A few weeks back I got the opportunity to sit in on a consultant training entitled, “Impression Management” based around how to act and present yourself to the level of top CEO’s around the world. As I assisted with the technical needs and jumped in to participate I was reminded of how 93% of our communication is body language (According to Bore tests) and a majority of our influence is based on appearance.
Uh Oh, I thought. I’m attempting to grow my influence to be the “tech guy” every online entrepreneur needs to know about and I only have 7% of your attention to work with? Sheesh.
The impressions we leave in the online world are much less likely to stick, and it’s because of that we need to be vigilant in managing our influence. How can we do that?
I recently sat down and did a skype video chat (thats what you do when you want to digitally meet) with one Mars Dorian. I knew Mars as a commenter on a few blogs, I visited his website about spreading influence and beside thinking he has a sweet name, didn’t know much about him or what to expect from our conversation.
After the call I was on fire. I forgot what it was like to get revved up about your mission, but I was also very aware of some missing pieces for IT Arsenal in growing influence and being more sticky. Mars brought up some great points and I want to make sure you get them too.
Here’s what I took away from the master influencer’s comments.
- Don’t be something your not. I try to play the part of both “small business” and an individual on IT Arsenal, which leaves people thinking the website could just be another corporate site or a team which is intimidating to my core user, the entrepreneur, freelancer and go getter. Even if it’s me and some assistants, there’s no need to say “We”, just be me and do it with personality. Brand tweaking for me in the future.
- Be Passionate. Can I be every entrepreneurs tech guy? No, my practical mind tells me I can’t speak to everyone at once, but should I still try to be? Yes. I remember a comment I received on an entrepreneur video contest I did a while back. The comment was to the effect of shooting down the idea of IT Arsenal because it doesn’t scale, so it’s pointless. One-to-one support doesn’t scale, true, but information does, start small but think BIG. I’m laughing at how I let that comment stick with me until now. I haven’t been fired up like this in a while.
- Repetition. I don’t mean annoying advertisements and social media blasts every 5 minutes, but put your brand into everything. If you scan Mars’s website, you’ll see he has his logo subtly infused into everything, I have it burned into my brain now, and I bet thats exactly what he wants. There’s a power in presence, there’s a fine line about it too, but having a structure where your name appears constantly every Tuesday at 6pm or in a certain section on certain websites consistently, and your influence will grow with repetitive consistent viewing. I’m going to apply this by being consistent in offering a “free tech tuesday” chat every Tuesday night.
Mars has some great insight, and his charisma is seriously inspiring. Check him out for some tips on how to spread your influence.
Mars Dorian — How I Built a Notorious Online Presence in Less Than 5 months (and You Can Too !)