I remember walking into the home of one of my close friends for the first time. His welcome mat had Mickey Mouse on it. I didn’t think it was too weird, even though they didn’t have any kids. But then the door opened.
Mickey clock on the wall. A few Disney bobbleheads on the shelf in the hallway. D23 Magazine on the coffee table. A full collection of movies under the TV. It was Disney everywhere I turned in their home. I couldn’t escape it, no matter where I looked or how hard I tired.
This is omnipresence.
It’s a concept I first discovered listening to one of my marketing mentors, Dan Kennedy. Dan mentioned that omnipresence is what he wanted to achieve in the minds of lives of his clients and customers. To do this he created things that would show up constantly and consistently in people’s lives.
The heart of this is his newsletter. Today he writes numerous newsletters including the No B.S. Letter from GKIC, The Info Marketing Letter (my personal favorite), Marketing To The Affluent and Look Over My Shoulder, among others. Most experts would send all of these publications at the same time, in the same envelope. It saves time and money.
But not Dan. He sends each separately. Showing up at different times of the month. It creates constant reminders that he exists and that you should be thinking about him.
Dan doesn’t stop there. He sends customers bobbleheads that sit on people’s shelves. There’s Dan Kennedy mousepads that we look at every minute we are on our computers. We have his CD’s in our cars and his product binders on our shelves. He comes to us via our inbox with email messages and promotions. He comes to us in the mailbox with sales letters and postcards.
There is hardly a day that goes by that people in his circle are not hearing from him.
This is why Dan Kennedy has become legend. It’s because he is on the minds of tens of thousands of people in his inner circle. He is the topic of discussion. And he did this deliberately, not by accident.
The Omnipresent ThoughtLeader®
Without driving yourself crazy, how do you create omnipresence within your market? The good news is that you don’t need to create omnipresence like the Kardashians and be on the mind of millions of people. You only need to be omnipresent to your clients and those most likely to be your clients.
That’s it.
You only want to be someone, to be famous, to people that you can help though the products and services that you offer. This is great news because it’s more affordable and easier to go after a smaller niche or local target market than a broad one.
Let’s say you are a local financial advisor. Your goal is to become omnipresent only to the people in your local community that have a certain number of assets, certain lifestyle preferences and behaviors that fall within a certain age range.
That number is likely in the thousands or tens of thousands.
Having this number and knowing that target market is paramount, because now we can take the two steps to create omnipresence.
Step 1: We Create
Every ThoughtLeader® is a creator. We create content. We create books. We create trainings and education. We create programs and services. So, step 1 is to start creating.
The best place to start creating is with video. This is the fastest medium to gain the trust of your market and show them exactly who you are and how you can help them. This can be simple 3-5 minute videos you post on YouTube and Facebook, or they can be longer TV interviews or trainings.
The other great part about video is that you can re-purpose your videos in so many ways. You can take the audio and send it to iTunes for your Podcast. You can transcribe them and turn them into blog posts or newsletter articles. You can pull quotes from your videos and make graphic quote cards for Instagram and Facebook.
But you cannot have omnipresence without creating content and creating stuff to send to your target audience. Remember Dan has everything from tangible things (bobbleheads and mouse pads) to newsletters, courses, emails and postcards.
Now that you are creating, you get to Step 2.
Step 2: Distribute Your Content
Online distribution platforms like Facebook and YouTube have made it very easy to post your content online. They are fast, free and have built a community where billions of people turn to watch videos on a daily basis.
But, just because you post something on Facebook or YouTube doesn’t mean that anyone is going to see it.
Just like anything great in life, you have to put in some work to reap the rewards. If you have done your homework and know the exact person you want to be omnipresent to, both YouTube and Facebook will allow you to advertise directly to them. This means you get to choose who sees your content.
You can also use direct media and direct marketing to send your content directly to the people that are likely to do business with you. Start by sending an email to all of your customers and prospects every time you post a new piece of content. Turn your online video into a DVD and mail it out to prospects. Post a status update on social media linking to your new video.
Image of things coming out of the computer
Now you are starting to be seen and heard by the right people. But there is one more key to creating omnipresence in your market.
Constancy & Consistency
These are the two biggest words I use with my own clients today. It’s not about filming one video and distributing it this week. It’s about being in front of your market constantly. You want to always be there sharing things.
Remember, Dan Kennedy is constantly showing up in my life. In the mail, online, on my shelf. At events. By constantly being there he is always top of mind. It doesn’t allow time for me to forget about him.
The second half of this is consistency. Many ThoughtLeaders® get gung-ho about creating content and go all in one week or even for a month and then burn-out. They can’t keep the schedule – it’s better to have a lower, consistent output them sporadic output with high volume in those spurts.
When you combine constancy and consistency with the two major steps above you will be on the top of the mind of everyone in your marketplace. You will have omnipresence. And your business will grow exponentially because of it.