An important part of building a following for your writing is your ability to get noticed online – to rise above “the noise”. From a strategic perspective, you would ideally like to find an area of focus for your writing that is not already saturated with writers. Marketing guru Mark Schaefer, in his book “Known: The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age”, describes this as “an uncontested or under-occupied niche with enough people to matter”. His experience has shown that this is the area where most people fail.
Here are some methods for you to consider that might allow you to narrow your focus and find your “under-occupied niche with enough people to matter”.
- Choose the intersection of Area A and Area B
- Example: Wine and Faith – “The Spirituality of Wine” by Gisela Kreglinger
- Focus on a specific demographic
- Example: Rachel Held Evans’ primary audience started as post-evangelical women in their 20’s and 30’s
- Geographical focus
- Example: Leslie Leyland Fields combines writings on faith and her family’s Alaskan salmon fishing business – “Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt, and the Seas”
- Interest focus
- Example: “Holy Spokes” by Rev. Laura Everett – “…tells the story of Everett’s unlikely conversion to urban cycling. As she pedaled her way into a new way of life, Everett discovered that her year-round bicycle commuting wasn’t just benefiting her body, her wallet, and her environment. It was enriching her soul.”
- Leverage a platform in addition to writing
- For instance: video, podcast, leadership of a large organization
- Example: Mike McHargue built sizable podcast platforms before writing his first book.
- And here is a presentation by Mike that describes how to build your own podcast platform
- Partnership and curation
- Example: Writing for Your Life – A fundamental strategy of Writing for Your Life is to partner with leading experts
- Online and in-person conferences featuring talented authors and industry experts
- Blog articles from numerous guests
- Reselling writing support services
- Example: Writing for Your Life – A fundamental strategy of Writing for Your Life is to partner with leading experts
Where is your “Strategic Space”? Feel free to contact us if you would like to work on this further.
