A LESSON IN VISIBILITY
Want to know the difference between making 5 figures a month (or more) and making practically NOTHING in the blink of an eye?
Visibility.
While the principle of being visible seems simple, let's see if I can paint a good picture of the impact it can have on your brand for better clarity and understanding.
About 6 years ago, a coach I know was growing his business. You could see him all over the place. He was writing articles for Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, and other large publications. He was Interviewing on online radio stations, podcasts, and within industry specific private groups. And you could experience him, in-person, speaking at conferences and companies.
As he cultivated more exposure, he saw business opportunities ramp up and he took advantage. As expectations grew he decided to take time to build out other areas of his big vision. Unfortunately, as he focused on these other areas he LOST what I call "the Velocity of Visibility" because he completely stopped being visible in the marketplace.
In layman's terms, the velocity of visibility, can be defined as the momentum that comes with being seen, heard, and experienced as an expert in your industry (even outside it). Momentum meaning an increase in business growth opportunities including speaking, writing, being interviewed and getting hired. By taking advantage of these by presenting and providing value and doing it well a brand can build not only its credibility, but a sense of celebrity as well.
When this coach stopped getting "out there", he was losing the heightened authority he had worked hard for and instead experienced the opposite. A steady and significant drop in web traffic, lead opportunities, referrals, and monthly revenue.
That coach was me.
As I focused on other areas and took visibility for granted for my personal brand, my revenue streams reflected it and took a hit. Luckily, I was using the velocity of visibility for two new companies of mine at the time so it didn't have the impact it would normally have on someone with their own business. Perhaps someone like you and your company.
The point is...
Visibility, or lack there of, can be the difference between growing an audience of potential brand buyers and brand believers or being easily ignored, overlooked and even forgotten.
BRAND VISIBILITY vs. VISIBILITY DRAG
Being a brand building specialist I always knew building brand awareness was important for growing your business, however I was awakened to not only the velocity of visibility, but also the opposite.
Visibility "drag".
Have you ever rode a bike against the wind or tried to pull something heavy across the ground. You know that resistance you feel? That's drag.
Visibility drag, like wind resistance or ground friction, is the "energy" you feel working against you when trying to build brand momentum. Ever get a flat tire? Remember how you had to push yours or a friends car to a better spot to change the tire and it took you a lot energy to move it, but you probably didn't move it very far. That's the type of drag I'm talking about. A lot work with little in return upfront.
Another great analogy is trying to get an old steam engine train moving. It takes a lot coal to produce enough heat to make enough steam to generate enough pressure to create enough power to move the train fast enough to get it up to speed. But, once that thing is rolling...how hard is it to stop a train?
That's why I've spent an enormous amount energy the past few years researching and studying brand visibility. I want to help you experience less drag and more velocity - to turn your brand into a momentum machine that not only has enough momentum to get up to speed, but is extremely hard to stop.
BENEFITS OF BETTER BRAND AWARENESS
The best brands like Apple, Gary Vee, Virgin, Tony Robbins, Verizon, etc...They have this stuff figured out. You see them marketing and advertising in media outlets all of the time. Because these brands realize that visibility is a huge piece of the equation. They realize you have to keep being seen if you want to keep being paid. They have a complete understanding of all the benefits brand awareness and they've identified what are the best, high quality visibility strategies for building their brand.
Now you may be thinking this is all sounds great, but those big brands pay tens of thousands of dollars for media like that. Luckily, you don't need to do what those brands do. In fact, I'm going to show you how to get it organicaly (I'll get to that in a minute).
First, let's take a look at a handful of reasons why the best-of-the-best are so big on identifying strategies for making their business a more visible brand.
More opportunities for new business
I think we all understand that reaching more of the right people helps business. However, it's best when your brand is increasingly delivering value-driven visibility; solution or goal relevant guidance. Providing invaluable guidance is how your brand becomes the recognized expert. This type of visible expertise is the single best way to drive new business and increase leads. In fact, in many cases, highly qualified leads have already found you. Instead of chasing down business these solid leads simply come to you. Even better is...almost any lead generation source will benefit from value-driven visibility.
Less resistance closing sales
With a focus on delivering value through high quality visibility there comes a natural sense of trust for potential clients. This bridge of trust and heightened peace of mind leads to higher closing rates. What!? It's true! Potential buyers become brand believers faster because they trust your expertise has a higher probability of solving their problem. In many cases, potential buyers have identified their preferred brand well before ever speaking with them.
Increased and improved referrals
As mentioned above, high quality brand visibility drives more referrals. When people see you as or you've become known for your expertise it not only increases attention and interest, but it's also the most effective way to drive new referrals. But here's the cool part...I'm not talking about just referrals from current clientele, but an increase in referrals from other people that haven't worked with your brand
Faster and stronger growth
The velocity of visibility along with your ability to deliver the goods is perhaps the fastest way to grow your brands reputation. When you strategically show up in the places your audience spends their time and delight them with the insights and wisdom they need, your reputation precedes you. The strength of your brand's reputation then helps to bring you even more advantages; better publicity opportunities, desirable new clients, great employees, powerful partnerships, and premium rates. All of which help to increase overall brand value.
Higher rates and profit potential
Specialized expertise enhances your ability to get clients great results. The velocity of visibility helps you attract more new business while chargin premium rates in the process. Your ability to consistently do this creates a strong brand; the ultimate asset (in my humble opinion). After years of proving this to be true, it’s hard to imagine another asset that is so beneficial to the bottomline; helping achieve business growth and profitability. It's certainly worth testing...some studies show that buyers will pay 10x (and higher) hourly rates for well recognized experts.
Now, just so you know, there is A LOT that goes into keeping your business profitable and sustainable, so that you feel confident in growing without the constant worry of what bad might happen. And I promise you, this isn't the over-hyped advice of documenting everything you do and post it to social media type of class. This is 2 hrs of researched education and experienced direction for your brand visibility needs.
We'll be sharing this professionally crafted training on creating the benefits listed above. And more.
All you have to do is join us in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 9th at Platform 24 for THE VELOCITY OF VISIBILITY: 5 Brand Building Strategies for Growing Your Reach, Recognition, & Revenue. You may have seen me share about the class.
I'm partnering with Roben Bellomo, Owner of Bellomo Studios.
You can get in RIGHT HERE: https://www.bellomostudios.com/form/velocity-of-visibility
