Learn more in Scott Ginsberg's on-demand webinar "How to Build a Thought Leadership Platform So Clients Come to You with Money"
You finally did it. You created a blog. You’ve taking one of the first steps to establish yourself as a thought leader to attract new clients. And you’re psyched about it, posting three to four posts a week. But you enter the third month, and your energy is waning. No one has commented on your posts let alone inquired about your services. What’s wrong?
Scott Ginsberg, aka “The Nametag Guy,” who presented a webinar on the topic July 27, says a few things could be at play. Ginsberg talked with me recently about mistakes people make with blogs and other thought leadership tactics. You can listen to that interview here:
Essentially there are five things that can prevent people from reading your content or from engaging with you if they do get to it:
1. Are you writing posts that are original and move people? Effective content should follow Ginsberg’s philosophy of MCI – meaningful, concrete, immediacy. “Whatever you write or market has to have meaning and speak to the people you serve. It has to be quick and concise. It has to be stuff that’s actionable,” Ginsberg says.
2. Do you have a platform that allows you to be visible? It isn’t enough to just be on Twitter and tweet your blogs posts here and there. You can’t just go on LinkedIn or Facebook and participate sporadically. Determine who you want to reach, how to find those people, and the method of communication that works best for them. “Without visibility you lose because the biggest barrier to business success is not stupidity; it’s anonymity,” Ginsberg says.
3. Does your marketing sound like marketing? If so, then no one is going to respond and interact with you. “To prevent it from tasting like marketing, you have to provide a continuous stream of education. You want to do it in a way that’s simple, easy, and concrete,” Ginsberg says.
4. Do you have a call to action? With any piece of content you create you need to figure out how to elicit a response from people. You want to do something or offer something that makes them want to contact you for more information. Don’t sell; enable people to buy from you.
5. Have you given your blog enough time? Three months is not long enough. When Ginsberg started his blog, it took a year to get comments. You must press on. You don’t have to write three, four, or five times a week, but you must keep writing.
“The challenge is carving out some time to make sure you are clarifying and organizing and deploying your expertise through the written word,” Ginsberg says. “You don’t have to be an amazing writer. What matters is that your philosophy is there and you’re sharing it with people.”
So many people give up because they get discouraged. Don’t let that happen to you.
“If you can do it consistently and deal with not getting a lot of comments for six months, it’s good because you can fail quietly,” Ginsberg says. “But more importantly, the rest of the people will fade away and you will start to stand out.”
Learn More:
Watch Scott Ginsberg’s on-demand webinar How to Build a Thought Leadership Platform So Clients Come to You with Money.
