6 Reasons Being Invisible Stunts You and How to Overcome Them
I was creating video content for one of my clients a few weeks ago, and it was NOT going well. It was the first time he'd ever done video content, and he wasn't satisfied with anything he was doing. He was so anxious he was ready to scrap the entire project. He's a proud business owner, he takes a lot of pride in his work, and he's a bit of a perfectionist. These are all great qualities to have, but holding yourself to such high standards can often impede your ability to get anything done.
He was obviously right about wanting to put out good material, and it was my job to instill confidence in him. He was making the argument that it was a huge risk to make content that didn't live up to what he wanted his business to represent. The problem was that he wanted his business to represent unreasonably high standards, and I had to persuade him that his biggest risk was actually doing nothing at all. Nothing is going to be perfect or even comfortable when you're starting something new, but you should do it anyways. Do something, ANYTHING, and allow the data that comes back to point you in the right direction.
Bonnie Wan, the Head of Brand Strategy at legendary ad firm Goodby Silverstein & Partners said in the company's Masterclass series that "the worst thing for a brand is to be invisible." While I would like to expand on that and say the worst thing for any person, not just businesses or brands, is to be invisible - the purpose of this article will be to help alleviate the fears of building your brand and help you take the leap into creating content that other people find valuable.
6 Reasons Why the Worst Thing for Your Brand Is to Be Invisible
1. How can people buy what you're selling if they don't even know who you are?
This may seem obvious, but many businesses don't market themselves enough or at all, and then complain that business is slow or stagnant. The "build it and they will come" mentality is great in fairytales, but in real life you can't even get people to come to your party if you don't send out a few invitations. Let people know you're open for business. Send them an invitation to come visit you and see what you're all about.
2. If you're good at what you do, why wouldn't you showcase your good work?
People need to see that you have respect for your own work, and positivity is contagious. Branding may be sum of others' expectations of you, but it still starts with you. You set those expectations, and you have the ability to control the narrative. On top of that, people flock to leadership that has pride in what they accomplish. Showcase that by sharing what you do and how you do it. Whatever your niche is, it's probably complicated. Share some of your insights and establish yourself as a industry expert.
3. How do you expect to motivate employees that don't have a brand to believe in?
Just like people flock to proud leadership, they rally around causes they believe in. If you own a sub shop, your mission isn't to deliver the best subs in town. Your mission is to delight every customer that walks in the door. Customers don't come simply because they're hungry. They come to feel satisfaction and joy. When employees believe they go to work to provide something special for other people, they work harder, they work with a purpose, they're generally happier, and they often become the strongest brand ambassadors your business could ask for. They share your pride and what your brand represents, and it shows.
4. How do you expect potential customers to trust you if they don't know anything about you?
Up until about 20 years ago, there was a huge imbalance of information between buyers and sellers. Buyers knew next to nothing, and they had to rely on the seller to give them truthful and accurate information. Daniel Pink writes in To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others that we live in a world that is much closer to information parity, where buyers and sellers have more equal access to information. We also live in a world where more than 81% of consumers do research before making a purchase. If you can combine these two concepts it's pretty easy to see problems that arise from "invisible" brands. If people don't have access to information from you, it may come across that you're withholding that information and are therefore untrustworthy. Show them how you bake your cake, ask for some reviews, and start building trust with people before they even give you a call or visit.
5. Why would people buy from you if they don't know your intent?
This is sort of similar to building trust, with one key difference: you need to make a bold proclamation of what you're trying to achieve, and then show you deliver on that proclamation. Simon Sinek brilliantly pointed out how great leaders and companies can inspire the masses by simply proclaiming why they are in business. For example, Apple's message isn't "we sell the best computers." Apple's messaging is more along the lines of "we're going to change the world. We're going to do it by connecting people with technology, and challenging the status quo along the way." Once people buy into why Apple is in business, Apple can then say they just happen to sell elegant and expertly crafted computers, and ask if you want one. People buy products, but they believe in your mission. Make a bold proclamation and back it up with your actions.
6. What message are you sending by failing to market yourself?
By failing to market yourself, you're signaling that you don't respect what you do. You don't have any confidence in what you do. If you make an amazing discovery, you don't keep it to yourself (unless it's buried treasure), you share your discovery and let everyone know! Even a wedding lets everyone know you discovered the person of your dreams. Let people know you love and respect what you do. Shout it from the rooftops if you have to. Just make sure you take a video and post it to Instagram.
How to Overcome Your Objections of Creating Content
There is a growing philosophy that content quantity is better than content quality, and I'm a strong proponent of it. Deliver a steady stream of content, see what works, and then dump gasoline on everything that catches fire.
No matter what you do, chances are you have some knowledge and insight that others will find valuable. I recently saw a video of a guy sharing how he just learned to clean a toaster. It went viral. Apparently people don't even know how to clean toasters, so how are they going to know, let's say, if they can claim their home office on their taxes this year?
Common mental roadblocks to creating content usually include things like vulnerability, fear of criticism and judgment, scarcity of time, and a laundry list of others. The fact of the matter is that none of it is true. You can find the time to do anything, or you risk opportunity cost. The cost of not taking advantage of an opportunity is losing everything you could've gained by not doing it. RivalIQ's latest benchmark report reveals that Instagram has the highest engagement rate across social media platforms, with a median engagement rate of 1.22%. Let's say you post something that gets 2% engagement, and half of those engagements tell you that you stink. Do you really care that 1 out of every 100 people thinks your post stinks? Why would you even give the haters that power over you? In reality, it's more likely that the overwhelming majority of people saw your post helpful, and will remember you as a result. Therefore by not posting content, you're deliberately not helping people.
It doesn't matter if you're not a strong writer, or if you don't really know what you're doing to begin with. Once again, the point is to just do something - ANYTHING - put it out there, and see what sticks. Your skills, quality, and ability to find "sticky" material will all improve as you continue practicing. You can probably see this yourself in some of the people and companies that you follow. The quality of their content is much better now than when they first started.
In my next article, I'll be going over how to get started with building your brand and marketing yourself in more detail. But it's important to note that you can get started at any time, by doing basically anything. The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, is basically the bible for all startup junkies. In the book, Eric popularizes the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), where you basically release a bare-bones product before you start adding features to it. You only add features that your users are telling they want via the data you collect. He calls this the "feedback loop." Put something out there, test it, and pour your resources into what works.
The same concept applies for content creation. Put content out there, measure the results, and reallocate your efforts into what's working. Do this a few times per week, and next thing you know you've established a decent following and credibility. It will be easier to find you, build trust with customers, and you'll learn a lot about yourself and your line of work in the process.
My next article will explore how to start building your brand. Feel free to reach out to me for absolutely anything in the meantime! Cheers!
Tyler Shepherd
978-314-0326