Do you Have a Platform?
Do You Have a Platform?
Platforms are as important as your ability to do your job and
satisfy your clients
Quality is no longer enough to guarantee success. Today,
competence is assumed- and there is competition everywhere. To
control your destiny, you need a platform.
Platform refers to a process based on a unique message and a way
of consistently communicating with your market.
Examples of platforms
There are several types of platforms: articles, blogs, columns,
books, interviews, newsletters, podcasts, postcards, speaking,
teleseminars, and websites.
The crucial issue is not which type of platform you use, but
whether or not you have a unique message and that you
consistently enhance and promote it.
Advantages
Platforms offer you: o A position that visibly differentiates
you from your competition. o An independent "stage" to present
from, a way of packaging your expertise in a unique and easily
recognizable format. o Market education. Platforms help you
communicate your point of view in a way that creates a "halo of
trust" surrounding all your products and services. o Freedom.
You control your destiny, free from dependence or interference.
o Self-improvement. Platforms encourage you to refine your ideas
and your ability to express them. o Networking. Your platform
will expand and reinforce a growing referral network.
Prerequisites
Successful platforms require: o Commitment. You must invest in
yourself by mastering the resources needed to create and
distribute your message. o Consistency. Your platform must be
constantly visible. You never know when prospects will be ready
to buy. o Efficiency. To achieve constant visibility, your
platform must be inexpensive and easy to update with new
information.
Steps to success 1. Choose your message. 2. Create a way to
distribute it. 3. Promote online with a website you can update
by yourself.
1. Message Your core message should describe your mission, or
value proposition, (i.e., how you can help your market). Your
goal is to become personally associated with the solution to a
widespread problem your target market suffers from.
Your message should reflect your competence as well as well as
your values, style, and enthusiasm. Your message will help you
identify the appropriate topics and information.
2. Distribution An effective platform requires a source, or
nucleus, that is recycled and expanded. For many, the starting
point is a monthly One-Page Newsletter. Each issue offers enough
space to introduce and address just about any topic, educating
your market and proving your competence.
Later, you can expand each issue into: o Articles and columns
for publication and syndication, media interviews, etc. o
Presentations, audios, speeches, teleconferences, podcasts,
training, workshops. o Online content and incentives to attract
search engine traffic, reward your clients, and build your
opt-in e-mail newsletter circulation list. o Books and e-books.
Books are the highest level of a platform. Writing a book
becomes practical if prepare each issue of your newsletter so it
can be later expanded into a chapter of a book.
3. Website You must be able to update your website yourself,
without waiting for-and paying-someone else to do the work.
Websites have to be continually updated. You need to provide new
information on a consistent basis. Avoid fancy "art directed"
websites; these are usually too inflexible to be easily and
continuously updated.
Getting started
Start by analyzing your core competencies, your market, and your
competition. Then, determine the best ways to communicate, and
expand, it as consistently and efficiently as possible.
Progress typically proceeds best when you work with a mentor, or
coach, who will guide you through the process and help you take
a fresh look at yourself.
Resource box
Roger C. Parker, 32 Million Dollar Author, Marketing Coach, and
Client Advocate Email Roger C. Parker at
mailto:rcoger@newentrepreneur.com and request a copy of his free
10-point Platform Creating Tip Sheet.