The Shortest Way To ReCreate You

When it’s time to make a stand and move away from everyone else, it becomes a liberating movement.

I have to state that just because this article is about  how to ReCreate You it has nothing to do with motivational, ‘the world is your oyster’, type of message. It is all about the continual requirement for self-development and acknowledgement that to be accepted by a marketplace who matter to you, you have to do it again and again and again.

Setting The Scene

My career has been within the brand and marketing domain since I graduated 18 years ago (wow, that number makes me feel old). My company, I have to hold my hands up now, looked like the same as everyone else within my industry.

The business could fit into that category of telling everyone that it was an ‘integrated agency’ (a word that means nothing to no-one). My definition of integrated agency today means ‘you want to be everything to everyone’. You’d like a logo and then foil it on a business card? Oh, we can do that. You’d like a website? Yeah, we can do that. You’d like a DM campaign and find a database of total strangers to send to? Yes, lets talk about this tomorrow. You ask, you get.

Over the past four years and much more within the past two, the focus has been very much within an owned media approach (businesses controlling the media not being led by the media). Work was created for customers that they had complete control over, but perhaps the momentum was not built.

I believed that spending money on advertising campaigns could prove to be a costly mistake if the target audience wasn’t considered first. It was an approach that I was practicing, but not really giving it a name. As the definition of content marketing built prominence, what it did was to be the flag in the ground that people would stand beside. This provided the catalyst to find a movement to associate with. If you’d like to find more on the discipline and what others are saying the, Talking Content Marketing project is still something that I will progress with in the new form.

So, what does reading this have to do with you? This article could become a deeper reflection on where my development is heading, but then that becomes a dangerous pursuit of self-gratification. Lets get straight to the point and how you can benefit.

Resourcefully Wide Eyed

To develop both personally and professionally, we have to constantly evolve and put ourselves in situations that we are not particularly used to.

To some extent, it is fine to be completely naive. For instance, this time last year, I had absolutely no experience of co-creating an event and being on stage for four hours. This is what I now consider as such a good place to be (I am talking about the Once Upon A Time event with Matt Desmier here).

If you have no experience within any given media (be that writing, speaking, podcasting, presenting) that is the best to start. This helps you ask and ponder obvious questions and perhaps be more creative where there are no borders holding you back, only the noise in your head saying, ‘you haven’t done this before, stick to what you’ve always done.’ This is what I can now refer to as being ‘resourcefully wide-eyed.’

There is no particular order here, but to those who have just skipped to the bullet points (shame on you), these are the points that I consider to be vital elements in how to ReCreate yourself from being part of the pack to standing for something where you become the source.

Are you sitting comfortably, then I'll begin.

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Know your audience (and the audience you’re looking for)

You can’t put something out there and expect people to come flocking to you.

It’s better to have 50 people standing by what you say and come back week after week, rather than 5,000 people on a database and barely any opens or interaction when an email is sent and those bitter moments when you read ‘unsubscribe.’

You have to know the problem you are here to solve and the way in which you are going to do it (and no, delivering a ‘we lead where others follow’ mantra is not a valid sentiment to assume you stand by).

 

Define a purpose

You have to know the cause that you are standing by and you need to do it with clarity. I know now that you will never see ’what is the difference between PR and content marketing’ type articles from me. What you will see is the experiences that I have had, the issues that I have faced. These are all attributed to businesses building their own audiences via the spaces that they have ownership. If you can build your audience, you can build better one-to-one relationships that lead to more revenue.

 

Collaborate (you can’t do this on your own)

None of this (notably the podcast and events) I could have achieved if I did this entirely on my own. I have mentioned in previous articles that when you can collaborate with someone with whom you respect and have the ability to propel each other in a new direction (and keep the momentum), this is far greater than having ten of the best mentors in your field coming to visit you once a month and tell you how to behave.

 

Make things happen

We can’t just sit here and plan during those moments of contemplation.

It’s not about building audience personas, creating SWOT analysis, understanding the ROI from each industry segment, it’s about doing stuff that puts you out of your comfort zone. It’s about that idea that is in your head on a Sunday in the shower and carrying it through. It shouldn’t be about planning methodically; it’s more about the gut instinct, because if you’re waiting and pontificating, someone else is out there and about to pounce.

 

Setbacks are part of the course

You can’t expect everything to tick a box and leave you satisfied.

I have wasted far too many hours pursuing something to only then be disappointed. The 'If You Could Go Back' project (an ebook with interviews with 20 local businesses) became such a time intensive project, only to turn into a project that didn’t take off (limited downloads until the ‘leave your email’ prompt was taken off). What the setbacks become are a point of reference and a key process of learning. If everything worked out as planned, then decision-making would be as fulfilling as taking the bins out on a Thursday.

