How to get word of mouth for your profile?

This morning on my way to work, I was listening to TheMarketing podcast by Neil Patel and Eric Siu. They made a very interesting comment on spending more time on giving the best product or service out there, rather than spending on marketing yourself. For example, companies like Tesla and Apple do not spend tons on marketing but ensure that their products speak for themselves and most of the sales that they get is through word of mouth. More and more companies are spending time in creating communities around their products and services so as to get more engagement with their customers or potential customers and ultimately generate more sales through word of mouth.

This made me think about how can one get word of mouth at an individual level and I got some pointers. The first step is to be clear of where you want to go. What do you aspire? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? Based on this, you should have a clear digital profile (LinkedIn, Quora, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook), whatever is the preferred channel for your industry. Let us take the example of LinkedIn. It is important to have a clear headline of what problem you are solving and the summary should tell your story around how you plan to solve this problem giving some examples if you can. One of the best ways to write the summary is to do so in the 1st person. On another podcast that I listened a few days ago, Joshua Joridson was talking about writing the summary based on what would you say if someone asks you as to "what do you do?" Close your eyes and think about this answer and then write it down (I still have to do this exercise, myself). List down your experiences, giving brief about what you do as part of those roles. Once, you have your profile ready (and I know there could be an article just on this), but let us move on to the next steps of getting word of mouth. There are six ways in which you can achieve word of mouth for your profile:

• Mentoring

Most of the times, you will get opportunities to mentor colleagues from the same organization. However, one should put conscious effort in mentoring people outside their work and in other organizations. You can find these opportunities during volunteering, seeking such opportunities when you are networking etc. Another aspect to this is getting mentored. Everyone requires a mentor. Try to find someone outside your work as it gives you more ideas and opportunities to learn what other organizations are doing in your field.

• Creating a master mind group

A master mind group is bringing a small group of people (5 - 7) together and meeting this group regularly (once a month at least). Be sure to select this group carefully as you want a good balance of peers, people with less and people with more experience than you in your field. Discuss industry news, career progression tactics, personal and professional growth elements during these meetings. Try to give structure to these meetings as much as you can but you will realize that there are many ideas that you would discuss during these meetings, which will again open up new opportunities for you. I have realized that you start with 5 - 7 but generally end up having 3 - 4 core members of this group.

• Be active in industry groups, meetups

Considering that I am part of two very successful meetups in Sydney and also volunteer actively with PMI, industry body for project managers, I have to mention this. By active, I do not mean just attend but participate actively. Try to add value to these groups by sharing your skills and ideas and you will realize that people will recognize you and talk about your profile through this method. Imagine that you are in a room of about 50 people. There is a panel sitting in the front and one of the participants ask a question around job search. About 7 - 10 people from the group (including members of panel) point to you in the room and ask the person who asked the question to get in touch with you. You cannot get any better word of mouth than this.

• Grasp speaking opportunities

With more experience, comes more wisdom, come more power and with power comes responsibilities. Responsibility to share your knowledge with people around you. Always keep your eyes and ears open when it comes to speaking opportunities. If you are able to speak in the area of your interest, people will start recognizing you and talking about your profile.

• Create content in your field (articles, books, videos)

This is an obvious one. With more and more people spending time online, it is important to get your message out there consistently. Start a blog, write a book, create videos, do whatever that you feel comfortable with. This generates engagement, traction and ultimately gives you the authority that you need in the area that you want to excel in. I have also realized that when you create content, it teaches you a lot about your own industry, skill set, and helps you in realizing any gaps that you may have and ways to improve upon them. After all, nobody knows everything!

• Have lot of coffees outside work

Try to meet new people (at least 2 every month) outside your work. I have found LinkedIn to be a great tool. Generally, when you are in the industry, people are receptive about meeting and having coffee with you and have a chat around the work they do and share some thoughts and ideas about the industry in general. Create a message that you want to send to people that you think can assist you in growing intellectually and invite for a coffee or lunch and you will be surprised as to how many people respond back. Again another way of networking and growing your personal brand.

Remember though, that all these steps need to be in alignment with your first step of where you want to go and what you want to achieve.

I think that by getting the word out there, you will be able to open new possibilities and opportunities for yourself. This also helps you grow in your own organization as you get recognized as a thought leader and people tend to give your more responsibilities and recognition for the work that you do.

Is there any other mechanism, that you can think of, when it comes to spreading the word out there for promoting personal brand?