Issue 34 | Letting People Know You're There

Welcome to issue 34 of You Are The Media | Extra. Just for you on LinkedIn.

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When people know you are there, it becomes easier to join in.?

The more direct the relationship you have with your audience, the more opportunities you can both take from it.

This could be from the first touch point of someone subscribing, to making the decision to book, or anything that asks for a commitment from someone else.?

Let’s highlight how it can become your differentiator and how to do it.

This is about gaining loyalty from the outset.

People Need To Know They’re Seen

The traditional way to acknowledge someone is to automate what we do.?

It’s the email reply in seconds, it’s the out-of-office replies, it’s the LinkedIn ‘happy birthday’ prompts.

For many people and businesses, the connection only ever translates into a transaction. It’s what can be taken from someone else.

If you flip it, what can you do to treat someone differently? We can learn about them, see them for who they and leave a space for them to tell us a bit more about themselves. The return and seed for loyalty is for someone else to be clear that you are the person they need. This makes it easier for you to offer it. From the early stages you can find out how deep someone else wants to go.

If you live a life where you standardise and automate everything, it becomes a choice to ignore people. It’s easier to live our lives hidden and disregard people, so everyone meets a standard. The incentive is to take ownership.

How You Can Start To Frame It?

There’s an old saying: “Who you spend time with the most, is who you become.” It stands to reason that the people you surround yourself with in business – your friends, supporters and customers – and the loyalty you can build from your content creation efforts can and will drive positive feedback loops.?

It’s how you start off that can become an important line in the sand to keep going and find ways for people to join in.

For instance, someone from the YATM community starts the?Thursday newsletter . What I do is reach out to people directly. This could be someone active (they open and read the newsletter), or someone who recently joined the community and looking to build their own idea, or it could be people who have been a part of the community for a while and I’ll reach out to them. Everything is two-way. I look at it as a way where everyone benefits.

When you know the people around you, what you create becomes an abundant source for you and others which can only be a good thing for everyone involved. People feel they are a part of something.

What can you do to get people to join in?

Let’s bring everything right back to the first touch point that people have when they step up.?

How can you invite someone to join in when they subscribe to you (and feel more obliged to stay)? Whilst there are unsubscribes each week to the YATM weekly newsletter, this is only a small handful.

Whilst the bulk of your first reply back can be automated, are there ways for people to know you took the time, or there as a useful person from the outset?

Here are some ways to bring in your voice, be original and open up a dialogue. It helps to raise the bar.??

?? Ask a subscriber what they do first before you ask how they found out about you

?? When you have a new subscriber, connect with them on LinkedIn and thank them for joining in

?? Let them know you took some time and a personal touch, such as a quick look at where they are located (it could even be ‘how is the week in Tonbridge?’)

?? Make them feel secure that they are in the right place. Share an about page or anything that can show a timeline so then get up to speed

?? Recommend work from others from the community that can give a sense of ‘I’m in the right place’

?? Ask what areas they are interested in (and share the areas you cover). Share some relevant work?

It’s important for people to know they are seen, otherwise, they feel they are just part of a queue and pulled out when you have something to send to them to get them to act.?

It’s About Someone Knowing You’re There

The hard work is not the content you create, but how people stay committed and not lose interest. Unfortunately, we’ve set up systems that limit what others can see, or how we can get to know others better. We just go straight for the approach to treat everyone the same.?

We all want to be understood and served as individuals. A welcome is what we crave and how letting others know that they are seen is the first step to finding loyalty.?

Some other ideas that have worked for me so others know they are seen:

?? Sending video messages to new subscribers

?? Voice notes in LinkedIn

?? A thank you to someone booking for YATM Creator Day and for anyone booking further away (when people book it highlights where they live), I’ll ask if they’d like a helping hand for places to stay

?? Replying promptly to anyone who sends an email based on what they read in the weekly YATM newsletter?

?? Sending the YATM newsletter from mark@ and not info@

No one wants to fit in, we all want a nod that someone saw us.

This is the process you’re following when you make it about what you want to take:?

?? It’s about them. This is where you create with an audience in mind

?? It’s about both of you. This is where the weight of potential benefit balances on both sides

?? It’s about what you can both take. This is where finding the available opportunities can be mined, together.??

When you do work you enjoy, that springs from a genuine interest in a marketplace, and you achieve consistency with it, people will gravitate towards you. It’s then how you let other people know that you appreciate their company. This is the basis you create – so that others want to go on and find out more about each other; very different from just having a ‘what can be extracted’ or ‘what you can gain’ from the generosity of others.

Let’s Round-Up?

Figuring out how people know that you can see them, is difficult, but important. We have become well-trained at accepting auto-replies as the way that everything works.

Having a direct relationship with people who ‘buy in’ is important. This is the bedrock of your relationship with your audience, the base which you own and distribute from.

It doesn’t have to be grand gestures, but the little nods that you are both in the same place, at the same time, is how someone else feels more settled and committed to staying with you for the journey.

It could be simple systems to have in place when someone subscribes. How you do it, becomes your competitive advantage.

1)?Join in for the?Friday sunrise swims?(here we are last Friday)?if you live near to YATM HQ in Poole (just DM and can add you to the WhatsApp Group).

2)?You Are The Media Lunch Club?| Bristol?is Thursday 30th March. Spend time away from familiar surroundings and meet friends, listen to new ideas and enjoy a great lunch at?The Strawberry Thief. ?Our topic is on belonging. It's good to feel a part of something.?Book here .

3) Thursday April 27th is YATM Creator Day, pencil it in. The support from others has meant the community comes together and make sure everyone can go for the fraction of the cost. I would rather you put that money towards the electricity bills!

Thanks to everyone who is booking from around the UK.

SAFI Valves ,?Magic Digits Ltd ?and?Foundry Space ?are making it happen and covering most of the cost for you to attend.?It's not ￡200, it's ￡45?book here.

Plus, everyone who books:

• Unlocks free access to Foundry, Poole on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th April. Call it your work home for 48 hours.
• We are having a Failed Nights evening on Wednesday 26th April and pizzas and drinks all included (at Foundry). This is our way for people to get to see each other and say hello, before Creator Day.

4) We're taking YATM to?Creator Economy Expo ?(CEX) in the US. This is 1st to 3rd May. If you use the code?YATM100?you save a further $100. Cannot wait to bring a taste of YATM to the US

The?You Are The Media Club ?helps creative entrepreneurs find their rhythm and create for the right audience to get the customers they always wanted. It's also about feeling a part of something with other people and connecting with each other.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we have our?accountability session, where we work on our own projects, but share with each other how we're getting on (9.15am GMT). You get so much done!

Read more and leave your email?here , if you'd like to join us.

YATM Club will be free until summer 2023. DM me to join.

Come and join in and be a part of the You Are The Media community.?Leave your email here ?and see you every Thursday, when I head out on my paper round around the world.

See you soon....?Mark?: )