Page 109 - The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business - PDFDrive.com

content with a bit of your personality, a bit of your own creativity. You have no
competitors. There is only one you.

4. Where’s the break?
Most people who are at hero status had a break along the way, usually through
an established mentor who saw potential in them and was willing to help. Don’t
be afraid to network and ask for help, especially if you have relationships with
established heroes in the field.

5. Become a servant leader.
While exchanging favors through reciprocity is a powerful engine on the web, I
think a better view of “giving” as a leadership strategy is expressed by author
and entrepreneur James Altucher6 as he reflected on the common thread among
80 “heroic” people he interviewed on his podcast.

“I don’t think I spoke to a single person who believed in setting personal
goals,” he said. “But 100 percent of the people I spoke to wanted to solve a
problem for the many. It doesn’t matter how you give each day. It doesn’t even
matter how much. But everyone wanted to give and eventually they were given
back.

“Nobody succeeded with just a great idea. Everyone succeeded because they
built networks within networks of connections, friends, colleagues…all striving
toward their own personal goals, all trusting each other, and working together to
help each other succeed. This is what happens only over time. This is why giving
creates a bigger world because you can never predict what will happen years
later.”

Another common theme among marketing leaders I interviewed was
elevating your audience. “The key to nurturing your own audience and elevating
your own brand is, ironically, elevating those around you,” said Ann Handley of
Marketing Profs. “This starts with data: Knowing who your audience is, and
where they are, and what you can offer that’s most of value, and how you might
offer it.

“But it continues with listening (reading what they write, following them,
hearing what most resonates), engaging (sharing what they write, commenting,
and sometimes challenging), and inviting them to share their thoughts and ideas
with our community.”

With great content and an engaged Alpha Audience backing you up,
becoming a true servant leader is probably the single-most powerful creator of
“heroic” connection and influence on the web.