Ultimate Guide to Platform Building

Wendy Keller

• Publisher: Entrepreneur Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781599185989
• eBook ISBN: 9781613083536
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Small Business
• Index: Business

Marketing expert Wendy Keller delivers the ultimate guide to helping business owners differentiate themselves from the competition through branded marketing, dialed-in content designed to attract the right audience, create customers, and ultimately turn them into raving fans.

Chapter 1

What Is a Platform, and How Much Money Will It Make You?

If you are reading these words, your primary question about this book is likely to be, “What’s in it for me?” That’s exactly what your customers are asking also, before they invest their time or money in your product or service. It’s a fair question and every purveyor should be grateful when someone stops to browse their wares.

So thank you. Thanks for trusting me this far and for giving this page a chance to let you know how keenly this book is designed to help you achieve your goals as a businessperson.

To sell you on reading these words, I have to guess why you picked it up in the first place. It’s my job to determine what you hope to get from this and then to deliver it, so you will be a satisfied customer.

Here goes.

For us entrepreneurs, “growth” means “more sales.” One way to get more sales is to get more new customers. More customers result from more people knowing about you, your product or your service. The way you get more people to know about you is by building your platform. “Platform” is a jargon word for a large, growing group of fans who love you, your product, or your service. Your platform is the crowd of people who want to buy your stuff.

When a famous person like Justin Bieber or Kim Kardashian sends a tweet about a product, service, or other artist they like, it usually goes viral. That’s because all stars by definition have platforms.

You probably don’t want to be chased by paparazzi or be on the cover of People magazine, but what could happen for you in your niche if everyone knew your business’ name—or yours? How much more money will you make when lots of people realize you are the best purveyor of whatever you’re selling? A sustainable, well-built platform will attract prospects to you with minimal effort. Your profits will increase at the same velocity as your platform grows.

It’s time to grow your platform if:

You want to grow your business by attracting new customers, clients, or patients.

You have a new business you are trying to launch.

Your sales are slumping—or never got off the ground.

You want to introduce a new product or service to the market.

You would like to attract investors or partners.

You yearn to expand your brand.

You are searching for new streams of revenue.

You want to distinguish your career.

You are being eaten alive by the competition.

You are an author, artist, musician, designer, or other creative type looking to figure out how to make enough money to do what you love for a living.

You are a speaker, coach, or consultant (or want to be), and you are putting your game plan together.

You just want to make more money.

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WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

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Just for the record, I use the word “customers” to refer to clients, patients, constituents, or listeners when referring to people who give you money or who take the action you want them to take. I use the word “money” to refer to whatever benefit it is that you desire from building your platform. Your goal may be “world peace” or “vote for me!” and I hope you achieve your goal, but we’ll stick with...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface: How to Get the Most Benefit from This Book
• Chapter 1: What Is a Platform, and How Much Money Will It Make You?
• Chapter 2: Creating a Customer Avatar
• Chapter 3: Analytics and Espionage
• Chapter 4: The Power of Positioning
• Chapter 5: Planning a Sustainable Business
• Chapter 6: The Peculiar Principle of “Givers Gain”
• Chapter 7: Content Creation Strategies
• Chapter 8: The Content Creation Dilemma: How to Avoid Procrastination
• Chapter 9: How to Write and Sell an eBook
• Chapter 10: Social Media
• Chapter 11: Recording Sensational Audio
• Chapter 12: How to Create a Good Audio Product or Program
• Chapter 13: Podcasting for Profits
• Chapter 14: How to Create a Good Video
• Chapter 15: How to Set Up a Branded YouTube Channel
• Chapter 16: How to Get Publicity
• Chapter 17: How to Write a Good Pitch
• Chapter 18: Where to Find the Right Journalists and How to Approach Them
• Chapter 19: How to Get Sponsors
• Chapter 20: Contests, Raffles, and Giveaways
• Chapter 21: Using Workshops, Webinars, and Seminars
• Chapter 22: How to Get Paid to Give Speeches
• Chapter 23: Write a Book
• Chapter 24: Creating a Sustainable Platform
• Chapter 25: How to Get and Use Endorsements, Testimonials, Referrals, and Reviews
• Chapter 26: Profiting Forward
• Appendix: Resources and Links
• Glossary
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Index