In this episode, we continue our discussion about The Thought Leader Platform so that you can move from idea to thought leader. The last time we talked about why it was so important, and what happens when we get it right and what you need to know. We also navigated through The Thought Leader Platform which is built on 4 things: (1)Qualified leads, (2)Relevant Content, (3)Leverage Knowledge and (4)Noticeable Distinction.
Now, we explore ways to get qualified leads and relevant content:
Qualified Leads
Here are the 3 primary ways to get to the people that need what you have, and are willing and able to buy it:
- Bought: You can run ads on several platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and display ads. To find yourself in front of the demographics that need what you have to offer, you can pay for ads or even pay to get on a stage.
- Borrowed: There are people out there who have the attention of the audience that you want to attract. You can create a triple win situation as you partner with them, and serve them and their audience. You get to borrow their market but remember that you have to give first to get an opportunity like this.
- Brought: You can organically bring in qualified leads by creating and sharing your free content out there. You can create podcasts, YouTube videos, Facebook posts and blog articles that are able to grab the attention of the audience and bring them home to your site so that they consume your information.
Relevant Content
There are 3 ways you can make your content relevant:
- Simple: When your content is complex, only a few will get it and they will classify it as irrelevant. So, your content needs to be simple.
- Understandable: People need to understand what you create in such a way that they can explain it to others. If it is not the case, they will back off of it.
- Actionable: Your audience needs to be able to go out there and complete the steps. They need to be able to actually follow your solution. So, it should be actionable.
Your solution needs to solve the problem that they have and in the process, you should create aspirational change and elevate things to a higher level.
— Begin Transcript —
Hey there, Mel Abraham the author of the #1 bestselling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to capture, package and monetize the ideas in your head, the wisdom, the experience and the expertise that you have in a way that you end up creating more impact, more income and more freedom.
And welcome back to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and in this episode, we’re going to continue our discussion about the what I call The Thought Leader Platform.
- How do you move from idea to thought leader?
- What’s the path to greater impact and positioning in this process?
And the last time; I’m going to kind of review where we’re at. The last time we talked about this—is really to understand some of the dynamics and it goes along with The Thought Leader Platform action guide. If you want to get The Thought Leader Platform action guide, to go through, make sure that you go to MelAbraham.com/session066 and you will download the guide and it’ll provide you some additional resources and work that you can do.
If you’re not next to your computer, you’re running around or doing anything like that, just text me. Text me at MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces one-word to 38470. I will send you the download link. That way you can get the action guide when you get back to wherever you are, wherever your computer is so you can get the action guide.
So, let’s jump in. What I want to do is kind of review where we were and kind of revisit the framework and then dig a little deeper and give you some steps in each of the framework steps to try and help you out. So, the last time we talked about why this was so important and the couple of things that we focused in on was the fact that if you’re not positioned as a thought leader, if you are not out there being known; remember, I said that the thought leader is someone that is known for what they know.
Experts, they know a lot of stuff but are they known for knowing the stuff? And if they are not known for knowing the stuff then they’re not considered thought leaders. So, you’re known for knowing what you know and what you know makes a difference. So, you’re known for what you know and what you know makes a difference.
And if you’re not positioned as a thought leader then you’re lost in the weeds.
- They’re not going to find you,
- They don’t know who you are,
- They’re not willing to pay for what it is you know, and
- They’re not searching you out.
So, you end up lost in this sea of information that we live in. Remember, I said that there’s a 106 billion searches on Google each and every month and that translates to over 40 thousand every second. So, it’s not about the information. It’s about our ability to interpret the information, give them meaning, give it relevance.
Second is that if you’re lost in the weeds and you don’t have good information, good content and good thought leadership, you haven’t put the thinking in, then you have no impact. And without an impact then the likelihood that anyone’s going to find value in what you know is very, very small and so, if there is no impact, and they don’t find value in it, then there really is no future.
So, we want to switch that around obviously and if we get this right, when we get this dialed in you will see that things shift for you. In fact, what ends up happening is that you stand out. You’re known for what you know and what you know makes a difference.