 

Be relentless

To become acknowledged for the role you play within your marketplace, this is not a case of writing a blog post and then stepping back while you relentlessly repeat the link on every channel. You have to believe that what you are doing is effectively searching for the truth with dogged determination. This is something that cannot stop. This is a journey that goes beyond training for a marathon. You have to be relentlessly persistent.

 

Learn from others

There is a wealth of knowledge, opinion and experiences from others to take from and to consider someone else’s viewpoint. From picking up a book, to attending an event to listen to someone else (no a networking event does not count), there is so much to consider and to shape the way that you look at the world.

Once you have a belief system in place, this helps define your role to others. You have to continually learn to shape your perspective.

 

Be open

No one can say that they are an expert, guru, ninja, jedi or thought leader. All these people represent (at its most elevated status) are those people who perhaps know a little bit more about a subject than you or me. To be more open is not about being completely vulnerable, it’s about acknowledging who you are and a degree of authenticity in your approach. Business in 2015 has to move away from bluster and LinkedIn showboating ie. look how clever we are.

 

Create a narrative

If you can draw in from the way that you see the world, this helps define something that is more personable. Whether this is from the day-to-day interactions with customers and prospects, to what is within your local community every week, you can create a narrative if you immerse yourself within your marketplace that is totally unique to you.

 

Find a centre of gravity

We all need a space where we can draw others to come to. My centre has always been the blog, which is now called ‘Owned Media Mindset’.

It’s been a place where I can create, share opinion and bring my personality. As Ian Rhodes and myself are finding our feet with the Marketing Homebrew podcast and the audience this is building, who knows, maybe this becomes my centre of gravity in the next year or so. It is important to find a place that you can put a stamp on and people know that this is a place to encourage a dialogue (no…Facebook does not count, they are here to take your money).

 

Ask

If you want something, just ask. It is easy to hide behind our social profiles and rely on a persona we have created, but if there are others out there who have a similar mindset and within your hemisphere it can become easier to build a dialogue.

I started the Talking Content Marketing project back in November 2013 and over 60 interviews later, I am bowled over by the generosity of speakers, authors, major influencers within the world of marketing to take time and give some though to what I ask them. If you can show genuine interest and can back it up (with no hidden agenda), this does go a long way.

 

Write things down

The ideas and thoughts that you have, document them.

I have lost so many ideas that could have formed great articles over the past couple of years just by thinking that I can remember them. Trust me you can’t. I have managed to get myself pretty well trained on using Evernote on my phone, pad, desktop where everything is in one place. The flash of an idea one evening can become tomorrow’s conversation piece with your audience.

 

It can’t be about the money…but a return is the longer goal

To build acknowledgement takes time and patience. You can’t just rock up out of nowhere and think you can make Eventbrite work wonders for you by creating a ‘How To Use Twitter’ afternoon next month at the hotel in town. To get to that point, you have to earn the right. This was why Once Upon A Time was created. This was why Marketing Homebrew was formed. This was why The Content Revolution was written.

You have to prove yourself, not just to your audience but to you as well. This does take commitment and graft and the reason you are doing it cannot wholly be about making money, it has to be about having a purpose within a marketplace. The return is the effect of others recognising the value that you create. Those days of cutting corners are no more. We have all become better filters of noise, lies and monotony over the past two years.

 

Today’s decisions, tomorrow’s assets

The decisions you make today can become tomorrow’s blog, book, podcast, video. These should all help feed your ecosystem. Just because you are immersed within your working day, doesn’t mean that an embryonic idea cannot form and then take action.

Becoming acknowledged is more about being creative and making things happen, rather than bottling up and thinking that someone is going to pour scorn on something that you may not be the industry leader in. Remember, none of us are experts (see earlier point above). The few who are have dedicated years and decades to study in a particular field.

 

Make time

For any of this to work, you have to become disciplined and allocate time. You cannot say that you are too busy. I can remember working on a further edit of the book, in hospital next to my wife a day or so after she had given birth to our second child. It comes back to the mindset of being relentless. Whether you listen to podcasts on the journey into work or find that you are better at writing during an evening, over time you begin to find a rhythm. However to produce good work, the biggest investment you have to make is to submit time, every week.

 

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Every point that you read are important aspects that I am learning on my journey. The biggest acknowledgement to build an audience is that this takes time and patience. You have to be persistent, but it can open doors and conversations with those you would never have had the opportunity to embrace.

It’s time to get comfy, the ride can take you to places, people and possibilities that you are in total control of. What an empowering and rewarding place to be.

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Join me next month (Thursday 16th July) for my Content Revolution Workshop. Only four places left for the 1/2 day workshop. Special guests confirmed and the whole idea is to create a real interactive event for you to take loads from and apply to your business. Click here for what you will learn and to book (it's only ￡35).