Let's face it ...
It's pretty damn tough running a business today, getting your name out there and connecting with clients and customers, and the people who influence them - especially if you lack a sizeable budget to do so.
Traditional advertising is rarely effective these days and is out of reach for most small business owners anyway, while many default digital marketing tactics no longer seem to work as well as they used to.
But there is a way through for those entrepreneurs who are willing to explore some new ideas while at the same time be respectful as to how they show up in the marketplace.
At the Reputation Revolution, we're all about building a sustainable base of communications for our professional personal brand which, for many of us, also adds considerable weight to the overall marketing of our businesses. In many cases, we ARE the business.
We look at strategic PR and communications and all that entails, including content creation for our owned media channels, we cover social media of course, as well as earned media such as publicity, media relations, influencer relations and public speaking.
Growing an audience of followers and subscribers is all part of the program: an audience of fans and allies, champions of our personal brand, of what it is we do and stand for - an audience made up of potential advocates, influencers, clients and customers.
But can we go deeper, and build a genuine community around our ideas, or a specific topic or issue?
Community as a concept has been kicking around for a while now, but it's taken on new significance in recent times, for many of the aforementioned reasons.
At best, it's grossly misunderstood, at worst, it's been consigned to the bin of marketing buzzwords!.
But we're about to change that in this episode!
Today's expert guest gives us the rundown on communities from a strategic marketing standpoint.
Indeed, he's just released a book on the topic!
His name is Mark Schaefer, and the book is called BELONGING TO THE BRAND: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy.
Mark is one of the world's leading marketing futurists and keynote speakers; he's also a best-selling author, a veteran blogger and podcaster, a business consultant and educator of note.
He's a true thought leader, in a world where there are plenty of wannabe's - and he embodies all the things we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution.
Let's meet him, shall we?
203: Season 4 Finale - Lots of personal branding gold, what did you miss?
202: Why leaders should stand up, stand out, and be social | Expert guest - Roger Christie, Propel Group
201: Magnifying your message in today's multi-channel world with Jane Tabachnick
200: From outsider to industry leader in 4 years - how Steve Vallas became a key player in Australia's emerging Blockchain sector
199: How to commercialise your expertise with online business strategist, Susanna Reay
198: How to generate positive press coverage with veteran journalist & editor, Darren Slade
197: Creating change by building a movement with Jane Evans, from Uninvisibility
196: How to build your reputation through writing with Sarah Mitchell
195: How social media can make you a better leader with Damian Corbet
194: Unpacking Stephen Waddington's thought leader journey
193: How Mark Schaefer has evolved his personal brand over time (interview part 2)
192: How to build momentum for your ideas with best-selling author, Mark Schaefer
191: Thought leadership marketing & doing the 'deep work', with Lacy Boggs
190: How to use FOMO marketing to build your personal brand with May King Tsang
189: Unleashing the power of audio content, with podcasting expert Kellie Riordan
188: How to build your personal brand using video storytelling with Jonathan Creek
187: The building blocks of thought leadership marketing with Andy Crestodina
186: How to create and launch a course, membership or group coaching program in under 60 days with Jenna Soard
185: The business of influence with Gavin Heaton, InfluencerActive
184 Cement your authority: From brain to book in 90 days with Kath Walters
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