4 Reasons Why You Aren’t Standing Out as an Author, Speaker or Coach

Are you struggling to stand out as an author, speaker coach? Today we’re going to talk about the top four reasons why that might be and how to fix it to beautiful friend. 

 Hey, hey, welcome back. This is Kristin and I am actually super pumped to talk about today’s episode, today’s topic, because I have so been in this spot throughout the years, I so much know how this feels because here’s a serious truth bomb for you. It was a couple of weeks ago, I was on a call with a small mastermind group that I’m in. 

And it was two other female speakers and authors. And I threw out two different taglines as I rebrand the podcast to them. And as I shared them, one of the ladies in my group said, I like the second one. And she said, that’s the first time I actually got what you can do for people and that I could remember it to tell other people. It was like hello light bulb moment. 

I’ve been in a small group with these two women, for I think about a year and maybe longer. And in the last year, I was trying things, things I was doing different things. But I was getting super broad super high level. So they really knew kind of the things I did, but they didn’t really understand how I could help someone else they might refer me to. 

So that was my first mistake. My first pitfall was as I stepped into business for doing business for myself, again, I wasn’t willing to commit, wasn’t willing to commit to something super specific that I only could do and knew how to do versus so many other people. Because if you’re vanilla, it’s it’s not going to work, people aren’t going to remember. So let’s jump into the top four reasons. 

And of course, I’ll tie back in what I just shared with you, the top four reasons why you aren’t standing out as an author, speaker coach in the way you want to that maybe you’re not getting referrals, or you’re not getting enough people signing up for your program, or maybe you’re not getting booked in enough speaking paid speaking gigs or not selling enough books. And there will be other episodes where we’ll dig into the specific challenges, whether it’s about books, or speaking gigs, or coaching programs. 

But for today, we’re going to be a little more broad in our answers. Because this really applies to any type of subject matter expert or focused person that you are in your business. So as I mentioned, my the first top reason why you’re not standing out in the way you want is because you aren’t willing to specialize. 

Because you’re too broad, and people really don’t know that you’re the go to person for something super specific. So usually it’s because we’re, we think by getting really specific, we’re gonna lose possible business. But the opposite is true. And there’s so many people that share the stories, their own stories with you, when they got super specific about exactly what they do. They were able to get more business. 

And think about it this way. If we’re looking at restaurants, and a friend of mine says, Oh my gosh, what is the best Italian restaurant you know, we have a special dinner coming up and I want to pick the best Italian restaurant. Well, if I’ve ever been to an F tion restaurant or multiple ones in my area, I’m probably going to say oh my gosh, yes, you have to go to Altos, or whichever restaurant I would I would tell them and I would tell them why it’s so amazing for Italian. But if my friend said what’s the best restaurant in the area? Usually, I’m not going to pick the restaurant that has 600 things on the menu and they have Americana and they have a little Italian and they have burgers. Because the experience you’re going to get there is you’re not even sure what they specialize in. So you’re not going to even probably pick their best dishes.

 It’s the same in business. Do you want to be a restaurant that serves everything, but they’re known for nothing or do you want to be the standout restaurant that serves the most amazing burgers with you know, toppings that you could barely even fathom. But the combos are so delicious that people can’t help but tell other people about this experience they had at your burger joint or whatever kind of thing you have. 

So that’s the first thing, you have to be willing to specialize, you have to be willing to niche down even more than you are now. And years ago, a woman I worked with on one of our boards for for our business that we had, she was, you know, America’s nutrition expert. But it was it got really specific, right, like she got drilled down exactly who she helped. That’s what we’re talking about. So you really have to go further and deeper and be specific, you know, that you help somebody to certain level with a certain thing. 

So the next thing is, what’s your one message, what’s the one transformation that you can help people with more so than other people that might be in your similar industry. So we might be able to help them in more ways. But there’s usually one message that really stand out for your prospect or your client the most in that’s the message that you want need to be really clear on, but getting feedback from your current clients and your prospects, that then you have to hit that message home over and over, again, on your website, and on your social, you know, the way that you’re speaking to your audience. 

So that’s the next thing is it has to be one message, one clear thing that you’re telling them that they can get from you, you know, either you’re going to help them get to a point in their business sooner, or they’re going to have a transformation from understanding your framework, or whatever it might be. But we can’t try and have six different things, when we’re just trying to really keep expanding and growing are one thing, we have to stay focused on it. The next thing is, you’re not, you’re not getting more exposure, you’re not standing out because you’re not getting in front of more or bigger or newer audiences. So in other words, you’re doing the same thing you’ve always done, and you’re not doing collaborations with other people, you’re not being a guest on shows or on podcasts. 

