The Desert of Arizona
Sunny Going Up To 95 Degrees
The platform model of client attraction makes practical sense when you think about it at the surface level. But there are many secrets as you begin to dig into it…
A media platform (i.e. a newsletter, or podcast etc.) is basically “drip marketing” wrapped up in a package that is extremely interesting and valuable to your target market.
The platform model gets you out of the “selling what you do as a service” business and it puts you in the publishing business. This is a business that has enormous leverage. And it’s a business that serves as an excellent “front end” to a service business.
But that’s just the obvious part. Hidden inside the journey to dreaming, building and running your platform are several other secrets.
These secrets are found at different stops along the way. They enhance everything you do in your business. The reason they are valuable is because of the clarity you achieve as you make your way to a working media platform.
When you commit to showing up and saying something valuable on a regular basis, you force yourself to do several very important things:
- First, you have to figure out who exactly you are going to talk to. Without that, you can’t tailor your publishing efforts to solving the problems of a specific group of people.
- Second, you have to get clear on what makes you different. Without that, you’ll sit down and wonder what you have to say. The secret to an unlimited number of ideas is to get clear on what makes you different and what you stand for in relation to your area of expertise. You talk about those same things over and over again and demonstrate those ideas in different ways.
- Finally, your public commitment basically “burns the bridges” and “locks all the emergency exits.” You leave yourself no way to escape EXCEPT to continue forward. When you make a public commitment that you are going to do X, you’ll find yourself full of motivation to actually deliver on that promise. At first, you might do it out of fear. Whatever… we all have to start somewhere 🙂 Pretty soon, that fear will go away as you prove to yourself you actually CAN do this. You can actually act like a leader. Eventually, you’ll have developed an extremely profitable habit. And at that point, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start 5 years ago.
Most business owners know they need a “U.S.P.” The problem is that they know that for YEARS without really doing anything about it. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to figure out.
It’s much easier with a platform. It gets figured out FOR you. Slowly, over time, the clarity gets delivered to you.
But you have to put in the work first. That’s the trade. You do the work and become valuable to a lot of people and then they GIFT you with the answers you seek.
You probably won’t believe that statement until you experience it. That’s fine. I got out of the convincing business a long time ago. All I can do is demonstrate this model works.
The right people will get the hint and run with it.