Publish or Perish?

Many sales people wonder how to ensure that current and prospective customers can most effectively learn about the offerings they have. So, they usually employ two methods of distributing that message. Method 1: Call them on the phone. Method 2: Visit with the face to face. This may have been enough 20 years ago, but your customers are being bombarded more than ever with more and more information. They are being bombarded more and more with advertising. More and more they don't want to hear your message. They view your message as simply another attempt to force your product on them. How do you get around this? How do you get your message into the forefront of their minds without them tuning you out the instant you start talking? My feeling is that the most effective strategy is to publish content. Don't publish more advertising... publish relevant content that they have the option to read. Content that will allow them to gain more useful information. Content that will help them improve. Content that illustrates your expertise in a given area. Content that helps to establish you as the authority of a subject matter. Content that is refreshed on a constant basis. Okay... so how do you do it? I use my blog as a way to convey my thoughts. When I meet new people and establish a rapport, I invite them to read. I publish a post as often as I want and they read (or don't read) as often as I want. Those that are interested read more and begin to understand what I really do. I don't have to force my will upon anyone, but I get my message delivered. If it is a good message, they can comment and share with others. You may not be interested in a blog. And I don't think that should be your only approach if you do like to blog. But whether you blog or not, there are other ways that you can publish to establish yourself as an expert. One opportunity could be to find out what industry publications your clients subscribe to and start writing content... I can almost promise you that they want to have more content and will let you write for them as you have good content. Another option is to publish a newsletter. Invite your customers to subscribe via email or snail-mail. If your newsletter is information rich and ad light, they will be more than happy to continue to read and likely share your information. Publishing is the way to establish expertise and prove that you know what you are doing. It will be slow at first, but when your name and personal brand is established, you will find that your clients will seek you out. Corey Smith Co-founder of Resumango where you can build a better resume for free