Brand Yourself as an Expert — Building a Marketing Platform (Step 4 of 5)

By Michael Drew - Apr 15 , 2009

To review, there are five primary steps in the platform-building process:

Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience
Step 2: Make a Plan for Reaching Them
Step 3: Set Up a Gravity Well
Step 4: Brand Yourself as an Expert
Step 5: Accommodate Human Temperaments

Click on the links above if you want to revisit the first three steps before proceeding. Already been there and done that? Good. Then let’s get started branding you as an expert.

Step 4: Brand Yourself as an Expert

The goal here is to be the person your target audience thinks of first and feels the best about when they have a need or desire that falls within your area of expertise. There are three keys to achieving this position—

1. Consistency
2. Frequency
3. Anchoring

Let’s examine each of these by referencing the experiments Ivan Pavlov conducted with dogs more than a century ago, along with some modern examples from authors/business owners like you. Did you know Pavlov won the Nobel Prize for what is essentially ‘branding’ back in 1904? Yep, and this is how he did it—–

Consistency

Pavlov signaled the dogs’ feeding time with the ringing of a bell. He didn’t use the bell occasionally, or alternate back and forth between a bell and a horn – he rang the same bell before every single meal. It didn’t take long for the dogs to realize Pavlov was their man, and whenever they heard that bell, they knew he was about to deliver the goods.

Like Pavlov, you must find a way to get your target audience’s attention and then deliver a consistent experience that meets (or better yet, exceeds) their expectations. Whether they access you through your website, a seminar, a DVD, or your book, the experience needs to be undeniably you.

Bestselling authors Bryan and Jeff Eisenberg have cornered the market when it comes to helping companies convert website visitors into customers. Have you ever visited their FutureNow website, perused their GrokDotCom blog, watched one of their videos or read their New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? The message is consistent, the benefits are clearly stated, and the experience is unmistakably Eisenberg.

Frequency

This one was easy for Pavlov because dogs eat every day. This gave him the opportunity to do his thing in front of his ‘audience’ over and over again on a frequent and regularly scheduled basis.

It is no doubt more difficult for you to reach your target audience on a daily basis. Nevertheless, you must look for ways to reach them as often as possible. Take ‘marketing to women’ expert and The Soccer Mom Myth co-author Michelle Miller. She posts frequent entries on her WonderBranding blog, writes regular columns for Inc. (an online resource for entrepreneurs), and conducts seminars at Wizard Academy in Austin, Texas, several times a year. And these are only a few of the ways Michele has discovered for getting her message out to her intended audience. So it’s not surprising that CNBC called Michele and asked to interview her for a 2007 story on the women-centric Home Depot stores that were opening at the time.

Anchoring

If the consistent and frequent ringing of the bell had not been anchored to a hearty bowl of food, it wouldn’t have taken Pavlov’s dogs very long to nip him in the behind for being the provocateur of such an annoying noise. The only reason they tolerated it was because they associated his bell with something deep in their little dog hearts – food.

Here’s a decent article by Michael Fortin on how to use anchoring when naming your business (or book, for that matter) or creating a tagline.

What association(s) does your name conjure up in the minds of your target audience members? When you ‘ring the bell,’ does it trigger something specific for them? Something deep in their hearts that truly matters? Something they cannot live without?

Because that’s how you achieve top-of-mind awareness. That’s how you become the expert they think of first and feel the best about. Take a cue from Ivan Pavlov and perhaps someday your audience will drool for you, too.

We’ll finish this discussion next time with the final step in the platform-building process: Step 5: Accommodate Human Temperaments.

Questions about building a marketing platform may be directed to Michael R. Drew at the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Promote A Book: 512-858-0040. You can also contact Michael via email at michael@promoteabook.com.