People will search for you. People will travel; I’ve had people coming in and travelling to my events from all around. From Australia, from South America, from Europe, from Amsterdam, from all over the place to try and get there. That’s the thing that you want to position yourself as. So, you are a standout.
Now, you are a standout not because of some gimmicky thing but a standout because of the depth of thinking that you have, the insights that you bring and the impact that that has on their lives. So, you stand out because you make a difference and it’s because of what you know.
The second part of this is that they find it highly valuable. They find it enough value in it that
- They’re willing to spend premium dollars
- They’re willing to travel
- They’re willing to take away from their family and friends
- To be there,
- To learn from you,
- To take time,
- To listen,
- To watch,
- To read,
- To do that at a deep, deep level.
So, they find value in what you need when we get this right.
And then, the third is that they stand up and they take notice. They literally will look for you. They will search you out. They will talk about you and they will find you. And that’s the cool thing. Now, when we did this, I said there’s a couple of things that you needed to know and hopefully since the last episode, you took some time to really try to figure that out and start to dig into it.
Trust me. This is a process. It’s an evolutionary process. We are continually evolving as thought leaders, as subject matter experts and thoughtpreneurs because it is a process, we’re constantly thinking; we don’t just do it once and that’s it. There’s a process to this process.
So, here’s the thing. The first thing that we need to do is get clear. Get clarity on what it is you know.
- What your insights are
- What your unique perspective is
Something that is specific to you. Not something that is just a repetition of someone else’s information, someone else’s expertise; that’s not going to serve you in any way, shape or form. So, we need to make sure that it is clear to you what it is because if it’s not clear to you we can’t make it clear to the marketplace and to the people that need what you know.
The second is this. We need to get you out there. So, once we figure out what it is you know, we got to get it out there. We got to get it out there in a big way and
- That will test it
- That will refine it
- That will define it
- That will sharpen it
When I first started writing The Entrepreneur’s Solution, it went out there and people came back with comments and questions and criticisms and all that stuff and you got to just have a tough skin and go through it and say, “You know what?”
- They have a perspective.
- They have something there may be is of value, and
Start to listen and say, “Alright, can I make it better? Can I change it? Can I shift it?”
- So it’s more understandable.
- So it’s more digestible.
- So it provides something different.
And that’s ultimately what we did with The Entrepreneur’s Solution. That’s what I do with a lot of my content.
If you went to one of my first events to my events today they changed. They’re constantly changing because I want to stay on the leading edge. I want to continually refine my thinking, refine my distinctions so I can bring it to you, so you are on the leading edge of change; leading edge of the technology and the techniques and the tactics and strategies that I can provide you.
So, get it out there and then get good at it. Getting good at it isn’t sitting back.
- That means that you’re going to run the miles.
- That means that you’re going to do the heavy lifting.
- That means that you’re going to do it over and over again.
And
- You may get knocked down.
- You may get kicked in the face.
- You may skin a knee and stub a toe.
But you’re going to get up and you’re going to keep doing it over and over again. That’s how we get good. And so, that’s what we need to do.
- So, we need to get clear,
- We need to get it out there, and
- We need to get good.
So, those are things and then, I introduced you to the Thought Leader Platform. We started the thought leader platform, we started the thought leader platform initially. I was doing it in a different way, remember? And so, we’re going to go back to it and I just want to, I just want to continue this and we’re going to continue to fill out the framework that I was working from before and I will continue to do that as we move forward.
So, I’m going to just go back to my iPad and follow along this. This is kind of like I said, last time was the first time I’m doing this. It’s kind of new but I think it’s kind of cool because it allows me as if I’m sitting at a flipchart, drawing this out for you, so we’re building these models and building the frameworks with you instead of just on a bunch of slides and so, again if you’re listening on the podcast, it doesn’t necessarily help you. But you can always go to the YouTube channel and watch it too and you have the graphics on my blog to get there.
