Path to Visibility

Do you struggle to attract the kind of clients, customers, and opportunities that you really want  for your small business or personal brand?

This isn’t uncommon and it can be so frustrating!

But there is a reason why this is happening AND a solution to the problem. It takes a bit of work, but it's not hard or time-consuming.

All you need to do is some good old-fashioned, target audience research. 

Often overlooked, target audience research is key to almost all successful marketing campaigns.

And it's especially crucial for small business and personal brands which can't afford to waste time or money!

In this episode we'll uncover the power of target audience research and how to use it to help boost your visibility and attract the kind of clients, customers, and opportunities you’ve always wanted.

Tune in for details on : 

• How to conduct basic customer research. 
• How to create a target audience research guide.
• When and how to use online resources to gather valuable insights.
• How to do customer interviews and surveys.
• The importance of understanding your audience's specific needs, goals, and desires.
• How this knowledge can help you build trust, credibility, and set you apart from competitors. 

By the end of this episode, you'll be well-equipped to make informed decisions about how to better understand you ideal target audience so you can save time, money, and effort while attracting the kind of clients, customers, and opportunities you've been dreaming of.

Thank you for listening!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Here’s the prompt I wrote to see whether Chat GPT could help identify my target audience. It worked great! Try it for yourself by replacing the copy in brackets with words relevant to what you do:

I am a [public relations expert with many years of experience]. I’d like to teach what I know to people who could really use [PR knowledge to start or grow their business or personal brand.] What kind of target audience should I market to?

Feel free to steal or adapt my LinkedIn target audience message for your own outreach.

Send me podcast topic requests: [email protected]

Connect with me on Linkedin or follow Path to Visibility on Instagram.

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This week I talk to Andrea DelZotto, a successful corporate executive turned entrepreneur about the ups, the downs…and most importantly the realities of building a personal brand.

Andrea spent most of her career as a senior executive at Canada's leading condominium developer, Tridel Corporation where she built a leadership profile for herself within the company and beyond.

This includes a social media community of more than 6000 followers where she shares her thoughts and opinions on a range of topics. Which led to her becoming a frequently consulted voice on real estate industry topics and issues, and a sought-after speaker.

Side note: Toronto is one of the most active condominium development markets in the world. With nearly 250 cranes in use we have more cranes than New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington combined!

As you'll see from our interview, the profile Andrea has today is the result of hard work and strategy. She’s honest and vulnerable about what she shares. The result is both helpful and inspiring advice and some direction for those of us in the midst of building a personal brand during the inevitable times when we may start to feel a bit lost.

Here's what we covered:

• Why in hindsight Andrea would start her personal branding journey sooner. 
• How NOT to be boring.
• Figuring out your message --the professional and personal.
• How to know when you're ready to take on high profile speaking engagements.
• The surprising secret to personal branding success.
• How to deal with setbacks and critics. 
• Staying up to date on key topics.
• The importance of relationships. 

Connect with Janice on LinkedIn.
Connect with Andrea DelZotto on LinkedIn or TikTok

Thank you for listening!
Links mentioned in this episode: Concrete Cardinal

To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify.  Please Follow, Rate & Review!

On today's episode we talk about how to build visibility using LinkedIn with my guest Mark Williams, aka Mr. LinkedIn.

Mark knows pretty much everything there is to know about LinkedIn.  He's a very busy LinkedIn trainer and hosts the popular LInkedInformed podcast. 

I've been listening to him for years and know first hand that Mark is always on top of the latest LinkedIn features.  And fortunately for us, one of the services he provides is training on how to use LinkedIn to get noticed and increase your visibility. Right up our alley! 

This episode is filled with practical advice and tips that will help you build a bigger and more effective presence on LinkedIn. 

We cover a wide range of topics including: 

• [11:16]  How to network on LinkedIn 
• [17:30]  The value of your LinkedIn profile 
• [18:38]  How to build a purposeful following
• [21:59]  The hidden value of a DM conversation  
• [39:28]  How often you should post
• [44:16] Whether or not to include a link with your post

Connect with Janice on LinkedIn.
Connect with Mark Williams on LinkedIn

Thank you for listening! 
Links mentioned in this episode: LinkedInformed Podcast 

To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify.  Please Follow, Rate & Review!

