To Really Succeed, I’m Aiming For This One Thing

To be a rockstar in my industry, marketing. That’s what I’m aiming for.

Simply take a look at these successful people: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tony Fernandes, Satya Nadella, Sir Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Bezos, Oprah Winfrey, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Kim Kardashian just to name a few. What do these people have in common? Only one that comes to my mind. They’re all rockstars in what they do. They are the authority and the face of their respective industries. That’s what they are.

The side effects of it are obvious. Not only they’re raking hundreds of millions or even billions annually by doing something they love, they are also in control of the game. Their words carry lots of weights and being utilised in all sorts of way. Based on theories that I gather for the past few years, these are the traits I must follow to achieve that sort of status. Or at lease, 50 percent of it perhaps.

Pray. First and foremost, I’m only human. To achieve what I want to achieve, I must ask for it. And the best ‘person’ to ask for is not to another human being but to HIM, the greatest planner of all.

Building huge number of relevant community. Apparently paid customers are gained from relevant community, and not random ones. Community is a group of people who believe in me, my journey and the vision that I’m having. They’re the ones who keep on coming to my social media channels and blog to comment and like majority of the status there. Why relevant? Well they must be within the circle of people who are either potentials customers themselves or having circles of friends who are my potential customers.

Acquiring quality friendships. To gain quality friendships, I put a lot of effort to bring the conversation from the comment section within posts to the direct message section. I personalise the whole experience. I offer them my private attention. From here, the telephone numbers are exchanged almost naturally. When this happens, half of the battles are won. I’ve already captured not only their attentions but also their heart. They will realise that when they hear or come across the digital marketing related subjects, they will definitely think of Azleen Abdul Rahim.

Bonding. Relationships will last when there is a continuous bonding between both parties, and that is what I am doing to my network of friends and community. The best part is, those who are commenting on almost all my status are those who I know them personally. These are the people that I made an effort to meet up for coffee. Imagine the bonding we are having, it is much more closer compared to if I just know them online. This is the beauty of having a great friends. Yes, it maybe just a friendship without any purpose however I know that business will spark along the way. If it doesn’t then so be it. We are still friends anyway and I treasure this relationship despite no business dealings made whatsoever.

Strengthening my position on LinkedIn. To me, LinkedIn is the best among all social media platforms I am in. Not only it has the highest conversion unlike others, it also helps positioning my brand to the right audience. It takes a bit of strategy and tactics to build this sort of micro influencer status. I will continue to garner more quality followers in LinkedIn and pay my attention here. It works great for me and NSE. All our business contracts are coming from LinkedIn and almost zero from Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram. We aren’t doing retail but more B2B instead. That would make a perfect sense why LinkedIn keeps on producing results more than other channels.

Helping more and more people to understand Marketing. In other words, the materials produced must be easy to understand, beneficial and practical to my audience. Social media, content and digital marketing are not easy subjects but so far so good I managed to turn them into something simpler for them. I helped them to connect the dots rather than rewrite something that is already in there.

Telling more and more stories. I need to speak more and blog even more. I need to improve the number of articles written in here from once a week to at least three or four per week each. On the speaking session mode, I am collaborating with several training companies for speaking engagements that relate to content, social media and digital marketing subjects.

Sharing the formula the Robert Kiyosaki style. If you noticed, Robert Kiyosaki never share in detail of what to do or specific steps to take when it comes to building wealth. He, in fact tells you what will happen if you do this, and what will happen if you do that. He shares his experience and wisdom by making you understand the whole concept of it. It’s the idea that counts. These are his style. Rich Dad Poor Dad and the rest of his books are huge success and bestsellers worldwide because people can easily relate to these concepts. He knows that specific formulas won’t work across the board, but concepts will. My approach is very similar to his. Sharing concepts and ideas are more practical and will make more sense as people can easily understand them and eventually apply to their businesses.

Think regional. I prefer to set something practical rather than illusional. After my work is done for Malaysia, my eyes are set for ASEAN+. The best way to capture the heart of ASEAN+ professional people is again via LinkedIn. Now as we speak, I am gearing up my effort to acquire connections from Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. That’s ASEAN. The + icon there means I also starting to have connections from India, China, United States, Canada and a few other European countries. Why think regional in the first place? Frankly I could sum up the Malaysian market in a couple of years and when while waiting for that to happens, there is no harm preparing to go abroad.

Who’s the benchmark? My benchmark is always Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist of Apple. Among all he is one of the greatest marketer I came across ever. And I can easily relate myself to him and his strategy. He has a few aggregator sites, a venture capitalist, author and a great speaker too. At the moment, he is putting his attention towards being a Chief Evangelist for Canva. It is an Australian company that offers a design platform for non-designers.

I may not able to achieve my bottom line if I continue to remain average. I may not able to catch people’s attention when they don’t see me as the authority of that particular subject. No way! I am not very sure about your case though, perhaps you can do it without having to be a rockstar in what you do.

While on this, I must be careful on spending. Many brands or individual try to go for a shortcut and thus they spend a lot of money on ads to reach out more people within a certain period of time. This is not my style. I’d never spend that much paying social media channels just for exposure and the search engines for their SEO so that I can be loved within certain timing. No way. It will take more time, so be it. I’m not rushing anyway.