Top 3 questions to ask yourself before sharing the spotlight with your influencer.

This is a podcast for you if you're finding getting noticed is proving harder than you thought. On this show, you'll discover free and effective ways to get your business recognized and understood by the people who matter to you. I interview other entrepreneurs, experts, and also share some of my experiences from over 25 years as an entrepreneur, including setting up an international public relations agency network. My name is Jim James. Welcome to the Unnoticed Show. If you're building your own brand, should you be a host on someone else's show, or should you be hosting your own show? Now, I'm answering this question because somebody asked me that today by email. One of the leading authorities in their field would like to be on a— on an interview with them on a webinar, and it'll really help to build a great conversation around a particular topic. Now, the question that they've asked me is, should they host this event themselves and promote it under their own platform and their own banner? Or should they work alongside an industry magazine that has an established and big readership? The issue really is one that they're wrestling with. And I thought we'd just dive into this because for many people building a brand, There is a question to some degree of do you build or borrow? And of course, part of what we're referring to on the build or borrow is the audience itself. Now, this question came to me with some context that the person building the brand is growing their brand, and they are becoming more and more of an authority, and they've managed to get somebody interested in being with them on a show. And they're debating, should they host that themselves or should they partner with a publication that has a show? But the downside is that then the editor of the magazine would then become also a host. So they might dilute their own presence, but at the same time, they would get access to the audience. So which way Should they go? Let's look at that. First of all, it's a great idea to be out speaking either on a podcast or a webinar or a radio show. First of all, getting some exposure is great. A good point is that they've managed to take themselves in as a pair, as a duo, to address an issue. Often people think about going onto a podcast or even writing a blog on their own. And that creates a 2-party conversation. But what's nice about this is that there's the opportunity now to have a 3-way conversation between the person who's written to me, the entrepreneur, and this industry expert, plus the editor of a magazine. So it'll make it much more dynamic than it might have been if it was just one person speaking, or even if it was just 2 people speaking. So first of all, the content may become frankly more compelling if there are 3 people. Now, the next point is if you were to host that event yourself and have your own tech setup using Zoom or using StreamYard or something like that, that takes some work. And one of the questions is going to be, are you really set up for that? Because as we've all experienced, trying to manage a show and be the host of a show isn't that easy. And there are so many buttons to press, so many things to worry about— microphone levels, other speaker having the right technology available, the internet working, and so on— that one has to think about the production as well as the content. So working alongside, in this particular case, an industry magazine will give them the possibility to outsource all of that hard work. But the flip side is that the publication may claim the glory for the whole topic, and the editor could muscle in. And that would mean that the entrepreneur, you, for example, may not get as big a shout. In fact, almost by definition, if there are 3 of you on the show instead of 2, you're going to get only a third of the mic instead of half the mic. So there's going to be a bit of a trade-off. Now, in the case of a platform that has already the production sorted out, not only the broadcasting and but also the post-production, working with the publisher means that they may do a better job of the editing and the post-production because the long tail of content, which is, in other words, the content that exists after the event, can often be more valuable than the event itself. We're hearing more and more about how people are hosting a webinar, and actually the number of people on the webinar is not that great because of issues of scheduling, for example. But the post-event viewership is really where the numbers are coming from. So as this person, this entrepreneur who wrote to me, said, the benefit of working with this magazine is that they'll take care of the tech and increase the potential audience. And it'll also, of course, bring the brand endorsement, because this publication already has a reputation. Now, the downside for this person is that they don't get the benefit of being seen as the host. And they're not building their own brand, they're helping actually to probably build the brand of this publication. Now, The view that I have is it depends on a few different factors. One is going to be where you're at in your journey in terms of your own brand. Because it could be that you invite this industry authority along to your show. But if you don't have the audience that's commensurate with the level that person is an authority, actually, they're trading down, and they're probably going to be disappointed by not the conversation maybe, but they might be disappointed by the impact that you can create. Now another aspect is that if you're trying to create the show and be the content for the show and do the post-production, there are several different pieces of work that need to take place there, and you may not have a skill set for all of those. Now if you already have a platform in place and you've already got distribution in place, then sure, then why not go ahead and host that industry leader? And why not even go out to the journalist and the editor and invite them to be on your show? That way then you're adding value to your own platform. But in this particular case, this entrepreneur has been running their own business now for about a year. They've done well enough for them to have these connections and people want to be seen with them, but they don't yet have the audience, they don't have the platform yet. So what I've suggested is that the partnership with this publication is a great way to go, in the same way that in the old days we would write an article and try and get the article into a magazine rather than launching our own magazine. And actually, the parallels are still there. It's not just the writing of the article, it's also the formatting, it's also the content that's around that article or that content that's around the podcast. If you have one great show but it's in isolation, then people are not listening before and afterwards. But just like with a magazine article or a newspaper article, you're also thinking about the context that your piece is going to appear in. So the question then is, how can you start to leverage their platform for your content. So let's assume they've got the audience and they've got the platform, they've got the distribution, and they're going to do the post-production. What we can do, for example, is to say that this particular show is co-hosted by