Taking action, playing the long game - and why your body of work matters

Here are two real-life examples that underscore the importance of taking action when it comes to publishing original content as part of your PR and digital communications efforts.

Both involved coaching clients of mine.

Client #1, who had historically done very little on LinkedIn, was approached by a well-established company who was interested in working with them.

Someone at the company had been following/watching the videos my client had been publishing on LinkedIn, and got in touch. I believe they may have been acquainted in the past, but it was the videos that had spurred them into action.

Said client had only recently started producing videos and only published six or so to her LinkedIn feed, so this was a good result!

Client #2 randomly bumped into someone at the shops who told him they had listened to all of my client’s podcast episodes - over 100 of them!

I believe the pair were acquainted many moons ago, but by no means were they friends who kept in touch. The listener said he was now in a job where he was in a position to be able to hire my client to help him. Hopefully that panned out well for both parties.

Cumulative effect

The above are both good examples of how showing up and delivering value in the form of interesting/helpful/thought provoking content (on an ongoing basis) can pay dividends.

It’s this cumulative content effect - the body of work you produce - that will help you build a ‘moat’ around your business and personal brand that differentiates you from your competition, and attracts the right clients and prospects who like what it is you do, and stand for.

Now, we are not talking about ‘hitting the jackpot’ and going viral with one or two pieces of content (as many ‘gurus’ encourage) but more so, enjoying small wins along the way that over time build into something larger and, importantly, can be sustained over a long period.

Embracing the ‘lurkers’

Sometimes it takes seemingly forever for people to be in the ‘right space’ to be able to do business with you.

Some time back, another client told me the story of someone who eventually became a customer after watching over 200 of their educational videos. TWO HUNDRED!

And one more! I like telling the story of my friend who runs an online education business; she once mentioned to me that she had just made a sale to a woman who had been a subscriber to her newsletter for seven years and finally was in a position to make a purchase from her.

I call these types of people lurkers.

We don’t know they’re there, but they are: they’re watching our videos, reading our articles, listening to our podcasts, following us on social media … all the while, staying quiet, but taking notice!

If you create content, no doubt they’re in your audience too! Sometimes they might be quick to take action as they have an immediate need, but more often than not, they’re a slow burn proposition.

AND … they might not necessarily become clients of yours, but potentially may refer business to you. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve asked a new client how they heard of me, and they’ve mentioned a name of the person who referred them … and I have no idea who they are, had never heard of them!

It all boils down to the content

Yes, it’s nice to be able to generate results quickly with your owned media and social media content efforts, but more than likely, the impact will be felt over a period of time, and it will often come down to a situation where someone pops up and says: “I’ve been following your stuff for a while now …”.

Client #1 mentioned at the top of this article got a quick result ?? while client #2, not so much, but hopefully will win that business, and more, from listeners of his podcast over time.

I want to stress: Putting up videos on LinkedIn or Instagram, publishing articles on your blog or producing a podcast - these activities aren’t necessarily going to generate a heap of new business immediately, or even directly.

Nice if they do, of course, but as a rule your social media posts (or podcast or blog articles or YouTube videos) form just part of a suite of reputation and profile building activities that, when implemented over time with purpose and consistency, should at least get you noticed and, hopefully, build recognition and trust in the marketplace.

Of course, these factors are often forerunners to commercial transactions and play a key role in the new business process.

I’ve experienced this myself many times. My standout example is the time I once was booked for a significant overseas speaking engagement after a person I didn’t know reached out after watching my videos on LinkedIn.

That contract was a good one, but it would not have happened had I not spent a Saturday afternoon recording a batch of 12 videos, which I duly published on LinkedIn (and YouTube) and over a period of time caught the attention of my client. She liked what she saw, and reached out. #HappyDays

It’s all about the long game folks!

[ FURTHER READING: The Silent 99%: They might not engage with you, but that doesn’t mean they’re not taking notice! ]

Onwards!

Trevor

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TREVOR YOUNG | PR WARRIOR

I help business owners become clear and confident in how they leverage PR, content and digital communications to build their brand and grow revenue.

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