Unless you follow the theater, the name Lin-Manuel Miranda may not ring a bell. But, you've probably heard of his masterpiece, Hamilton. This musical, inspired by the life of Alexander Hamilton, earned him a Pulitzer Prize, 3 Tony awards, 3 Grammy awards, and an Emmy.
How does a Puerto Rican kid from Manhattan become the toast of Broadway? In an interview, Miranda said there were no opportunities for kids like him. If he wanted to be a star, he'd have to make a place for himself. He wrote Hamilton with the idea of playing the leading man. In essence, Miranda built his own platform.
In business, much like in life, we have to create our own opportunities. If we want to stand head and shoulders above the crowd, we have to build our own platform.
Here's what we'll cover in this article:
- Why do you need a platform?
- 3 Types of Platforms
- Return on Effort
Why do you need a platform?
In the musical, Hamilton, lawyer Aaron Burr offers Hamilton some advice. He says, “Talk less, smile more. Don't let them know what you're against, or what you're for.” Hamilton thought Burr was crazy, and proceeded to let everyone know exactly what he stood for. Most people might not remember that Burr was the 3rd Vice President of The United States. On the other hand, Alexander Hamilton was immortalized when his face was printed on the ten dollar bill.
To stand out in a crowded market, experts must tell people what they stand for. Publicly sharing your principles and beliefs is one way to elevate yourself above the competition. Now let's look at 3 types of platforms you can build to elevate your expert status.
3 types of platforms
In the days of Hamilton you needed wood, hammers, and nails to build your platform. Today, things are much different. There are three main ways you can build your platform in the digital world. Let's take a quick look at each.
The Written Word:
Writing is a powerful way to make your point of view known, plus it has the lowest barrier to entry. All you need is a computer and a keyboard to get started. Some of the best ways to leverage writing are:
- On a blog. According to a report by 99Firms, 77% of internet users read blogs regularly. The downside is the average blog reader spends only 37 seconds reading a blog post.
- eMail newsletters. According to Hubspot 40% of B2B marketers say eMail newsletters are most critical to their content marketing success.
- Books. Writing a book can be a lot of work, but it can payoff big. Books give you visibility and authority in your market. Books are great for consultants and coaches because they demonstrate your expertise in advance.
Writing is not for everyone. If you'd rather talk, the next platform could be the one for you.
The Spoken Word:
Before humans had a written language, they told stories. Knowledge was passed down from one generation to the next through the spoken word. Today, the spoken word has become more powerful through the power of podcasting.
According to Edison Research, the average podcast listener subscribes to 6 shows per week and listens for 6 hours and 37 minutes. When you take a closer look at podcast listeners you'll find they have a higher household income and education level than the average American household.
The biggest mistake people make when starting a podcast is not having a plan. Before recording a single word you must be able to answer three questions:
- Who is this show for?
- What action do you want listeners to take?
- What do you need to say to get them to take action?
When a podcast has been properly planned it will seamlessly turn listeners into raving fans, and excellent clients. Next, let's take a look at how you can combine the written and spoken word to build a powerful platform that can't be ignored.
The Visual Word:
Video merges writing and audio to create a deeper connection with your audience. This platform can be the most labor intensive because it requires script writing, presentation skills, and visuals to make a point. That's why a lot of people shy away from using video.
According to Hubspot, mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year. Video is a powerful driver of traffic and attention. The average video watcher spends 6 hours and 45 minutes watching video each week. To get the most engagement with your marketing videos, try to keep them under two minutes.
Individually, these three platforms can make you a well known expert in your market. But, if you want to get even better results you can combine them. Let's see how that works in the next section.
Combining Platforms
A little while back I was lucky enough to score an interview with a gentleman who had a net worth north of $50,000,000. He owned multiple companies and only invested 15 minutes per week into each one. The rest of the week he played golf, flew on private jets, or rode around on his yacht with his family. When I asked how he managed to keep his companies profitable with such a small time investment, he told me it was all about Return On Effort.
He always looks for the one move he can make that will give him the biggest return on effort. The same goes for building a platform. We must look at how we can get this biggest return on effort with every word we speak.
In our work, we've found the greatest R.O.E. comes from having good workflows in your content marketing. Here's one workflow our experts use to get a bigger R.O.E. from their content marketing:
- Write script
- Record video
- Strip audio from video
- Use audio to create a podcast
- Turn script into a blog post
- Create image for blog post
- Use image and Blog post for Social Media post
- Create eMail from blog post
- Send eMail as broadcast
- Use same eMail for autoresponder
How long would it take you to build your platform if every piece of content you created gave you this kind of return on effort? In a matter of months you'd have a platform that takes most people years to build. We covered a lot, so how about a quick recap?
We have to make our place in this world
Just like Miranda wrote Hamilton so he could star, we need to build our platform so people will know who we are and what we stand for. The written and spoken words are two great ways to build your platform. To get the biggest return on effort combine both and you'll be unforgettable in your market.
Don't build alone
In today's article we talked about building your platform so you become more influential in your market. for more ideas on how you can speed up the influence in your business check out this short audio training https://thepodcastfactory.com/dwp010/
When you're ready to build your platform, don't do it all alone. It's faster (and easier) when you have an experienced team on your side. I can show you how to have your platform in the next 30 days using the same system 50+ experts have used. Book your 30 minute call now https://thepodcastfactory.com/start/
