Your Platform...and Why it Can Make or Break Your Business


 by: Suzanne Falter-Barns

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to take your work into the world and share it with others. But unless you can reach those all-important others, your mission is bound to be a dud.

But fear not. That?s why I?ve created this website and my Get Known Now Program; because after nearly ten years of building my own platform, I truly see it as one of the most critical things anyone who consults, coaches, writes, speaks or runs a small business can do.

Simply put, your platform is your reach in the world; it?s the degree to which your name is known
and your work is recognized. It?s your following. It?s your buzz. And it happens to be the single most important factor that literary agents, radio bookers, news directors, T.V. producers, publishers, editors, magazine people, and even big-time publicists use when determining whether or not to work with you. More than one literary agent and editor in major publishing has told me they seldom consider proposals for books from writers with no platform.

Why? There are several answers, depending on whom you ask. Book industry types need authors with platform because the publishing houses no longer have marketing budget to sell books besides those at the top of their lists. That means they rely on unpaid publicity to sell books, i.e. airtime on radio and TV, and write ups in newspapers, magazines and websites.

Meanwhile, radio and print media folks are simply looking for the next big thing ? or trying to anticipate trends. So if they run across an expert with a platform that is quickly brewing, they?re interested. Buzz begets buzz. In addition, TV and other major media bookers need to know that the guest they trot out in front of millions is a proven entity, so they tend to really check you out in advance. They want you to have a website, media clips, a great press kit, a video reel. Thus your platform works as a kind of public pre-approval which reassures media bookers. And all of these folks have less time to do more, like the rest of us, so they need everything they?re offered to be laser-like in it?s intensity and clarity, easy to access, and loaded with reasons why. A big platform certainly helps get the point across faster that you?re someone they should feature.

So your ability to ?break out?, as it?s known in the media, is not about the nobility of your cause or even, ultimately ? sigh ? the depth and quality of your work. It?s all about how many people already know who you are and what you do. Like right this minute. Before all that great TV and magazine exposure even begins. This has to be this century?s biggest catch-22, because how can your work actually get known unless you impress all those folks listed above?

It can, in fact, if you're methodical about self-marketing and you plan to put a good year into it Ultimately, platform for beginners is all about your ezine list - and how many people are actively signing up to hear from you on a regular basis.

Here's a list of ten things the media and pUblishers look for in good platform. These items are not the only thing you might offer these folks. And you certainly don't have to have all of them in place to be appealing to publishers and TV producers. But they are a help.

A healthy platform should include:

  1. A hearty ezine list of 5-10K

  2. A distinctive brand name or position (i.e. Dr. Phil, the Fly Lady, the Frugal Gourmet)

  3. A website that has energy and style, and reflects the brand heavily

  4. Optimized methods for capturing names on the website that help grow the ezine list

  5. A blog linked to the website, and a blog promotion program

  6. Major media clips, or regional ones that can inspire stories in major media

  7. A video of excerpts from TV appearances (for more senior platform builders)

  8. A tightly put together media kit

  9. Excellent quality, high resolution black & white and color headshots that can be downloaded from site

  10. A book or audio CD produced by a major publisher

How does your own work measure up? Have you got good platform yet?

About The Author

Suzanne Falter-Barns is an internationally known author and speaker who's work has been featured in Woman's Day, SELF, More, Fitness, and more than 100 radio and TV shows. Pick up her free database of platform building contacts at www.getknownnow.com.

To reprint this article, please use with this bio box in tact. Thanks!

© 2005 Suzanne Falter-Barns LLC.

info@getknownnow.com


Your Platform...and Why it Can Make or Break Your Business

Your Platform...and Why it Can Make or Break Your Business


 by: Suzanne Falter-Barns

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to take your work into the world and share it with others. But unless you can reach those all-important others, your mission is bound to be a dud.

But fear not. That?s why I?ve created this website and my Get Known Now Program; because after nearly ten years of building my own platform, I truly see it as one of the most critical things anyone who consults, coaches, writes, speaks or runs a small business can do.

Simply put, your platform is your reach in the world; it?s the degree to which your name is known
and your work is recognized. It?s your following. It?s your buzz. And it happens to be the single most important factor that literary agents, radio bookers, news directors, T.V. producers, publishers, editors, magazine people, and even big-time publicists use when determining whether or not to work...

Your Platform...and Why it Can Make or Break Your Business
Spring break > Your Platform...and Why it Can Make or Break Your Business

You Don't Have to Break Down, When You Break Up!

You Don't Have to Break Down, When You Break Up!

 by: Damien Senn

Very few people would argue with the fact that creating successful relationships is often one of the biggest challenges we face as human beings.
The strange thing is that life can become even more challenging when they end.
But is it really necessary to break down when you break up?

Below are three simple ideas that will help guide you to re-build your life on your own.

1. Become firmly grounded in the present moment.

If you find yourself on the other side of a relationship, it is important that you have a deep awareness of what you are feeling in the present moment.
Continually check in with yourself.
Notice what is going on with you if you are experiencing emotional upset.
Your body is always in the present, but where is your mind?

It may be very tempting for you to delve into your past replaying events over and over...

You Don't Have to Break Down, When You Break Up!
Spring break > You Don't Have to Break Down, When You Break Up!

Spring & Home Decorating - A Fresh New Look

Spring & Home Decorating - A Fresh New Look


 by: Bonnie P Carrier

Open Windows ? Curtains fluttering from a warm breeze ? The air smells fresh and clean ? Buds on the trees are beginning to open ? Tiny flowers are popping up threw the ground ? Finally that little bird with the red breast is back

All of these can only mean one thing ?Spring? has arrived.

Those days of blustery storms and frosty drafts have come to an end.

With spring comes a renewed burst of energy. Having been shut inside for months we now want to get up, get going and do things.

This presents a marvelous opportunity for home decorating, a chance to give the inside of our homes a fresh clean look to match the emerging new look outside.

You now want to think light, bright and breezy, exactly like a beautiful spring day.

The following are a few ideas to help get you started.

Hang a wreath covered with pretty silk flowers on the front door. This...

Spring & Home Decorating - A Fresh New Look
Spring break > Spring & Home Decorating - A Fresh New Look

Excuses Can Make or Break You!

Excuses Can Make or Break You!


 by: Mark Machaalani

?He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else? said Benjamin Franklin. There is a lot of truth in this quote. Those, whom tend to be successful in life, do not get there by making negative excuses to themselves about how they can?t get there. In fact they do the opposite.

If you want to do something in life, there is no doubt that you will find a way. If on the other hand you don?t want to do something, you will always find an excuse. At times you want to achieve something in life, but are cluttered by your own negative excuses telling you why you cannot achieve what you are after.

I have two rules concerning excuses that I use to help me gain what I look for in life. First rule is:

1. Instead of making excuses why you cannot do something, make excuses telling yourself why and how you can do something.

This is a very important guideline or law if you...

Excuses Can Make or Break You!
Spring break > Excuses Can Make or Break You!

Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display

Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display


 by: Michael McGroarty

You are welcome to use this article on your website or In your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end.
Website URLs must be active links.
You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link,

Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display

Flower bulbs need a good, long, winter?s sleep. Like some people we know, if they wake up before they are fully rested they get kind of cranky, and then they don?t bloom well at all.

Actually what happens is during a mild winter, the soil stays too warm and the bulbs begin to come out of dormancy early. They start to grow, and once the tips emerge above the soil line, they are subject to freezing if the temperatures dip back down below freezing. And that?s usually what happens. After the bulbs have emerged,...

Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display
Spring break > Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display