So in other words, your audience is stagnant, or it’s just not expanding, because you’re not getting in front of new listeners, or readers or prospects. So what do you do about that, you go and start getting booked on podcast or shows, or in Facebook Lives or you become a speaker at bigger events. Because you have to be able to get in front of more new people in order to grow your your business. 

Then the last thing is, you’re not engaging with your audience in a deep way. In other words, you’re not growing super fans. And in Pat Flynn’s book, super fans, he talks about, we take our listeners or readers or users or website visitors to this place where they start out with a casual, you know, visitor, they’re just kind of checking things out. We, we build, we make them into more active participants. And then as we do we have more connection points with them, we make them more of a connected fan or connected user. 

But the end goal is to make them into super fans, right? That’s the highest level. A lot of us, though, are just busy, busy posting and putting things out there. But we forget to keep having touch points with our the people that are engaging with us, you know, so on social or on our website, with our email list, maybe by giving them special sneak peeks and smash special content that only they get.

 But then it’s interacting with them. Are you emailing them back? Are you posting and responding their comments on social thanking them? You know, making sure that people know a little bit more about you that you’re you don’t have to be an open book, but they do need to know how you guys connect in different ways. You know, if you’re a mom, that’s great, but do you have only are you a boy Mom? Are you a faith based? Mom?

Are you into dogs? Or no, you’re a cat person. But people like to know that information because some of them are going to see themselves in you, you know, and who you are and what you represent. The other thing that Pat Flynn says and I actually say something very similar to this is people want to feel like they belong. So are you engaging with them? Are you connecting with people, you know, your listeners, your readers, or your clients in a way that they feel like they belong? They’re part of your tribe, and they love it so much that they want to bring other people into this community into your tribe. 

That’s another mistake we sometimes make is we get so big As you head down working on the next talk or the next chapter, or you know, the people working right now that we don’t put in the extra effort to send a individual direct message, or to send a quick email to somebody to say, I really appreciate you taken the time to do that review, or to connecting me with this person. So it’s that a go above and beyond. 

Because as you do that, from the right place, right from that servant heart from that place where you’re doing it, because you truly care about this, this community you’re building, people will notice they’ll know the difference, right? If it’s authentic or not. And they will want to be a part of that, because you’re showing up in this most amazing way, fully authentic, fully vulnerable and fully present. So it is so important. 

And so I just want to add a couple tips for how we can do a better job so that we do stand out. So we do build our audience. And we do build superfans. So the first is, when you meet someone, or there’s people that you’ve you’ve already worked with, if you ask them, and you can send them an email, or you can do a poll, or you can get feedback from them. It can be a phone call, Hey, what is it that you think I do? And how would you describe that to someone else, and then write down or capture or record what they say. Because while you might think you’re clear, and you’re super specific about what you do, and who you help, you might be surprised to find that it’s not as clear to other people as you think. 

So that’s the first thing I would say is a quick exercise is to talk to 10 people, and ask them to tell you, you know, Hey, what is it you think I do? And and how might you refer someone? Why would you refer someone to me? And what is that? What would you tell them about me? You can obviously say that in your own words. But that’s the gist. That’s the first thing I would say to do. So they get really clear, if you are super specialized and specific in that people understand exactly what you do. The next thing is your message? Is your message clear? 

Or have you gotten way ahead of who’s actually looking for your solution, your service, or your you know, your book, or whatever. And so what I mean by this is, as I’m actually building out my upcoming course, when I just did a coaching call for my program with someone, they said to me, Well, what about using, you know, SEO in the title, and I said, Well, okay, people like me and you to my coach who have been in the industry for a long time. We know that word very, you know, we hear it all the time. But for someone with a website, where they’ve put up a website, but they’re not doing much else to really optimize it to really make it the best tool that it could be for them. They may not use that word, they might have heard the word. But for them, they don’t even quite know what all that entails. And so sometimes we use the language that doesn’t actually connect to our audience. 

So that one message is so important. And one way that you can get really clear to make sure your message is resonating with people is take your message. And then you know poll people ask people, hey, you know, what are you most struggling with? What do you think when you see this messaging and then see if it connects. I’ve just recently redone this, as I’m rebranding and revising the podcast. And I have to tell you, once again, I started off super broad with how I can help people in by the end, and I am so specific down to one thing I’m helping people with. So even though the podcast will have episodes that talk about optimizing your online presence, and growing your brand, and tools and all this great stuff in entrepreneurial stories, how I specifically help people is going to be so clear and specific now. 

And I’m going to be honest, there was a lot of resistance for me, as I kept drilling down because I thought to myself, Wow, I was doing this kind of work 15 plus years ago, and here I am back at it, which for me was a little bit of a shocker. But as I let myself process it, you know what I realized? I can still be a consultant, a coach, a mentor, I can be an encourager, I can help people find financial and time freedom by being super specific in the thing that I know that I could literally speak about in my sleep. 

