I remember the first day after I was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. It was the day I started working with my dad in the commercial real estate industry. I knew nothing beyond what I picked up from growing up with two parents in real estate. I didn’t have a license. I didn’t have business cards. I was as green as they come. All I wanted to do was hide in my office.
Photo from istockphoto.com
I remember having the nagging thought: “Who would want to work with you when they could work with your dad?” It took me two years to get over that self-doubt.
It is one thing to gain self-confidence, and that takes time. Your industry also needs to gain confidence in you. You need to become known as an expert in your field. I like to talk about this as dominant market presence. Are you, your company, or your product the first thing that pops into potential clients’ or customers’ minds?
I believe a blog is the quickest way to gain this dominant market presence. You can become known as an expert, gain dominant market presence, and cultivate the next generation of clients and customers by blogging in these 4 categories.
Blog on These 4 Categories
- Deal Stories – Stories are an incredible way to engage with your audience. They often allow you to connect with your readers on an emotional level. This invites your readers into your post and keeps them there. Stories of real situations are also valuable to your potential future clients. Plus, stories allow you to demonstrate your expertise without tooting your own horn. Your deal stories should include these 3 sections:
- Situation – Give the context of what was going on. Why were you hired? What challenges was your client facing? Giving the context allows your readers to relate.
- Steps – What did you do to solve your clients problems? What did you do to help maximize your client’s best interests? Share what happened, but be careful not to sound like a commercial.
- Solution – Here is where you describe the results. This is the culmination of the story. If done well, the reader will have a better understanding of the service or product you provide and how that product or service can benefit them.
- News – Blogging about the news demonstrates that you are in-the-know about what is happening in your industry. However, the news can be boring. You do not want to just regurgitate what your readers are hearing from other sources. If a certain news topic is becoming a topic of conversation at the water cooler, you should blog about it. Demonstrate your expertise and experience by giving your take. A word of caution: only blog about a news topic if it is applicable to your industry.
- Market trends – This topic can also be boring so be careful. I would not blog about market trends more than once a quarter. However, demonstrating that you are aware of market trends is important. For some of your readers, this information will be valuable. It puts you in the position to become a trusted resource for timely information.
- 101 Topics – In Commercial Real Estate, every successful investor did their first deal at some point. Donald Trump did not come out of the womb as an expert. He had to learn. By blogging about the basics of your industry, you have the opportunity to educate the next generation of players in your industry. In the next 20 years, we are about to see the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. By educating the next generation of your future clients, who do you think will be top-of-mind when the next generation has a need for your product or service for the first time? You will!
A huge hurdle for many beginning bloggers is the anxiety of knowing what to blog about. As a bonus to this post, I have included a simple exercise I use with my coaching clients. In 10 minutes, you can brainstorm these 4 categories and produce a year’s worth of blog topics.
Knowing what you will blog about for the entire next year is like a warm blanket. This single exercise could lead to your success in building a powerful blog that increases your presence, solidifies you as an expert, and cultivates the next generation of your future clients.
Question: What are you doing to ensure the success of your presence campaign in 2014? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.