Finding the limelight in a world of digital spotlights

The digital world is a vast one, with users dumping their relevant-or-not insight into the world wide web for everyone else to filter through. But, unless you actually know what you’re doing, you’re just going to become another digital spotlight. If you want to know how to find the limelight amongst the spotlights, well, that’s what we are here for. 

Find your voice

If you want to stand out from the rest, you can’t sound like the rest. Finding your own voice online is how you represent your brand. And, through this voice, your client base and potential clients become accustomed to who you are as a company. 

Your voice needs to be distinctive because this is how people understand, engage and come to appreciate your brand before meeting with you. You need to give them content that they’ve been looking for that isn’t just another general perspective cluttering their search results. 

Richard Branson, founder of the multinational Virgin Group, has insight to differentiating yourself in business that comes down to: "Don't bother doing something unless you're radically different from the competition." There’s a lot we can learn from Branson’s business success.

But, as with most things in life, not everyone is going to grab onto what you’re putting out there. And that’s okay. You don’t want to waste your efforts on false business. But it’s not enjoyable dealing with haters, so you need to make sure you have a target audience and that you understand them and what they're looking for. This is your time to shine by giving them a reason to follow your voice. 

Communicate to be understood

This is important. You may have found your voice, but how are you communicating? You should communicate to be understood and not just to impress. Everyone online is showing off, fighting to stand in the limelight. But not everyone knows what they’re actually going on about. 

Don’t waste time by teasing an audience with a title that speaks to everything they’re looking for, only to have jargon-filled content that confuses and frustrates them further. It’s also not about dumbing it down and only managing to cover the basics. Start by establishing terminology and concepts, then off you go. 

Stay relevant

Stay relevant with your content. Do your research and bring in the latest statistics. And don’t make up your own stats to create false intrigue – there really is enough fake news out there already. 

Digital marketing and social media revolutionary, Gary Vaynerchuk wrote in his book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World: “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” It generally comes down to the simplest of executions conducted in the relevant context to stand out above the rest. 

You also need to stay relevant with the advancing times. Keep up with Google policy updates, social media trends and the latest in SEO. 

Show off

Okay, so your goal isn’t to communicate to impress, but you still want to impress clients and haters alike. And you do this by making sure your content is relevant and understood. 

Don’t be too cocky (only a little bit) and make known your successes and expertise. And your audience will come to trust you and value what you have to say, which is part of the goal, isn’t it?

If you are in a backed-up position to show off, then consider yourself credible. People love credibility, especially online where everyone claims to be amazing, but the evidence of their un-amazingness is also online... so, awkward. Show your certificates, display the statistics, don’t deny your mistakes and find a way to work your achievements into everyday digital communications.

SEO department

Any efforts to finding the limelight will be futile without an SEO department optimising your site for the web for you. SEO is extremely important if you want to stand any chance of being found. With everyone trying to do the same thing, you need SEO updates, keywords and super skills. They are the ones who put your voice out there and perfect your brand for the online world. 

They are your search-engine professionals that know all the Google safe-words. If you cross the line, that Google’s got a mean backhand.

Be you-nique

Agreed, that sounds pretty corny. But it’s what the people want and what will make you stand out. At the end of the day, we are all human here and this is about people-to-people interaction to make a difference. 

Being yourself is the most attractive thing about you and the same goes for your business. Your company is unique and that is a strength in itself. Find people who relate to your values, attitudes, company culture and vision, and clients won’t need much more persuasion to work with you. 

Don’t override Google just to get your original content out there – be smart about it. Work with your natural voice and the right kind of force that lets your efforts pay out in your rankings.    

So, to find the limelight in a world of digital spotlights, it all comes down to working with Rogerwilco, basically.