Nicolas Cole explains why clients ask for the wrong thing. A client might request a press release to build a personal brand, but that won't work. Instead, Cole says a real personal brand needs three things: an audience on at least one platform, a newsletter, and a sellable product. He offers a discounted newsletter service for the first few months to show value while staying in his wheelhouse.
Just because someone says, "I need this thing," doesn't mean that A, that's what they actually need, and B, that you should change the thing that you're providing for them. You're providing the thing. You don't need to adjust your offer for them. And you actually already said the answer, which is the person said, "I want help writing a press release." to build my personal brand. Press release does not do anything for building someone's personal brand. So when I hear that and when you hear that, you should— a little bell should go off in your brain and you go, this person wants an outcome and they don't know how to get there. They think they know how to get there, but just because they said something doesn't mean that that's the right way. So the best thing for you to do is to ask clarifying questions. Okay, so you want help building your personal brand? Yes. Yes. How do you measure success there? Like, at what point would you say I have successfully built a personal brand? You get them to define it. 9 times out of 10, they're going to say, I don't know. Like, okay, so why don't I educate you? Some things that may— that would quantify someone having a personal brand would be you have some sort of audience on at least one platform, you have a newsletter, and ideally you have something to sell. Those are kind of the big three checks. It's like if you have those three things, you would, quote unquote, have a personal brand. I can help you with those, but a press release isn't going to solve your goal. So that's really, really all. I think oftentimes when you're talking with someone, and this is true for clients, it's true for like whenever we run boot camps, I get tons of emails from people being like, hey, in this boot camp, do you also talk about this? Hey, this boot camp's about XYZ, but do you also talk about this completely different thing? Imagine if as that was happening, I was trying to cater to every single different type of request. It would be impossible, right? So the response is like, no, we specialize in this one thing, and it sounds like you're interested in this thing over here. Here's how they connect. Here's how it might be helpful to you. But otherwise, no, that is not what I do. And so the same is true for you. No, I do not write press releases. And also, a press release isn't going to help you accomplish your goal. Does that make sense?
It does, yeah. I mean, I know this is something you say over and over again, and it's something I've been thinking about over the weekend, which is, you know, is this the something to get my foot in the door, if you will, which is saying actually what you need is this, or, or just now as I was listening to you saying like, okay, I can refer you to some person who works on, who specializes in press releases. And what I do is actually over here.
Yes. Yeah, I think it's important. An important nuance is getting your foot in the door would be like, I feel like a newsletter is the most effective thing for you, and I'm happy to work with you at, say, a discount for the first 3 months just to show you how this works. Like, that gets your foot in the door, and then you can maybe grow the client from there. If you agree to offer something completely different, you're not getting your foot in the door, you're walking through a different door, right? Because if you start by, hey, I'll do this completely random thing for you, unconsciously the client now believes, oh, you do this other thing, which is not what you do. And the client believes, and this person, if I ask them to do whatever, they're just going to agree with me. Right? So you're starting the relationship off on the wrong foot. Instead, you want to be like, this is what I do. This is how I can help you. Here's— I'm happy to meet you halfway if you want to get your foot in the door, but I do not do that thing over there.
I guess just kind of addressing or thinking out loud here, addressing the press release, like either finding someone to refer him to and kind of being a useful resource, you know, in the end, always kind of wanting to provide value or simply saying like, no, I didn't do this. I think you should do this.
I mean, I, I, if you know someone that would be a good referral, by all means send them, but it's not, it's not your responsibility to do that. I'm, I'm telling you, 99% of the time when a client says I want to do this thing, they have no idea why they want to do it. So like, you don't need to spend time and energy helping them accomplish something that they don't even know why they want it in the first place. You are so much better off going, I want you to be successful. Let me educate you on the right way to do this. The right way to build your personal brand is not press releases, like period, full stop, end of story. And so it would be more helpful to them to say, that is the wrong way of accomplishing the thing you're trying to accomplish. This is the right way. If there's anything I can do to be helpful in you doing it the right way, I would love to. But it's not your responsibility to go like find a PR firm for them. You know what I mean?
Yeah, makes sense.
Yeah, it's a good question. I appreciate you asking it. Hey, by the way, if you're brand new to the world of ghostwriting, maybe you've heard the term but aren't really sure what it is or how it's different from copywriting or content writing, check out premiumghostwritingblueprint.com. It's in the description below. Okay. Okay, this is a free masterclass that I've put together for writers who want to monetize their skills and love for writing with ghostwriting. This is what I did, and ghostwriting completely changed my life. It's how I quit my job. It's how I quadrupled the amount of money I was making. It's how I've gotten to work with so many smart, amazing people, but also have time for my own writing, like writing this book, The Art and Business of Ghostwriting. Anyways, check it out. If you're at all interested in making money from your writing, I would really encourage you to get into ghostwriting. And this free Premium Ghostwriting Blueprint in the description below is the best place to start.
What Every Writer Gets Wrong About Their Audience #writing #creator #writingtips