So, what we said was that there was 4 things that we were dealing with. One of things that we needed to understand is that we were trying to figure out—here we wanted to move from idea to thought leader. And that, in order to do that, we needed to build the platform and our platform was built on 4 things.
- Qualified Leads
- Relevant Content
- Leverage Knowledge
- Noticeable Distinctions
So, now the question is, “Okay great Mel. Thanks. How do we get qualified leads?”
So, there’s a lot of different ways to get qualified leads but there is 3 primary things to think about. Now, when I say qualified leads, those are the people that need what you have, they need the solution that you’re providing; they need that and so, it’s they need to be qualified in the sense that
- They are willing to buy,
- They are able to buy, and
- They need what you have.
So, that’s the decision and there may be some people that need what you have, they’re willing to buy but they’re not able to. So, we got to figure that out.
Now, there’s other ways to provide. I’m not saying to leave them by the wayside. There’s other ways to provide additional information. Like I do a lot of free content because I know that not everyone can afford to work with me. I’ve got my training programs but I’ll say I have my high level mastermind one-on-ones and masterminds and that’s 20 – 30 thousand dollars. I get it not everyone can afford that.
But that’s why I put so much content out there because I still want to serve the many in the masses in a way that they can digest it. So, there’s 3 ways that I see to get qualified leads. The first is that they’re bought.
What do I mean by bought?
It means that you’re going to run Facebook ads or you’re going to run LinkedIn ads or you’re going to run Google ads or you might do display ads. In other words, that you’re going to buy them. I’m not talking about buying some mailing list. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend it because most of that stuff is junk and a lot of it is spamming. So, I wouldn’t do that.
What I’m really looking for is trying to find: How do I get myself in front of the demographic that needs what I have to offer?
– It could be literally paying to get on a stage in front of that audience. There’s a lot of different ways. So, you can buy your qualified leads. You can borrow your qualified leads and they can be brought.
So, those are the 3 ways that you can get your qualified leads.
- Bought,
- Borrowed, or
- Brought
So, what do I mean by borrowed?
This is typically what you see done a lot such as like affiliate marketing and joint ventures. So, you might have someone that has the ear of the audience, the eyes of the audience, the heart, the mind of the audience that you want to get in front of.
So, we go in and we create some sort of joint venture, some sort of a relationship where it becomes a win-win-win. In other words, by serving the organization, the company, the people that have the ears, eyes and heart and mind of your audience,
- You serve them,
- You serve their audience, and
- Everyone gets served in the process.
So, in a sense
- You’re borrowing their contact list
- You’re borrowing their market
- You’re borrowing their audience
So typically, it’s going to be done with affiliates and joint ventures. Now, there’s a whole strategy for getting affiliates and joint ventures. Don’t have time to go into it here but realize this at least one thing to consider—always come from a place of service first. In other words, what can you give before you’re asking to get?
Too many times, we go into relationships that we make them purely transactional and I think that we need to create, we need to create relationships that are more than just transactional if we really want them to flourish.
And what do I mean by brought?
Qualified leads, they are brought. Brought that means that they’re organically brought in by you. In other word, for instance: My podcast, my YouTube channel and my blog. I’m constantly getting leads in and my Facebook campaigns although the non-ad campaigns but my constant posts and all of that stuff and guests posts with other bloggers or podcast interviews. All that stuff allows me to:
- Bring people to my site
- Bring people to my information
- Bring people to what I do
So, I can continue to grow, to continue to get the qualified leads into kind of my communication sphere if you will; to be able to
- Get more of my information
- Get more of the solutions that I can provide
- Get more of my insights and thinking
So now, what we’ve got is we’ve got a flow of qualified leads which is what we need. What some people will just call it traffic but it’s a flow of qualified leads that I either bought, borrowed or brought. Which then leads me to the next piece and that is Relevant Content.
So, how do we get relevant content and what makes content relevant?
Well, first things first and this is something that I had to learn and I’m still learning and that is that your content needs to be simple. It’s needs to be simple. In other words, if it’s too complex, people aren’t going to get it or very few are going to get it and they’re not going to digest it. So, they’re going to see it as irrelevant in their eyes.
