Writers and strategists create value when celebrating the thought leadership of others.
At my core, I’m a writer.
This phrase plays a key role in my identity and personal branding. It’s what I share with people meeting me for the first time. You’ll also see it across much of the marketing collateral promoting my creative services via SR Media.
While I work frequently as a maker, strategist and project manager, it’s my writing that unites the brand campaigns and interactive marketing projects that I help build, design and implement alongside designers and hackers.
Advocacy 100%
Team Building 80%
Client Services 40%
I’m also an experienced, long-form writer and my stories have been published in QZ/Atlantic Media, Fast Company and NY Mag among other major outlets.
In long-form, I aim to advocate innovative work and share thought leadership from disruptors in business, culture, design, science and technology.
Arguably, that’s the spirit driving much of my writing. I want to advocate the great work of the artists, business leaders, designers, developers I discover and meet on a regular basis. Sometimes, the people I first meet as a media writer also become valued collaborators.
Thanks to social media, advocacy is something many of us practice on a 27/7 basis without any extra effort. We re-tweet, become Facebook friends and add links to Pinterest boards to promote the enterprises, people, products and services we admire and support.
Yet, using your blogs, digital platforms and websites to solely promote yourself, your products, your services, rapidly becomes target marketing and like all marketing the struggle is to become sticky and grab hold of a viewer’s attention.
Recently, while watching a webinar on best practices for LinkedIn Company Pages, some of the key strategies toward building brand awareness, lead generation and engagement focused on sharing industry articles and thought leadership from respected peers. I still remember the anecdotal example shared by LinkedIn Content Managing Manager Alex Rynne. Basically, on LinkedIn, or any of your platforms for that matter, you do not want to be that person at the party who only talks about him or herself.
Actually, I’d like to take this LinkedIn Best Practice one step further. You build the most powerful network of advocates, colleagues, customers, influencers and partners when celebrating the thought leadership and work of others. More importantly, your network reflects how you live, work and create.
I’m still thinking about the incredible ideas and insights I shared from recent tech articles for Scripps/WCPO Insider. In a story on philanthropic innovation, Eric Avner, CEO and Chief Ambassador of the Cincinnati-based, philanthropic lab People’s Liberty, and Megan Trischler, Program Director at People’s Liberty, discuss how they are creating a new generation of social good entrepreneurs via a unique model of people-centered giving.
Michelle D’Cruz, who operates the community-centered design agency REVEB with her husband Leo J. D’Cruz, explains the creative and enterprise benefits when a company emphasizes diversity and inclusivity. Listening to Michelle D’Cruz describe her shift from mainstream marketing work to providing strategy to arts organizations and humanitarian non-profits, I understand that I’ve met a fellow creative professional who embraces the incredible value of advocacy.
Someone who makes the effort to advocate the work of the people around them is someone with a spirit for discovery.
Someone who regularly celebrates the thought leadership of others is someone who also celebrates their collaborators and teams more than their own efforts.
Listen, I’m not telling anyone to diminish their own flagpole projects, hustle and quality work. I just know that my best work revolves around a high-quality team.
An advocate can quickly build a quality team of analysts, designers, developers and managers. Self-promoters? You know, those annoying party guests who only talk about themselves? The ones I meet seem to have a harder time attracting the best and brightest.
Slowly, steadily, I’m seeing my Instagram posts, Pinterest boards and tweets in a different light. It’s not solely about followers, friends and likes.
What are you reading? What are you cooking? What are you watching? Targeting and delivering customized ads is no longer priority one.
You are only as valuable as your collaborators. Who are you advocating? What are you sharing? That’s what people want to know.
High-quality writers and strategists deliver valuable networks and nothing builds a strong network like advocacy.
SR Media is a creative hub for diverse design, writing and strategy services. Let’s start a conversation and discover if my work can bring value to your projects.
Email: steve@steveramosmedia.com