www.VisibilityCoach.com

December 2004

In this issue

Anonymity is the Enemy

In my twenty plus years as a Public Relations strategist and practitioner, I’ve learned a great deal. Unfortunately, for some of my earliest clients, most of my expertise has come through trial and error. Early on, I had a great deal of enthusiasm, but my approach was more “from-the-gut” than from actual proven strategy and execution.

While college teaches young communications practitioners the mechanics of proper writing and research, the classroom is an inadequate vehicle for teaching persuasive communication skills or providing life perspective that only comes from experience. As the saying goes: “Experience comes from bad decisions. Good decisions come from experience.”

But the greatest lesson I have learned is not about my craft, but about my clients. Businesses and individuals who come to me for assistance aren’t really looking for a P.R. firm. What they’re ultimately looking for is exposure, or “visibility.”

Just as someone visiting a hardware store may be looking to buy a cordless drill, what they really want is a “hole.” The drill just seems to be the most obvious and efficient way of creating the hole. So it is with P.R.

And while I am not “anti-PR firm” per se, (having made a good living from the industry for two decades) I do acknowledge that there are legitimate ways of achieving a heightened level of market visibility without the expense and time commitment of contracting for an outside agency.

This newsletter is intended as an ongoing resource to help inspire and equip you to differentiate yourself from your market competitors, ferret-out what is truly newsworthy and basically promote the heck out of yourself. While this is primarily intended for individuals looking to raising their professional profile, it is also applicable for any entrepreneur, new product or small business looking to gain visibility among their prospective audiences.

In this and upcoming issues, I will endeavor to provide you with some unique and creative ideas for creating and promoting a unique persona or personal “brand.”

Please know that I welcome your feedback. Let me know your thoughts about the content and perspective offered in these issues. What do you like, or don’t like? If you’ve got a promotional challenge, let me take a shot at it. Chances are, there are many others who share your dilemma. I’ll always respond to your questions or concerns. E-mail me at david@visibilitycoach.com

Enjoy,

-David Avrin
The Visibility Coach

How many people or businesses are in your category? If the answer is “quite a few,” then you'd better be darned good at what you do to be competing in a category that so many others are fighting to dominate.

If you are struggling for market share, (assuming that you’re priced competitively) than you’ve likely got one or more of three problems:

1. You aren’t as good as you think.
2. You haven’t clearly differentiated yourself from your competitors.
3. You are being out-marketed and out-promoted.

If, after looking at yourself honestly and objectively, the answer is #1, then my advice is to “get out of the business.” Seriously. Either get better, or go do something else. There are always some tricks that you can use to help you pretend you are better than you are, but I’m not going to be the one to help you figure them out.

I was 35 years old before I finally realized the lesson of The Emperor’s New Clothes. You can tell people anything you want, but in the end you’d better live up to it, ‘cuz people are going to figure it out pretty darn quickly.

The Visibility Coach says: “You’d better be as good as you say are, or get out of the race.”

If the answer is #2, than try to discover what you are the best at. It may be some small facet of your business, but it has to be something and may be all you need to draw a distinction.

There are aspects of every profession or business that some clients or customers are generally dissatisfied with. Take that item of dissatisfaction and address it in your business model. Correct it in your product or service and then brag about your unique solution.

When thin and runny spaghetti sauce was the rule. People begrudgingly accepted it, because there were no other options. Prego asked the marketplace what they would like to see and came to market with the first “thick” spaghetti sauce. Sales soared.

The Visibility Coach says: In a flat sea of competitors, it’s easy to see a wave. Be different. Be seen.

If your struggle is with being out-marketed and out-promoted, then forget the old adage “don’t work harder, just work smarter.” In reality, you have to do both. But the good news is that there is no need to re-create the wheel. There is wealth of creative and effective promotional ideas from authors, speakers, competitors, peers and yes, from the Visibility Coach himself.

Keep reading and you’re bound to find a few gems that would work for your business in each and every issue of the Visibility Coach Newsletter.

The Visibility Coach says: There are thousands of great ideas that you’ve never heard before. Don’t get set in your ways. Listen and learn.

This issue’s must-read: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, by Al and Laura Reiss. This is a fun read and one that will have you looking at your “brand” in a new and enlightened way. It has very quickly become “the quintessential branding book” and I guarantee you’ll never walk through the grocery store the same way ever again. It’s fascinating, validating, encouraging and even entertaining.

Put it by your bedside or in your bathroom make the time to read it. Personal tip: have a highlighter in your hand when you read and highlight everything that pertains to you and your business! Yes, it’s that good.

The Visibility Coach says: When you read business books, you not only know what you know, now you know what they know, and that knowledge gives you power!

Interested in learning more about the Visibility Coach? Click here!

Interested in having David Avrin, The Visibility Coach,
speak to your company or organization? Click here.

For more information on a full day private coaching session
with the Visibility Coach, click here.