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?
143: Social media for thought leaders with Kate Ware
142 Taming imposter syndrome with Trisha Lewis, communication coach
141 Achieving a return on your intellect with Ronan Leonard
140 The thought leader advantage with Trevor Young
139: Commercialising your personal brand with Mary Henderson
138 From employee to entrepreneur with Steve Glaveski
137 The curious world of Matt Desmier: assets, people and networks
136 Belief, connection and leadership with Heath Evans, altMBA coach
135 Recapping all things social media + blogging, online video and podcasting
134 How Helen Blunden stays professionally relevant through digital experimentation
133 How to boost your expert profile in the media with Nic Hayes
132 Mastering your message with speaking and media trainer, Kim Skubris
131 Tips & ideas from experts on blogging, podcasting, Facebook, LinkedIn and media relations #FromTheVault
130 Future-proofing your personal brand with Scarlett Vespa
129 Looking at content marketing through a PR lens with Trevor Young
128 Relentless slowburn: How Steve Vallas builds visibility, influence and trust one event at a time
127 How to win at Facebook advertising with Myles Harris
126 How to use podcast interview marketing to build your brand and business, with Tom Schwab
125 Building a sustainable business around your thought leader brand with Tarran Deane
124 Get back an hour in every day with Les 'Timelord' Watson
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