My favorite projects help you move forward on your personal development path, however, others are just entertainment. Shortly after my last posting (and the Success Conference), I was engaged to manage a new reality show that fell into the latter category. It took a great deal of time, but I was able to keep moving forward with another project closer to home. Since July, I had been busily publishing a second edition of my husband’s book, “Tombstone: The Guns and Gear.” Finally, in November, as the reality show drew to a close, both the hard cover and soft cover arrived.
Now, we have product in hand. Success! Well, not quite. You see, we have just entered the next phase. Now, we have to find our audience and get the word out that the book is available. Here it is the eve of Christmas and I am following a social media assignment to understand how to reach and build an audience. (In marketing terms, this involves getting the message to a group of like minded individuals who are interested enough to purchase your product or services).
My first attempts to ‘get it out there’ have only alerted the warm audience who already know our work. So I have set out on a mission. Build audience awareness. Who knows of us or our work? Better yet, who is talking about us? The book, “Social Media Marketing: One Hour a Day” by Dave Evans recommends spending some time searching content tools to find the answer. Imagine how humbling it is to discover that the only blogs mentioning Tombstone are referring either to pizza, vampires, graveyards or the linguistic origins of the word “O.K.” But at least the O.K. Corral is in the ballpark.
Okay, “O.K.,” that sets me back a little. Let me revise that mission. Build awareness of audience. Where are they? Who are they? What are they talking about? What do they need? The old ‘push’ days of marketing have passed. Today it is all about building relationships and establishing oneself as a trusted source. There are a variety of channels, both on and off line available to do this. Self publishing is new to me. I am just learning what is required, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. All success begins with the first – or the next – step.
This journey is not achieved by having ideas like castles in the air. At some point, each idea has to begin to move out of the realm of possibility into actuality. As a LifeSuccess Consultant, my goal is to help others see that there is a practical process that leads to the realization of imagined things. Part of the process is identifying the real life tasks that need to be accomplished. The challenge is always in discovering the exact steps required for each vision. Whether working backward from the goal or seeing that others have been there and left a trail for us, we can develop a step by step plan of action to execute. Only then can we get it out there.
To Your Success,
Susan
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