Boost Your Profile & Your Profits

 

1.     Define your Personal Niche & consider marketing yourself with a TITLE

While a ‘SPICEY’ title isn’t essential to make you POP, a well-defined niche definitely is.   What a great title (‘Ms Megabyte’) does do is suggest that a niche exists to be catered for in the first place (tech knowledge delivered with a woman’s personal touch).   Although Peter Sheahan does not use a stage name per se, he did carefully define his niche by self-branding as the leading thinker on an emerging trend, namely Gen-Y.   The more specific you can be = the more inclined people are to view you as ‘The Expert in…’


2.     “You bloody LEGEND!”  

Every industry has its idols (you may even be surprised to know this is not merely confined to Simon Fuller’s singing comp format for Channel TEN!): the only question is, do you want to be one, or follow one?   Societies the world over revere their leading thinkers (Einstein), activists (Mandela) and troublemakers (Darwin, Ghandi) in religion, politics, business, music and so on.   It takes guts to pave the way and be ahead of your time, though!   Most of these figures’ true worth is celebrated in retrospect when the enormity and value of their contribution is born out in the decades that follow.   But if you have the potential to become a leading light within your industry, my advice is go for it!   All you need is a willingness to change what’s not working and the wherewithal to stand by your message regardless of the temporary backlash. 

 
3.     Same Niche, NEW Angle

What you first set out to be known for (‘Sleeping your way to the Top in Business’, for example) will inevitably evolve over time as your customers do.   This is a journey you embark on together with you acting as the Tour Guide.   Get known for your expertise by approaching your niche from one angle, and then expand over time to reinforce your message in fresh and engaging ways.   The idea is to keep people guessing as to what brilliant new angle you’ll come up with to help them understand more about the niche next (e.g. my next book might be called, ‘Dumping the Clients You’re Just Not That Into’ .   Hey - that’s pretty good, I like that!) 

 
4.     “Is it in yet?” (Amplifying your Personal Expression)

Personal branding is self-expression amplified to influence and command attention.  So walk into a room with your head held high and invite others to connect with the ‘real you’.   Turn it up or tone it down to reflect the environment you’re in, but for heaven’s sake make sure you get noticed!   Express your sense of humour, incite emotions, create a stir.   You’ll soon learn to gauge when you’ve gone too far…or not far enough. 

Have you got the heart for it?