In today's episode I speak with former national newspaper and television journalist Steve Ladurantaye about the do's and don'ts of media pitching.

Steve's extensive background in journalism, including positions at The Globe and Mail, CBC and Twitter, makes him the perfect person to offer insights and advice on how to effectively work with the media.

Listeners will come away from this episode with a deeper understanding of how to generate compelling story ideas and position themselves for success in the media. Whether you're a small business owner or a professional building a personal brand, the insights shared in this episode will help you elevate your visibility and reach a wider audience.

During our conversation, Steve offers valuable tips about how to use the news media to build visibility for a small business or personal brand. Our discussion covers wide a range of topics , including:

• Breaking down the myth of the "intimidating journalist" and understanding how to approach media with confidence.
• Identifying the unique and compelling stories that small businesses have to tell, and how to frame them for the media.
• Understanding the needs and preferences of different types of media outlets, and tailoring your pitch accordingly.
• Leveraging your expertise to become a go-to source for journalists in your industry.
• Building relationships with journalists over time, and maintaining a strong presence in the media ecosystem.

Get the free resource mentioned in this episode:
Grab Your Free Guide Here - Cracking the Code: How to Get Quoted in the Media   

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Follow the Path to Visibility on Instagram

Thanks for listening!
Please Follow, Rate & Review!

Get the free resource mentioned in this episode:
Grab Your Free Guide Here - Cracking the Code: How to Get Quoted in the Media.   

In today's episode:
Do you ever see a colleague or competitor being interviewed by a local media outlet and wonder, "How did that happen? Why are they being interviewed? Why not me?"

Or maybe you see them and think, "That's fine...no one pays attention to local media coverage."

In today's episode I start by discussing the benefits of becoming well-known in the city or town where you live. There are three important reasons why you should take the time to build awareness for your business or personal brand in your local market. Then I talk about what you can do to increase your visibility and influence in your local market.

You'll learn:

• [3:49]  Why you should build relationships with local media, events and thought leaders.
• [5:25]  How local influence creates new opportunities. 
• [7:07]  The benefits of being top-of-mind locally for your business or expertise .
• [10:35]  How to get featured in local media.
• [12:50]  Build buzz by collaborating with other local businesses to host a networking event for prospective clients. 
• [15:06] The benefits of teaching at a local college or university. 

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Follow the Path to Visibility on Instagram

To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 
Please Follow, Rate & Review! 

Building visibility is necessary for small business and personal brands because it helps create the kind of awareness that's needed to stand out from the competition.

But when funds are limited and you can't hire an agency to do your marketing, things can get awkward. Because let's face it...being active on social media, creating content and building an email list don't come naturally to everyone.

And it's no wonder people feel uneasy about marketing. Every time you turn around you're confronted by a pushy sales pitch or some kind of hyped up message.

That's why in this episode I talk about how to market your business or brand in a way that's authentic to you and aligned with your values and beliefs.

We'll be talking about the challenges of building visibility, particularly with a limited marketing budget, and exploring ways to overcome those challenges while staying true to your own unique voice.

You'll discover how to awareness for yourself and your business without sacrificing authenticity.

Links mentioned in this episode:
1000 True Fans
LinkedIn post example
 

Thank you for listening!  Connect with Janice on LinkedIn.

To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify.  Please Follow, Rate & Review! 

This week I had an anniversary of sorts...it's been just over one month since I launched this podcast and the feedback I'm getting from listeners has been great.

So far I’ve tried to cover topics that will help you understand what’s possible with PR and how to use it to get results

In today's episode I take a step back so we can talk about the importance of goals, strategy and planning. Because successful PR is not just about ideas, it's also about setting clear goals, creating a winning strategy and developing a solid plan to get there.

Here's a glace at what we cover:

• [3:36] The importance of goals for any business
• [5:00] Why setting goals can be helpful 
• [5:24] How to set goals that are SMART
• [7:03] Why strategy at its core is about making choices
• [8:21] How to identify your target audience 
• [9:36] What's in a PR Toolkit?

