Can you afford to be unknown?
What do Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Che Guevara, and Michael Jackson have in common? Obviously - they are known. You may like them or not, you may understand them or not, and the only thing you can't do is ignore them!
Known people and you!
Why being known is good for your startup?
Being known is not the same as being famous, or at least doesn't have to be. Known people are recognized in their industry or group of interest, they are invited to become speakers (or keynote speakers) at various conferences and influence their audience. Some of them write books and become experts. Others earn good money consulting companies or giving paid speeches. All that is personally valuable for the known, but what is often undervalued, also for the companies they are building. Why?
Take a look at anyone famous doing a business and check their LinkedIn or Twitter account. Now go to the pages of their businesses and compare the number of people following the companies compared to their known founders or employees. I bet that the difference is at least an order of magnitude for the known. Whatever they tell about the business they are building, from launching to announcing new features, immediately becomes visible and viral. This means that they can sell and grow their businesses.
The same pattern works for fundraising. If you are known in the market, VCs or angels will be much more willing to give you the money as they are confident in your ability to sell and multiply their profits.
How to become known?
There are lots of possibilities to become known. From engaging on social media, through educating on youtube to writing books. The options are endless and everyone can find a niche where he or she can build an audience. Usually, this means hard work and dedication to that goal for quite a while. Describing all the possibilities and tactics on how to do it is beyond the scope of this post, nevertheless, there is one source of knowledge I strongly recommend - the book by Mark Schaefer, one of the known in marketing, titled... Known. On over 200 pages Mark explains all the strategies and challenges related to getting known.
If you have enough grit, just grab the book, read it, and... become known!
Known
The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age
- Nobody is born a thought leader. It’s something you need to earn in the mind of your audience, slowly over time. You should approach the process of becoming known with humility and respect to those who came before you.
Are you on your way to becoming known? What are your experiences? Share your thought in the comments!