subject: The Five Keys To Influence [print this page] The Five Keys To Influence The Five Keys To Influence
Influence is an interesting word and a very powerful one. It moves the public in one direction or another. It changes politics, it pushes sales, and it creates behaviors either for good or bad.
Influence starts with one person.
You can put your influence to work by using thesefive key elements:
1. Story
A great personal story with a compelling event or problem is something that people will want to read about. This is often what helps a publicist or public relations professional get media attention for you and on your behalf. If you are looking to connect with the media, be sure to find a way to tell your story in a clear and concise fashion, and make it good.
2. Passion
Someone who makes widgets or sells insurance may have trouble engaging an audience without passion for what they do. Find the reason you get up in the morning to do your job, and then tell that story to your audience, whether it's in a media release, your website, your comments to others online, or an interview with a journalist. Talk about why you love what you do.
3. Empathy
People need to feel what you're saying and identify with it in some way. If you have a product or service, then that product or service must be something that most people can use. If you're an attorney, you may want to talk about a situation that is shared by many people and how it can be solved. If you're a physician or medical provider, you need to show how you've helped people find a solution to their medical issue and how it changed their lives.
4. Benefits or Need
You need to demonstrate how your product is something that people need, want or enjoy. Let's say you're a manufacturer, a hospitality provider, or someone who is selling a product. How has it benefited people? How have you changed people as a result? Talk about it and give examples. A reader has to be able to imagine your product and this in turn, helps them to remember it, and you.
5. Usefulness
This is about the ability of the reader to use the information you're sharing. What's in it for them? If I'm reading something, I skip forward over the stuff I don't think is useful to me. If it continues to offer me no information that's useful, then I'm done. If you have delivered on the previous points of Story, Passion, Empathy and Benefits, then you can move forward with information about who you are, and where you can be found. Without the previous elements, your readers and your audience won't care.
Influence is about becoming a leader in your field, and showing people a better way.If you're good at what you do, and you want to establish yourself amongst your peers and your public,work with an expert public relations firm or publicistfor help in makingyour name known.