It’s a shorter episode but an important one. I'd love to know what you think.

Thank you for listening!  Connect with Janice on LinkedIn.

To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify.  Please Follow, Rate & Review! 

In today’s episode I interview SEO and digital PR expert John Tyreman who does an excellent job of explaining the whole idea behind the very technical concepts of search engine optimization (SEO) and digital public relations. 

Even better, he describes in detail how small business owners and personal brands can use those concepts to increase their visibility and reputation. It takes a bit of work…not a ton. But the payoff is big and the benefits build over time and last for months, even years. 

As an example, one digital PR campaign John talks about delivered dozens of targeted inbound leads every week for months.

The bottom line is digital PR can expand your visibility and help your target audience find you. All you need is newsworthy content and an understanding of how to distribute it. That’s what we talk about today.

Here’s what we cover: 

• Search engine optimization (SEO) and why we need it
• What’s digital PR and why is it so valuable to small businesses and personal brands? 
• How to craft a media pitch that gets a backlink.
• Who to target with a digital PR pitch. 
• What is link juice and how does it work?
• How does a follow link differ from a no follow link
• Why it’s important to promote media coverage and how to do it.
• How to evaluate the success of a digital PR campaign

Connect with Janice on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Connect with today's guest, John Tyreman at Red Cedar Marketing, LinkedIn or Twitter

For more episodes about simple, effective ways to use public relations that will get your message out and generate demand for your small business or personal brand (without hiring a costly PR agency) head to the Path to Visibility website here.  

Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 

Today’s guest, Martin Waxman demystifies the currently trending topic of artificial intelligence and explains in practical terms how it can help small business and personal brands. He’s been studying AI for years and understands it better than anyone I know. 

Martin is a digital communications expert and PR agency founder as well as a university and LinkedIn Learning instructor who teaches AI, social media, digital and content marketing, and podcasting. 

Please note that Martin mentions several useful AI resources (free and paid) which are linked below for those who want to try them out. I will be doing that myself and will report back in a future episode. 

Here’s what we cover:

• The 3 types of artificial intelligence
• How AI “generates stuff” like blog posts, photos and videos using free and paid tools
• Some of the benefits of AI like idea generation, writing first drafts and creating images
• Some of the risks like the potential for mistakes and inaccuracy
• How AI can help small businesses strapped for time and money
• How to use Chat GPT to help with marketing

Get in touch with Martin Waxman on LinkedIn or at www.martinwaxman.com

Connect with Janice on LinkedIn.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Chat GPT 
• Hyperwrite 
• Jasper 
• Lately 
• DALL-E 2 
• Stable Diffusion 2-1 - a Hugging Face Space
• Canva AI (Magic Write)
• TOME
• Lumen 5

If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Thanks for listening!

Today's episode of Path to Visibility is about personal branding.

We'll talk about what it is, why it's important for small business and personal brands and how you can use it to build your business.

It's a common misconception that personal branding is just for celebrities and influencers. In reality it's a useful marketing strategy for turning yourself and your business into a trusted brand that stands out from the competition.

Personal branding is about identifying and communicating your unique value proposition to the world. This is what top brands do and why they succeed. So can you.
 
Whether you're a solopreneur, small business owners, or aspiring thought leader, this episode will provide you with practical tips and strategies to help you build a strong and successful personal brand--even if you don't know where to start.

In today's episode:

• [01:52} Why use personal branding?
• [04:19] A lesson from Tide
• [06:17] How Brene Brown got started
• [07:31] Creating a personal brand
• [10:40] Getting started with marketing  
• [14:36] The importance of an email list
• [16:01] 2  ways to publish a book
• [17:32] The halo effect 
• [20:43] Summary and recap

Links mentioned in this episode:

How a Small Business Can Win Big With PR
The Value of Being Quoted in the Media and How to Make That Happen

Thank you for listening!  Connect with Janice on LinkedIn.

To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify.  Please Follow, Rate & Review!