The Super Stealthy Way to Grow Your Visibility (the fun way!)
Trying to think about how to reach more perfect-fit potential clients can feel like staring at a blank screen when you have a huge essay to write. It’s daunting.
Like, where do you even begin? Who are these potential people? Where are they? Should you join a new social media platform? Which podcast should you pitch? Should you pitch to speak in other formats, like summits or events? It feels like there are more questions than answers and like you'll never be able to actually make any headway.
But the reality is, you are SO much more than just the thing you do in your business.
You are your hobbies, your interests, your cultural background, your life experiences, your work history, and more.
And when you look at all of these various intersections and learn how to leverage them, it becomes super easy to see how many audiences would want to learn from you.
The really cool thing about overlapping in shared qualities with somebody else is that it allows them to form a bond of trust and connection a lot more quickly, because you’re both speaking the same language of shared experience.
That’s why, in this post, I’m talking about how to grow your reach and visibility by leveraging the cool bits of who you are as a human!
Know, Like, and Trust
In the Know, Like, Trust funnel of building a relationship with your people, Trust is the final step someone in your audience needs to reach before they’re ready to spend money with you.
But first?
People have to get to know you and like you! That’s why you have to show up in front of them and share a message that’s going to resonate with them.
You can use this concept in different ways to help you with your content marketing. But for this post, I want to think about a different piece of the marketing puzzle: the visibility piece (which is different from the content piece!)
I’m thinking in terms of pitching to podcasts or pitching to conferences or summits where you’d present or teach. This can include people’s free communities, going Live with them on Facebook or Instagram, etc.
Usually, when you’re an entrepreneur and you’re deciding to pitch podcasts or platforms, you’re thinking something like…
“Ok. I’m a business-to-business entrepreneur. (Just as an example.) I do brand strategy and web design. I’m trying to get clients who also have businesses because those are the people who will hire me. Therefore, I need to go on podcasts and platforms that speak to B2B audiences.”
But that’s simply not true.
Because you’re more than your business, and so is your audience!
Instead of limiting yourself to just platforms talking to B2B audiences, you could leverage your personal interests and other intersections of who you are as a human to talk to other audiences (some of which could be in your target audience).
And because you already share a personal interest with that audience, you’re a step ahead when it comes to getting them to the Like stage of Know, Like Trust.
You just need to leverage some visibility to get them to the stage of Knowing you first.
In the rest of the post, I’m going to give several examples that all center on one hypothetical person who has various intersections, and I’ll walk you through how that person could leverage those intersections for successful pitches in different places.
One Person’s Many Intersections
Our example person is a mom of a child with special needs, they’re a millennial, they’re queer, and they’re a person of color.
They have a background as a yoga professional, but that’s something they’ve done on the side. By trade, they’re a professional therapist.
They homeschool their child. They love to knit for fun, and they’re also vegan.
In their current business, they’re a branding expert and a web designer, and they’re hoping to grow their brand awareness so they can get more clients.
Knitting, veganism, and being a millennial don’t necessarily have anything to do with what they do for their business. But based on those intersections, here are a few potential pitches they could use, each targeting a slightly different group of people (who are all still in their target audience!):
How starting a work-from-home business has allowed them to be more available for their child
Their journey as a queer entrepreneur and why authentic marketing is essential even though it feels vulnerable
How women of color can brand themselves to bring in higher-ticket clients
Why yoga professionals need strong branding to command higher rates
How millennial entrepreneurs can more effectively brand themselves to showcase their values and expertise
Why they stopped practicing therapy to become a brand strategist for therapists
Three ways homeschooling entrepreneurs can better brand their businesses for success
How to optimize your website and branding as an indie dyer (psst: an indie dyer is a private individual who dyes and sells their own small-batch yarn!)
What vegan food bloggers need to know about branding and website design
And these are just jumping-off points!
You can see how one person can now pitch a whole host of different types of podcasts or platforms – not just the ones that are strictly B2B!
In each of these ideas, you can see where it would be possible that a podcast or platform might intersect with your topic.
At the same time, it’s totally possible that a podcast or platform might not be the right fit, because they focus only on their niche. For example, if a knitting podcast speaks only to different yarn techniques and doesn’t talk to people who have fiber-related businesses, then it might not be the right fit for you.
Once you have your list, you’ll have a bit more homework when it comes to looking for podcasts or platforms that are likely to want to hear what you have to say.
Now, that also doesn't mean that you couldn't just give it a whirl and try to pitch anyway!
If the pitch is sincere, you share a little about your background, why you're a good fit, and you genuinely want to serve and educate their audience, then the worst thing that could happen is they say no, right?
Don’t just assume that if something hasn’t been done on someone’s platform, then it’s an automatic no. Don’t cut yourself down before you even give yourself the opportunity.
Specific Podcast and Platform Ideas for Each Topic
The next step in the process is going through each of your topics and deciding what type of podcast or platform would be best for each. Below, I’ve done this for our example person and each of the ideas I listed above.
HOW STARTING A WORK-FROM-HOME BUSINESS HAS ALLOWED THEM TO BE MORE AVAILABLE FOR THEIR CHILD
This topic could work for a podcast that really speaks to people who want to work from home, people who are freelancers, and people who are doing a side hustle or part-time gig just to bring in extra money in a flexible way.
It might not be a podcast, but it could be in the realm of people who are looking to have more flexible employment or money-making opportunities.
