Having spent the past 18 months running Boost Media Agency, working remotely with over 500 clients from across the world through the internet and social media – it’s fair to say I’ve seen a lot. Particularly when it comes to branding and positioning.
Positioning defines where your product or service stands in relation to others in your niche or industry, as well as in the mind of the consumer. Sounds important right? Well it certainly is, and you’d be amazed at how many online marketers and business owners don’t understand it, or how to leverage it.
At this time in my life, I couldn’t be more grateful for my virtual assistants who take care of most of the social media tasks I used to dread, and spare me from the countless DM pitches, messages and interactions I get on a daily basis.
You see, there is one thing that stood out to me for the majority of these people who have reached out. They make a poor first impression – for multiple reasons. One, they have a terrible looking brand and their positioning would put them in the lower ranks of their industry at best.
Secondly, they have no idea how to message or communicate. I get it though, it can be hard for a lot of people just starting out – particularly due to a lack of knowledge and experience. This is why I am committing to change this.
Now as a quick disclaimer, I’m not perfect and nor do I claim to be. However, I have learned a lot and feel compelled to share it with you, so that you can skip a few failures you might have otherwise had and drastically shortcut the success curve.
So, I’ve decided to give away as much value as possible with the 3 P positioning method, as I know that absolutely no one is teaching this stuff (yet). The 3P positioning method is the ultimate way to take your personal brand to new heights and become the go-to figure in your industry. Here’s the 3P method to take your brand from average to enviable.
Public Relations (PR)
In layman’s terms, public relations is the way you manage your relationship with the public – mostly through media and third party sources. PR is a great way to get your message out to the world, amplify your brand and build trust, credibility and authority. Having worked with over 500 clients in just 12 months, a lot of these people simply did not realise what was possible for them when it came to PR.
Why is PR so powerful? Well firstly, if you look at 95+% of notable companies across the world, chances are that they’ve been featured in the media in some capacity. Their articles are all over the internet and google. Third party credibility and borrowed authority are extremely powerful when it comes to marketing. The best marketers in the world leverage cognitive biases to grow their businesses, so why don’t you?
Podcasts
The next positioning tool of the 3P method is podcasts. Podcasts are long-form audio content which is typically an interview between 2 thought leaders, or an expert talking on a particular topic in their field. The reason podcasts have blown up so much in business over the past decade, is because of the insane levels of value they provide to the audience – for free.
Chances are if you’re reading this that you’ve listened to a podcast or two. I want you to look at podcasts in this way for a second. When you’re listening to a podcast, you are one of the audience. Now, think about the dynamic of the speaker at an in-person speaking event. Who is the authority figure – the speaker or the audience?
This is precisely why getting on podcasts is super important if you want to be seen as an authority. People will take you much more seriously, provided you give them genuine value and aren’t just making a sales pitch. As a rule of thumb, the person consuming the content is typically the audience, and the person producing the content is the speaker.
Personal Branding
Now, I know I speak on this topic a lot, however personal branding is truly the key to success in the online space. The people with the strongest brands leverage both PR and podcasts, but they also brand themselves in a very strategic way. They aren’t afraid to show the world how good they are, how well they are doing and how much money they are making for their clients.
Great personal brands are typically engaging, entertaining and polarizing. They are also centred around giving value to the audience and coming from a place of authenticity and truly wanting to help.
Think about the first impression you want to make when someone visits your page. Judge yourself critically here: is it a good one, or a bad one? Give insane amounts of value, creating engaging content, be polarizing and authentic, and most importantly, be different.
In the noisy world of marketing, coaching and business, it can be hard to stand out. This article just scratches the surface, so if you’re after some in-depth resources and content, join my free facebook community for daily content and breakdowns.
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