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May 2011
The Acronym Method
of Promoting Your Products
and Services
When I asked my LinkedIn network how they successfully promote their business via social media, Sharif Khan, a business writer from Toronto, Canada, responded:
Sharing
Helping
Asking
Refreshing
Inspiring
Friending
Look closely at the first letter of each word. Put 'em all together and they spell "Sharif."
Clever!
The words alone aren't anything special. But in acronym form, they achieve three important goals:
- They help me recall Sharif's name.
- When I remember Sharif's name, I can recall the appropriate word associated with each letter in his name.
- I associate the acronym with Sharif, cementing both him and his brand message in my brain.
Sharif took the acronym an extra step by giving specific examples about how he shares, helps, asks, refreshes, inspires, and friends. Here is his complete post:
Sharing. I will post links to my published articles, blog posts, and interviews on my status updates and notes. I will go one step further by sharing these links via social media email to a few contacts who I think especially will appreciate the content. Many of them will share the info without my having to ask.
Helping. I will find ways to help my network. Connecting them to people who can help them. Offering them marketing tips. Helping in their job search. Answering questions. Promoting their work if I believe in it, etc. I build goodwill this way, and without my having to ask, people will share my book promotions with their networks.
Asking. If you don't ask you don't get. Sometimes I will simply ask some of my contacts to share my book review or book signing event with their networks.
Refreshing. By frequently refreshing my various social media channels (appropriate and relevant to each channel) I continue to stay top-of-mind. But 'refreshing' is the key word. Nobody wants to be bombarded with promotions. So many of my posts are creative, witty, informative, or intriguing with no mention of my book.
Inspiring. If someone in my social media network is feeling down, I will encourage them. If I like someone else's article, story, or whatever, I will post an encouraging comment. This way they'll do the same for me and we will both attract friends of friends.
Friending. I reach out to people on various social media channels who either share similar interests or can complement what I'm doing as an author and invite them to connect.
What does it all spell? It spells SHARIF! Yea! And to learn more about SHARIF visit http://www.sharifkhan.com
Your Challenge
Acronyms are a proven mnemonic device. While you don't want to overuse them, you can get a lot of mileage from a carefully crafted acronym that enhances your brand message.
In fact, I use the CRAFT acronym when teaching workshops about how to craft your brand message:
Consistent
Relevant
Attractive
Frequent
Targeted
Here's your assignment:
Create an acronym from your name, your business name, or a product/service you promote. The acronym must relate directly to your core brand message, and it must be easy for your customers to remember.
Build a blog post, a YouTube video, or a series of Facebook updates around your acronym.
Share your acronym (or a link to your post) with me and I'll publish several of them in my next newsletter. Send your acronyms to laura@bloggingbistro.com
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