you, that this is a special appearance by you on their show. Another thing that we can do is to ask to be in the show notes and also to have access to the mailing list. Now, as we know, people's subscriber lists are one of their main assets. And really, the podcast might be a great way to share what you know, but most people don't respond directly to a podcast because the device they're listening to doesn't enable the response. But if they've got email, then of course they can click reply and get in touch with you. So newsletters and subscriber lists are really the value that we're looking to get to. So I suggested this entrepreneur that she could be the shared top billing and also that she gets access to the mailing list and that also she can be on their website and if there's an event website that her name is there. In other words, all the ways that we can leverage her brand before the event and then during the event, for example, to be tweeting or for her to be tweeting and to share the hashtags and the@ symbols whilst they're sharing the show. Because as we know, it's also possible for her to be streaming from somebody else's podcast. She could actually be streaming it to her own Facebook. She could be also sharing the clips and recording it and sharing it by making her own snippets. So we can leverage the content. The fact that it's taking place under somebody else's brand platform doesn't deny us the ability to build our own brand and our own content as a result. In fact, it could be a way to leverage their website, their platform, and their subscribers. Now finally, the question was about the speaker, that she was going to bring a speaker with her and that's why she thought she could host her own show. The speaker themselves, as I've said, if they are an authority in the industry, may feel a bit disappointed if the listenership is not that great, if they don't get anyone following up and saying, hey, I heard you on this show and, and this was great, I got some real results from it. The speaker may be really impressed and grateful for getting access to a podcast that they may not be able to get access to on their own. Many thought leaders are not that good at actually getting themselves access and getting themselves into places where they can be heard. So part of the role that she's playing then is to facilitate that access, and that in itself will have value. For the relationship. So the speaker will be impressed that she's been able to get them access to a platform they maybe couldn't get onto themselves, but they may also start to see her as a facilitator for them to get onto other platforms as well. And who knows, maybe she can start to charge them for that. But certainly she may find then other people want to start to be within her sphere of influence so that she can get them into other shows. So we started off with this idea of should you host your own guest or should you be a guest on someone else's show and maybe even co-host a third party? Which way should you go? It really depends then on where your business and your brand are at. Do you have the infrastructure? Do you have the brand? Do you have the audience? And do you have the time to build that out? So if the answer is yes, then you could be leveraging that person as a thought leader into your show, but you could also be bringing in the editor, for example, of another magazine, and if you like, joining audiences so that subscribers to both databases are hearing about the, the conversation. But if you don't have that infrastructure, you don't have that time, you don't have that brand, there are ways to leverage your presence in the other person's show that will enable you to get the content and to get the exposure that you would have got if you ran the show yourself, but frankly, without all of the work. There isn't one rule. And in fact, over time, we need a portfolio, we need a mix. So she could then take the podcast that she's going to be on with these other thought leaders and the editor, take the audio, repackage it, and actually put it on her own podcast. In fact, I've put on the Unnoticed Show a few interviews that I've done with other podcasters where I've been the guest. So podcasting, just with writing articles, with being a speaker, for example, all these ways to build our own authority in the market are about collaboration, cooperation, and ultimately about communication. It's great to do it on your own, but it can mean that you don't get the same kind of exposure. But obviously, if you go on your own and if you can carry that, you're going to build your own brand more. So we actually need a mix. Sometimes we're on our own, sometimes we've got people with us on our platform, and sometimes we're on other people's platforms. There's not one size fits all, and even the big stars You'll hear them going on to other people's shows, whether it's for TV or podcasting or radio, because that's how networks are built and networks are maintained. Otherwise, we end up just with our own network, and that will never grow really by the same ways that it can if we connect with other people's networks. Fundamentally, as a as an entrepreneur, taking ownership of conversations in the marketplace is a good strategy, and that's where this entrepreneur is getting it right. What they're doing. Right is to have an industry topic, address it, find an industry expert that otherwise may not have been in the conversation, and finding a platform to share that with a broader community. That's a very smart strategy. And guess what? It's free. It's only going to cost some time, but the upsides will be immeasurable in terms of brand content and ultimately relationships. Because the expert that comes on to that show with them, plus the editor that they're on the show with as well, will have some green room time. And anyone that's been at a conference knows that actually it's the people you meet when you're a speaker that are often the most valuable at a conference, rather than the speaking and the people that are in the audience. So by creating this elite community of, in this case, just 3 people, they're going to build some great authority that can be of great value to them and to their business. So I wanted to answer this specific question today. And if you've got a question that you're wrestling with, please do send it to me, jim@easypresspr.com, because what I do for a living with my PR agency, East West PR, is I solve problems for people on how to get noticed. And sometimes it's a formula, sometimes it's a process, But in this case, it's a judgment decision weighed up against many factors. And I love to do this, and I love to try and help people to get noticed. So if you've got a problem you'd like me to answer, please do send it to me, and I will happily share my experience of over 25 years of building brands for companies and for myself so that I can help you to get noticed. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Unnoticed Show. I hope you enjoyed that show. Now please write to me, jim@eastwestpr.com, and tell me the number one problem that you're facing right now so that I can serve you more. Above all, I hope that listening to the Unnoticed Show has given you more ideas and more confidence to share with the world the wonderful work that you are doing. Please do subscribe as I've got more guests, tools, and ideas to help you get noticed for free.