ph.D. Candidates Working On Their Dissertation
Stay-At-Home Dads
Women in Transition
New Moms

You get the idea… any niche you can think of for your business is a candidate for a niche community. Once you establish a niche community around your business, you can enjoy the following benefits:

Increased visibility. Community participation is a low cost marketing strategy that can yield enormous exposure for your business. Virtual communities provide free or low-cost gatherings that attract more people and create more prospects.

Increased credibility. The success of your niche community reflects upon your abilities as a service professional. It provides a chance for you to “show your stuff” and impress prospects who don’t feel like they need to ward off a sales pitch.

Word of mouth. Virtual communities stimulate conversation. They get people talking. Participants tell their friends more readily about your business as a “community resource” than a private service.

You’ll become a center of influence in your niche. By reaching more people through your virtual community, you will develop a platform to sell more products and services. Your community can open the door to multiple income streams through group mentor programs, information products and other passive revenue streams.

Previous Installment: Own Your Niche By Building a Niche Community (Part 1 of a 4 Part Series)
Next installment, Building a Niche Community: Getting Started (Part 3 of a 4-part Series

White Papers as a lead-generation marketing strategy

I've long advocated practicing thought leadership by giving away free information in the form of articles, talks, email newsletters, etc. Lately, I've become especially intriqued with the potential of white papers as a marketing strategy to attract hot prospects to your web site, and ultimately your products and services.

White papers got their start as a governmental reports created to outline and advocate a particular policy. Since then, they have become common vehicles among businesses to educate prospects by appealing to their need for information related to particular needs, and to help them solve problems.

Today, a "white paper" can take many forms; increasingly, white papers are downloadable pdf files that serve as online "bait pieces." When done correctly, a white paper can not only serve as the vehicle for a thought leadership marketing strategy, but can attract prospects via search engines and other online channels.

Here's a few snippets of Michael Stelzner's excellent article How White Papers Can Turbo-Boost Your Lead-Generation Campaign:

Because they are pulled into the company by prospects, white papers have the ability to linger and travel around the business, persuading along the way. It's not uncommon for a well-written white paper to travel across the desks of dozens of people in a single company. Well-written white papers are proven prospect magnets.

The key to generating leads with white papers is for the content to avoid a hard-sell. This means avoiding the mention of your company or product in the first half of the white paper. When prospects begin to sense they are being sold to, the white paper shifts from being a valuable resource to just another marketing message.

As with any effective marketing strategy, white papers are most effective when they are created and aimed at a well defined target market.

As Stelzner says,

"white papers are akin to super-powered magnets that can easily attract leads outside the company Web site. To draw a visual picture, imagine attempting to fish for tuna in only two feet of water. You might actually draw something near the shore, but big fish live in much deeper waters. Your white paper needs to be where the fish are."

Own Your Niche by Building a Niche Community (Pt. 1 of a 4-part series)

In 1997, David Steele was making the transition from a professional therapist to relationship coach. Part of his strategy was to become a center of influence and THE Relationship Coach for his community.

David decided to launch his own virtual community as a weekly “Friday Night Social” singles gathering. After a one-month pilot program and some market research, he designed a community for the singles in his area, unlike any other setting available, that would meet their need to meet other singles in a safe, fun setting.

The community also furthered David’s mission to provide relationship education and position his firm prominently within his target market.

Several years later, his Friday Night Social continues to be a vibrant singles community that supports the businesses of the four coaches who collaborated to make it happen.

“It is a lot of fun, and the time and effort needed to make it happen is minimal,” says David. Many attendees pick up his marketing packet--which features a picture of a happy couple basking in the sunlight.

“We feature a guest speaker each week, a local professional who speaks on topics like nutrition and stress management and who is usually a good referral source,” says Steele.

“We’ve become well-known in our community and have a loyal following of singles. On a typical Friday night, 25 to 40 people show up, and many people continue to attend with their partners when they are no longer single!”

From Therapist to Singles Guru of Silicon Valley

Slightly Famous entrepreneurs are learning that in today’s world, given that most of us have an unmet need for community, one of the greatest services you can offer your clients and prospects is simply to get them together.

The goodwill, contacts and status David has developed as a leader of a niche community has boosted his business. It has minimized the need to aggressively market his services by transforming into a guru and center of influence and trusted advisor to his target market.

Why does this work? There is a basic human need for community. We survive and thrive in relationships. In today’s world, given that most of us have an unmet need for community, one of the greatest services we can offer the clients and prospects in our niche is simply to get them together.

Next installment, Building a Niche Community: Targeting Your Niche with the Right Message

What Bullfighting can teach about the need for community

I just returned from a 2-week trip in southern France's Provence region. The highlight of my trip was the town of Arles, which is situated on the Rhone River not very far from where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. This is the town where Vincent van Gogh lived, painted, and eventually cut off his ear here on an absinthe binge.

Arles is an ancient town that was established by the Greeks as early as the 6th century BC, and later by the Romans took the town in 123 BC and expanded it into an important city.

Today, though the present has clearly come to Arles, history is alive. Not only in it's mix of buildings ranging from 400 to almost 2000 years old, but in its traditions and strong, enduring community spirit that lives most vividly in its festivals.

I accidently came into Arles during one of it's most passionate festivals--the Feria du Riz – the Rice Harvest Festival. For three days the cobbled streets of the city are home to the most spectacular Spanish fiesta in France. Every cafe concocts its own huge pan of steaming paella, bulls are set loose for a ritual running every night, and the famed Arene d’Arles coliseum hosts the best matadors this side of Madrid.

Putting aside the (justifably) controversial nature of bullfights, what I witnessed in Arles was the expression of a passionate sense of community that is missing in much of the modern world, and notably in the United States. The festival was ostensibly about bulls, eating and partying, but it was really about something much more profound: the need of human beings to feel connected to one another.

"Many people never go to to see the bullfights. But everyone enjoys the big party," one local explained to me. "Things are fun and crazy...people dance. We just want to be in the streets with everyone together."

Though it may be a far-from-home example, Arles reveals something more fundamental than we think. The need for connectedness is a universal human desire, and it's in somewhat short shrift these days. Consider ways to create meaning, community and dialoque among people in your marketplace. It's not just a smart marketing strategy, but one that can deliver an emotional payoff too.

Resource: Own Your Niche by Building a Niche Community

Gone to Provence! See you in 2 weeks.

I'm on vacation/holiday through mid-September, traveling through France's Provence region. See you in 2 weeks!

Steven