So while it might not be the most exciting topic for me today, because I’ve been in this industry for 20 years, it’s the thing that I actually know so much about in just have to, you know, hone in do a little bit more digging for, you know how the things have changed today, but I only share that to say I get it you might think your message is super clear or you’re being specific. But that’s your purse. perception, your language might be higher. In other words, doctor speak, are you telling it in simple layman’s terms that someone will understand how you help them and what their transformation will be? 

Or you using lawyer or doctor speak but in your industry? Is it above our heads? Because we don’t speak that way. So you need to find out. And then okay, and the next tip or thing that you can do is, are you actually booking opportunities to get in front of new audiences, this just becomes an objective of yours each month, you know, to reach out and to get on other podcasts or to, you know, get on people’s Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram type lives, you know, video type conversations. 

That’s it, you just put it as a goal of yours every month. And I have another episode that talks about how can you actually book these types of things that came out, I think, a week before this episode. So take a listen to that. And then lastly, when we’re talking about growing superfans, you need to do an audit, where all the places that you have touch points or connections to your prospects to your listeners, to your readers in are you actually answering their questions? Are you showing up in your community and responding to people? 

Or do you have someone that does that for you, but you don’t want those opportunities to connect with you to beat to go on answered, because it’s literally gold each time you have that touchpoint with them, or you don’t just post something, and then they comment, and you never comment back. When you actually take that minute to actually respond to them to say thank you, or, Hey, here’s what I think of what you posted, or I love this. People feel once again, more like they belong, that they’re part of a community that they are actually truly part of not just that they’re watching you post content, even if it’s valuable, but that there’s no interaction. 

That’s the other thing- you’re where you actually have touch points or connections with people that follow you or, you know, are on your email list and then make sure you respond, you know, in Yeah, it’s the beginning, it might take quite a bit of time. But those people will seriously over time, they will become from that casual to the active to more connected to you to that super fan. And do you know how we sell more things? 

Do you know how we make more money? It’s because we have people being our cheerleaders who love our content, or our product or service so much our book, that they are the ones spreading the word to other people. We really can’t be super successful in business. If we can’t ever create people that literally just love what we’re doing and they really feel connected to us. We need to do that. Okay, so that is it for today. Let me just super quick rewrap back up. So one, how do we get how to stand out more in our industry? 

First is you have to get super clear on your message, your one main message, your one main transformation. Next is are you really specializing and can people actually articulate how you specialize in what you do and who you serve? Because if they can’t, there is a problem. And an answer cannot be a will. You’re a life coach. What? That is way too vague, guys. Life Coach is so vague that I don’t know who you help. I don’t know if I would want to work with you. Are you a life coach for college teams that are trying to decide what college to go to? 

Are you a life coach for moms that are busy, but also work full time and you’re helping them with a certain thing? You have to get super specific because otherwise, there’s too many other people in our industries. And we’ll never stand out as the one as the person to go to for the certain thing for the certain person. I wouldn’t want a lawyer that specializes in everything. If I was going through divorce, right, I’d want the lawyer that focuses in on divorce, who helps the women going through divorce when you know or get the most out of their situation in a positive way. Okay, so I’m not just going to pick a lawyer that does traffic violations, and he does wills and he does criminal cases and he does divorce or I said he but it could be a she. I want the specialists, guys and I think you do too. So if you’re picking specialists when you work with people, think about if you’re the specialist in your own business that people want to work with.

And then put it on your calendar to grow your audience. Engagement with your with people. So that means you have to get in front of new audiences. There’s lots of ways to do that, but that needs to become one of your objectives. So write it down on your list of things Should you do every month? And then lastly, are you responding to the people that are already interacting with you, you know, online or in person, it could be via email, it can be at networking events. But it’s follow up, follow up and make people feel like they belong, that you’re building a community that they’re so excited to be a part of, that they’re going to share with other people. 

I want to leave you with a Maya Angelou quote, where she says, 

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

So as you step into your business, keep asking yourself, How are you showing up? How are you engaging in how are you making your listeners or your readers or your prospects feel on your website, in your social in your conversations, or lack of commenting or conversations? So I hope you’ll step into your day and into your month with that question in mind in really remembering those words. 

And I also want to let you know I am doing website optimization coaching, where you get a complete website and lead audit and learn how to optimize your website step by step to grow your leads. So if that’s of interest to you, head on over to Kristin fitch.com To learn how you can sign up for an audit with me today. If today’s show got you pumped about building your online traffic so you can grow your business. 

Let’s celebrate- pop over and leave a review. Tell us what you loved about today’s episode or share this with another boss who’s ready to grow next level comm network with other entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, coaches and podcasters in my Facebook group to take your business to the next level, or head on over to Kristin fitch.com To find out more about my online growth system.