It was 8 a.m. on a Tuesday, and I stumbled into my local coffee shop. Laptop in tow and shaking off jet lag, I steeled myself for the onslaught: the hundreds of emails that had built up while I’d been on a luxurious 12-day vacation in Spain.
What had I missed? What moves were competitors making in my absence? That’s when I spotted Mimi, one of the most connected players in town. She smiled and walked over to my table. “How’s it going?” she said. “You’re everywhere.”
In that moment, I realized you don’t have to be present in order to be ubiquitous.
Ubiquity, of course, is a major marketing goal. You want to be top of mind for your customers, so they call you (not your competitors) when they need a lawyer, a website redesign or more widgets. But how do you pull it off without sleeping in your office and surgically implanting your iphone?
Here are four strategies to consider:
— SCHEDULE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: The Twitter verse never sleeps, and unfortunately you lose face if you let your Twitter feed languish. If you’re intent on building a strong personal
I(or corporate) brand, you need to be consistent. But that doesn’t mean you can never escape. Every few months, I’ll spend an afternoon coming up with a few hundred nuggets to post on Twitter. You can schedule them weeks or months in advance via Tweet
Deck. Sure, you’re not replying in real time — but at least you’re putting something out there when you’re lolling in your cabana.
— RESPOND QUICKLY WHEN IT MATTERS: When you’re away from the office, practice triage. If you have a corporate assistant, ask him or her to monitor your email and call you if anything urgent arises. If you’re a solo practitioner, shell out for a virtual assistant through a service like Upwork. Most of what passes over the transom can be safely ignored — but you don’t want to miss a new client inquiry from that account you’ve been hoping to land.
— ENLIST MESSENGERS: Perhaps the best way to seem like you’re everywhere is to get other people talking about you. Whether it’s people reading about you in the newspaper, suggesting you to speak at events, citing your advice or mentioning they saw you at a fundraiser, you can quickly create an “echo chamber” if you’re vigilant (during your non vacation time) about building your brand strategically.
