Welcome back to Frictionless, a weekly newsletter that helps readers Unleash the Power of Questions.

STARTING LINE

What does it take to turn yourself into a sought-after industry expert and drive visibility, trust, and revenues?

It's certainly more than writing the occasional blog post, commenting on someone else's LinkedIn post with something like "Agreed" or "Congrats, or creating a LinkedIn Profile in the third person and showing readers job descriptions instead of impact.

When was the last time you looked at your personal brand holistically, at the things that will encourage reporters to call you, others to Follow you and comment on your thoughtful posts, or website visitors to quickly understand what you do and then look at other pages before reaching out? At shining a bright light on yourself and asking tough questions that draw out your Differentiated Value.

You can certainly do this yourself, but others think of me as "Communicatons Windex," ready to POLISH this messaging until it shines. POLISH is an acronym for that holistic way to position yourself for various audiences. I created this a few weeks ago, and I'm already seeing an uptick in interest and higher revenues per project:

Positioning (How do you talk about yourself?)

Owned Media (Website Wireframes and Content)

LinkedIn Profiles (Highlight Your WHAT and HOW)

Influence (Thought Leadership Content)

Social Presence (LI Company Pages and Thoughtful Posting)

Headlines (Earned Media: Media Bios and Outreach).

POLISH makes my brand memorable, positions me for future thought leadership efforts (if my content supports that), and enables me to package my pricing. What are you doing that does the same thing, assuming that's what you want? It starts with asking yourself the tough questions.

LET'S GET GOING...

Self-Reflection: Author, Professor, and Inc. Columnist Jessica Stillman says “no regrets” is a terrible life motto. Here are three “brutal” questions you must regularly ask yourself to be more successful.

Team Management: Entrepreneur magazine Editor-in-Chief Jason Feifer says the best way to earn people’s trust and respect is by asking yourself what it would mean to be a better caretaker of other people’s time.

Content Creation: Chenell Basilio outlines the three traits successful content creators share. Two are obvious, one isn’t. Can you guess what it is?​

Politics: As the presidential campaign continues to heat up, Gini Dietrich suggests two questions that ​CEOs should consider before making a political statement.​

SEO and Content Marketing: Andy Crestodina offers 13 steps for writing a high-ranking blog post (with a 20-minute video that compresses the time he spent doing it). Enjoy!

Personal Life: Tom O’Leary asks, How Is My Morning Routine Serving Me? My personal answer: It’s not, but I’ve been working on changing that over the past few weeks.

HOW CAN I HELP?

Getting nervous about an upcoming renewal negotiation with a valuable partner who's making noise about RFPs or looking elsewhere? Use this relationship planner to improve your chances of getting the deal done. Or reply to this email so I can help you think through your strengths and challenges.

TWEETS THAT ACTUALLY RULE

​Watch it here:

Marketing Nerd @Marketing_Nerd_ Seth Godin: Sell stories, not products. 8:4 AM • Aug 8, 2024 330 Retweets 1365 Likes Read 9 replies

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I welcome your comments or suggestions for future issues. Drop me a note here. If you found this on LinkedIn or had it forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking the button below.

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