THEIR JOURNEY AS A QUEER ENTREPRENEUR, AND WHY AUTHENTIC MARKETING IS ESSENTIAL EVEN THOUGH IT FEELS VULNERABLE
This could either be on a business podcast that is open to topics like queer entrepreneurship or authentic marketing.
This could also be to a podcast that is specifically geared towards a queer audience.
You could even do it through the lens of being an out queer entrepreneur.
If it makes sense for the podcast and for the listeners, it could be that there are many people in that audience who are entrepreneurs already.
There might even be a podcast that is specifically for just queer entrepreneurs. That would be a really, really, really great pitch.
HOW WOMEN OF COLOR CAN BRAND THEMSELVES TO BRING IN HIGHER-TICKET CLIENTS
Now, this one would likely be a business podcast, and this could be something that is produced or hosted by a woman of color. Or it could be just a general business podcast that is not hosted by a woman of color. It could also be specific to higher-ticket businesses or luxury businesses, or things like that.
WHY YOGA PROFESSIONALS NEED STRONG BRANDING TO COMMAND HIGHER RATES
This is why I mentioned that our person was a part-time yoga professional at some point. Maybe they don’t even do it currently, but they have a lot of experience in that world.
And now, they also have a lot of experience in branding, so they might have a sub-niche to work with: yoga professionals! They’re uniquely qualified to understand what yoga pros should be doing in order to get paid higher than the average for the industry.
(As somebody who's worked with a lot of yoga professionals, this is a huge need. So if you're reading, you're a branding expert, and you have experience with yoga professionals, this could be a really great sub-niche to get into!)
HOW MILLENNIAL ENTREPRENEURS CAN MORE EFFECTIVELY BRAND THEMSELVES TO SHOWCASE THEIR VALUES AND EXPERTISE
Again, this is probably going to be a more business-related podcast.
It could even be specifically for millennial entrepreneurs or geared toward a millennial lifestyle in general.
Lots of millennials are trying to do something different from getting a job, working there for 30 years, and then retiring. Many are taking part in the gig economy or entrepreneurship. You could have a really great pitch here as a branding expert.
WHY THEY STOPPED PRACTICING THERAPY AND BECAME A BRAND STRATEGIST FOR OTHER THERAPISTS
Here, it would be great to aim for a podcast that speaks to other therapy professionals.
It’s not like you’d be saying, “I think everyone should quit therapy and do something else!”
Instead, this is one of those sub-niche categories – like, “Hey, I used to be a therapist, and I get it. Now I’m a brand strategist, and some of my favorite people to work with are other therapists. I love helping them get a full roster of amazing clients. And as a brand strategist and web designer, let me give you my five best tips for branding your therapy practice so that you can get booked up with perfect-fit clients.”
THREE WAYS HOMESCHOOLING ENTREPRENEURS CAN BETTER BRAND THEIR BUSINESS FOR SUCCESS
This topic would be great for podcasts or platforms for people who are homeschooling, have homeschool-related businesses, target homeschool families, create homeschool curricula, etc.
HOW TO BETTER OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE AND BRANDING AS AN INDIE DYER
Yet again, another sub-niche! Even though our person might not be a professional in the world of knitting, it has probably been their hobby for many years and they likely have a LOT of experience as a customer in the industry.
Because of their professional background, they should speak on platforms for other indie dyers or fiber arts businesses to share their best tips for optimizing websites to bring in more sales.
WHAT VEGAN FOOD BLOGGERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BRANDING AND WEBSITE DESIGN
If there's somebody out there who has a podcast or platform on vegan food, vegan food blogs, vegan recipes, conferences, magazines, etc, you could pitch yourself and say, “Hey, for anyone who is a current or future vegan food blogger, I want to share my expertise on branding and website design with you!”
There are probably plenty of places and people that you could pitch to, in order to share what you do and expand your reach.
And even if you can’t be the expert on all things or answer every question in every category, you can always pitch what you know and be really open and honest. You could say something like, “My expertise is in branding and website design, so I would be able to speak from the point of view of user experience and driving the right kind of traffic to your site.”
Don’t Forget to Do Your Homework
So that’s just an example of one person! You probably have at least 5 easy intersections that you could leverage here, but I’m going to challenge you to think of 10.
No, you don't have to talk about every single thing to each podcast or platform. And they don't need to have huge audiences or anything like that.
In fact, you'll likely have better odds of getting a yes if you’re not trying to pitch the most visible, well-known person in that industry, because they might have already covered a topic like the one you want to speak on.
It’s also a good idea to make sure you’re looking through topics they’ve covered in the past, because you don’t want to pitch a duplicate topic. It couldn’t hurt to think of two or three additional topics you could pitch to them, too, just in case.
Remember, it’s ok to get granular with your ideas.
A vague pitch about branding and website design is probably going to get a no, but a specific pitch, like “the top five things vegan food bloggers need to know about branding and website design in order to attract better visitors and get more raving fans” is much more likely to get a yes.
You want to pitch something specific, interesting, and juicy enough that the podcast or platform says something like, “Ooh, yeah, I could actually see how my audience would love that, and it would be really valuable for them to hear from this guest!”
So that’s what I encourage and challenge you to do!
You have so many subcategories and intersections of who you are – both professionally and personally – to tap into to help expand your reach – and the best part is that they’re all centered around what makes you interesting as a human.