The second part of it is that it needs to be understandable. Now, simple and understandable are similar but what I want someone to do is I want them to be able to understand it in a way that they can explain it. Because what’s going to happen is that if they’re trying to shift their behavior, shift their thinking, shift their behavior; inevitably, they’re going to have to talk to someone or they’re going to try to share it with someone. If they can’t explain it well because it’s not understandable, it’s not simple; they’re probably going to back off of it.
- So, it needs to be simple.
- It needs to be understandable.
- And it needs to be actionable.
In other words, they need to be able to go out there and do the steps and everything. When you look at an audience, one of the things that they, you got to realize is that,
- I got to sit in their chair,
- I got to walk in their shoes,
I got to be able to get them to look at this and say, “That’s a solution I need. That’s a solution that I need. I can do it and let me get out there and do it and I want to do it.”
So, if you don’t have all of that. In other words,
- They don’t think they need it—they’re not going to come after it.
- They don’t think they can do it—they’re not going to come after it.
And so, we got to get that in place before they…so, it’s got to be actionable. Now, I’m assuming that from a relevant standpoint that they’re looking for the solution so I could put another one on here saying that it needs to be the solution to the problems that they have; that it’s the solution that they’re seeking. Whether they know that if that’s the solution they’re seeking or not, it needs to solve the problems that they have.
Now, you can look at it a lot of different ways. I’m either solving problems or helping them come to an aspirational point in their life which I prefer to do. So, let me in the process of solving problems, create aspirational change in their life and that’s the key where you start to elevate things. So, think about: How do I make my content not only problem solving but aspirational at the same time?
So, those are the first 2 layers of the thought leader platform and then, I will come back because here’s what I want you to do is I’d like you to go out and I’d like you to look at your practice again.
- Do I have access to a flow of qualified leads?
- Am I putting out content out there?
Relevant content out there that’s going to track them so I can bring people to me (the brought part of the qualified leads)
If I’m not getting relevant content out there then I need to start that. I got to start that because the rest of this stuff: Noticeable Distinction and Leverage Knowledge and all of that stuff isn’t going to matter to you if we can’t, if we can’t bring ourselves to creating relevant content.
We got to get our thinking out into the world in order to be found as a though leader, as a thoughtpreneur in that space.
So, the first thing we got to look at and take stock in is what is going on in your practice area in the sense that:
Are you putting relevant content out there on a consistent regular basis?
And if you’re not then what we need to do is start there.
Second, I want you to … so, we talked about that second, because I want you to look at it and say, “Are there reasonable joint venture or affiliate partners that I could serve first before I ever ask for anything?”
So, find those partners and start serving. Find a way to serve their mission and support them and take action to make that connection and go forward on that basis.
And then, start to explore ads and buying qualified leads. But I wouldn’t start with, I wouldn’t start there right away because we need to get that relevant content done first. So, make sure that your content is simple, understandable and actionable and get it out there on a regular basis and I know some of you are doing this already, so we will get to leverage knowledge and noticeable distinction in the next episode.
So, I hope that this serves you and I hope that this helps you move a little further down the spectrum from idea to thought leader and if you have questions, if you have comments or you have any questions that you want me to help just either post it or do me a favor. Go to AskMelNow.com, leave me your message, leave me your question, leave me your comments; it doesn’t matter whether it’s on this or anything else, and I will make sure that we will get it on one of the upcoming episodes; get back to you and make sure that we support you in this journey.
That’s what I’m here for. I want to have a dialogue with you. I want to have a relationship with you at a level that starts to serve what it is, your journey is.
And so, again, do me a favor? Subscribe. I want to make sure that you’re with me on this journey. I enjoy spending that time doing that. Share it with a friend and let’s give some of your friends some access to this information as we move forward.
And to get that download or the action guide again, The Thought Leader Platform action guide, go ahead and go to MelAbraham.com/session066 and until I get a chance to see you in the next episode,
May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!
See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!
— End Transcript —
++++++++++++++
Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again. Cheers, Mel
++++++++++++++
