If the idea of selling yourself or your product gives you hives, I’m thinking you may want to think again.
So many of my clients feel nervous about putting themselves forward. They associate selling yourself with bragging, having a too large an ego or just being plain uninterested in anyone else.
First of all, we are all participating in self promotion whether we are conscious of it or not. The way we dress, talk and engage with people is selling ourselves in situations. We want to be liked and accepted.
Secondly, if you tap into the reason you are doing what you are doing, your natural energy comes forward.
As soon as one of my clients begins to describe what they do or want to do, they are immediately infused with excitement. They are totally passionate about what they love. People they are talking to are always very interested to hear that kind of energy.
That’s self promotion – coming from the undeniable place of your enthusiasm. Just you talking about what you love to do and sharing it with people who may need you, your product or your services .
I recently conducted a pitching session. There were about 25 people at the workshop and it struck me how important it is to have a connection – a personal, heart felt connection with the story that you are pitching. Twenty five people doing 3 minute pitches is a lot to remember. What I find interesting and affirming is that the people who were personally involved in their story still stand out in my mind 4 days later.
For instance, a young woman was talking about a drama she wanted to do about a homeless man she had encountered. Her story sprang to life when she said her mother had been homeless. Suddenly, what was a drama that has been done before took on new meaning. She personally had a strong bond to the world of the streets. It gave her instant credibility.
Or another man describing his feature film where his hero is trying to get his girlfriend back. But that’s also the day he has to hang out with his autistic brother for whom he feels a great deal of shame. He wants to hide his younger brother because he is so embarrassed about the way he speaks. In the film, it is his brother who really helps him get his girl back. As it turns out, this was the director’s story of having an autistic brother and the journey he took to accept and love him. An incredibly moving story.
I remember talking with the creator of Intervention. When he pitched that series to A&E, he described the effects of addiction on each member of his family. The program exec was so moved, he immediately ordered the series.
Of course, not every story you have is going to have some family link. However, that authentic emotional heart level is crucial. When you do, people remember you, the story and the emotion they feel listening to it. I still have goose bumps just thinking about those two stories that were pitched in the session.
This kind of intimacy in story telling reminds me of what Joan Didion once wrote. “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” And certainly, in the pitches with that emotional connection, our lives become richer.
The Independent Production Fund recently published a guide on building an audience. Although it was written primarily for web series, the principals of digital marketing can be used for any concept, game, app or series you are developing. It’s a great road map for any concept in finding and friending your audience.
The author and marketing specialist, Julie Giles and i are developing a “hands-on” workshop to complement the guide.
There seems to be a number of books on engaging people – first Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment and now Sally Hogshead’s book entitled Fascinate.
Sally says there are seven Triggers that are used to fascinate us and trigger a response or desired action from us, like buying something.
The seven triggers are:
1. Mystique – that “je ne sais quoi” or Coke classic’s recipe
2. Power – We’re fascinated and influenced by people of power and control. Power is the ability to motivate but also create fear.
3. Passion – The seduction of pleasure! I want that now! The dipping of strawberries into chocolate.
4. Alarm – “Only 20 copies left……Order now”
5. Trust – Toyota used to have trust. Trust is the hardest trigger to use properly.
6. Rebellion – Lady Gaga breaking all the rules.
7. Prestige – Fine wines and the discernment of knowing them.
She also maintains we can use those triggers in our personal branding. Take the f-test. My primary trigger was Rebellion just like my hero Richard Branson and the secondary one was Passion. How are you fascinating?
Loyal fans are key to launching new content on the internet. The web is a very crowded and cluttered marketplace to capture people’s attention.
Riese, a sci fi web series is a great case study of how one group managed to find eyeballs for their content. Riese is a science fiction-fantasy series about Riese, a wanderer, who flees across the wartorn lands of Eleysia with her wolf, Fenrir battling religious assassins that have been sent to kill her.
In talking with Kaleena Kiff, one of the co-creators of the Riese, she said that their goal was to get the fans first. They went to Comic-Con in 2009 when they were in pre-production. They had three cast who were known in the the sci fi world, so they had recognizable names for the conference fans. The creators and producers hit the streets passing out 60,000 pieces of promotional materials. They had 2 kinds of buttons. Buttons are a big favourite with the over 250,000 participants at Comic-Con. The buttons had the web address and they also had small propaganda comicbooks to give out.
When the participants went home from Comic-Con, Riese‘s website had their photo shoot pictures and each week released more information on the series – behind the scenes with the production crew or cast.
Ryan Copple, the other co-creator constantly engaged with the fans in forums and chat rooms. By the time Riese aired in November with 5 episodes, over 9,000 fans on Facebook were following them.
The fans comments were incorporated into the shooting of the next 5 episodes and again that brought more fans to their site. That got the attention of a gaming company.
Riese was picked up by ContentFilms and now airs everywhere in the world. Because the creators raised the financing from private investors, they held on to their IP and have been able to do book deals, games and reap the revenues from selling it internationally. A very different business model from network TV.
If you’re in Vancouver, you can hear more from Kaleena at UBC Digital Media for Entertainment. She will be joined by Sean Embury, Siobhan McCarthy and Rochelle Grayson. It’s a 4 evening seminar series; 6:30 – 9:30pm, May 30 – June 2.
If interested in attending Digital Media for Entertainment (FA426S11A) use ” MRBLOG1420″ promo code for a 10% discount!
I'm a Canadian entrepreneur living in Vancouver, BC. I help other creative people focus their ideas, set goals and grow their businesses. Read more ...
