Mark Schaefer - Strategies to Building Your Personal Brand and Becoming KNOWN

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher |

One of my favorite topics in marketing since starting the podcast is the concept of content marketing and building media companies. It’s something that’s been happening for decades. As Joe Pulizzi mentioned, he modeled the Content Marketing Institute on Disney’s business model as a media company. Over the last 10 years or so, there have been some brilliant marketers that have studied content marketing or building a business around being a media company. They’ve done endless amounts of research, built media companies themselves, and have many amazing success stories. Musicians should be the best set-up at building media companies because they’re building a business around media. Yet unfortunately, many musicians struggle with building an audience, including their labels. However, there is a ton of amazing information out there and marketing strategists that have identified simple steps on how someone can build a media company, and become KNOWN. One of these marketing strategists is Mark Schaefer, the guest for this episode on the show.

Mark Schaefer is a marketing and social media strategist. He’s a six-time author, which includes the book KNOWN - “The handbook for Unleashing Your Personal Brand in a Digital Age.” Mark is one of the Top-10 Most retweeted marketing authorities, a public speaker, a professor at Rutgers University, well-known blogger for the blog {grow}, and even has his own podcast, The Marketing Companion. In this conversation, we discuss the book KNOWN, and how musicians can use these strategies to find their sustainable interest, build a powerful brand, and creating an effective social media strategy to grow your business, and become KNOWN.

Grab a copy of KNOWN by Mark Schaefer on Amazon

Highlights from this Episode
[2:31] Mark’s first memorable live music experiences
[6:15] Mark’s Story
[7:45] Why KNOWN is a good start for Musicians
[13:10] Finding your sustainable interest
[15:34] How to find your sustainable interest
[19:57] How to find the right space that’s not already oversaturated
[23:34] Four types of “rich” content to consider
[27:32] The importance of focusing on one type of content on one platform
[31:58] How consistent and patient do we need to be?
[37:52] Using Twitter advanced search
[42:10] Where is the trend of content consumption going in 2018
[46:25] How Mark Schaefer would design a Music Business program
[48:40] Mark’s Hollywood Vampires
[50:01] Getting to know Mark Schaefer

Quotes from Mark Schaefer
“There is only one thing that matters today. Either you’re known, or you’re not.”
“Being known is really the only sustainable competitive advantage a person can have today.”
“Every single person, in every field, everywhere in the world, did the same four things to be known.”
“I didn’t follow my passion. My passion followed me.”
“To be known, you have to identify your sustainable interest.”
“All of the great musicians have combined genres, they’ve combined cultures.”
“Many of the musicians we look up to today, when they started, they didn’t have it right. But they started.”
“If you want to stand out in some way, you have to find a way to do it that really hasn’t been done before.”
“There are so many new and exciting opportunities out there.”
“The whole idea is to be discovered and to create something new in a new space, where you can be discovered and loved.”
“A social media audience is different from an actionable audience.”
“On average it took people [from the book] two and a half years to tilt.”
“The key is focus.”
“Twitter is the most powerful way to find a targetable audience.”
“The number one consideration has to be; what brings you joy?”
“If you’re not having fun, not having joy, the audience will find that.”
“When you put content into the world, it’s a daily performance review.”

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Bruce Springsteen
Pat Metheny
Hologram Electronics
NAMM Conference
Isadora et Marisa (Food YouTuber)
Rodney Hazard
Slide Share
“Got Twitter? You’ve been Scored” (NY Times Article)
Advanced Twitter Search
Rutgers University
Walter Isaacson
Elon Musk
Ernie Watts
“Blogging and Your Moment of Truth” (Article inspired by Ernie Watts)
[BOOKS]
KNOWN
The Tao of Twitter
The Content Code

Mark Schaefer’s Definition of Making It:
“Peace in your heart. When you get to a place when you get peace in your heart, you feel satisfied, you feel rewarded for giving back to the world in whatever way. That’s the ultimate definition of success for me.”

Get in touch with Mark Schaefer
https://www.businessesgrow.com/
Twitter: @markwschaefer