2019 Offers A Fresh Start To Re-Ignite Your Personal Brand

It’s that exciting time of year when we look with eager anticipation to the future, plotting out how we can make the coming 365 days even better than the previous ones.

Maybe you want to expand your business. Perhaps you hope to add a few percentage points to your sales goals.

As you set all those wonderful goals for 2019, make sure you don’t neglect to include a few resolutions for continuing to build your personal brand. These days, with the ever-changing media landscape, the opportunities to ramp up your publicity are more plentiful than ever, yet I don’t think people are always aware of that – or realize how to take advantage of those opportunities when they are aware.

For example, nearly all print publications have an online presence that helps them reach a potentially larger audience than when they depended on delivering to homes and newstands within a limited geographic area. And it’s easier than ever for you to share with others any articles you are quoted in, either by posting links on your website or by making use of social media.

Meanwhile, new online publications continue to pop up, so the digital realm is creating additional print real estate – and additional opportunities for you.

So, as you toast the arrival of the New Year and prepare to take advantage of the digital domain’s publicity possibilities in 2019, here are a few things you should be doing:

• Maintain a strong social-media presence.One of your best weapons in the quest for publicity is social media, which can help you make connections both with the media and with your target audience. Jay York, our senior digital marketing strategist, says it’s important to know which platforms are best for what you do. For example, let’s say you are a restaurant owner. Instagram provides a platform for foodies photographing their meals, as well as an avenue to browse hashtags related to new and interesting cuisines. Facebook offers broad appeal and features such as event creation, which provide additional value to restaurants.If you’re a financial professional, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all are good. LinkedIn is a great place to build your network and authority with higher-end clients. Facebook’s ad network provides powerful tools for targeting the right audience. Twitter, like LinkedIn, also provides an opportunity to focus on building authority and networking with other industry and business influencers.
• Develop a content-rich website.Your website, among other things, provides you a chance to be your own publisher. Are you miffed that no one else will publish your thoughtful op-ed article? Don’t pout! Instead, create a blog, providing those who visit your website valuable information based on your insight in your area of expertise. Update the blog at least every week or two so people will keep coming back to read your newest thoughts and advice for them.
• Create a digital-media footprint. Vow that in 2019 you are going to redouble your efforts to pitch story ideas to the media. Reach out to publications and let them know how their readers would benefit from what you have to say. (Remember your blog? You can share that with journalists as well, giving them an even better taste of the topics you can speak about.) If you find success reaching top-tier media, great! But don’t neglect the seemingly smaller players, including trade publications and your local small daily and weekly newspapers. The articles that small publications write are sometimes picked up by larger publications, and all of it can be linked to on your website, helping to impress clients and potential clients that you are someone the media turn to when they need a voice of authority.

As you do all these things and the months of 2019 fly by, who knows how one great publicity success might lead to another. We once had a social media strategist who was asked to discuss a topic on a local TV station. The appearance worked out so well that for awhile he became a regular on the show.

Those opportunities can build, and build, and build some more! Just maybe, 2019 will be your best year for publicity ever!

Let the fireworks begin!

Marsha

P.S. If you’d like professional help getting coverage in the press, and being interviewed on radio and TV, give us a call. We’ve been providing this service to clients for 28 years. We also offer a comprehensive social media marketing program for select clients, where we do it all for you. If you’re interested in our help, please call us at 727-443-7115 Ext. 0. We’d love to hear from you!