Improve Your Media Presence: An Entrepreneur Guide

As an entrepreneur, you have to wear many hats - accounting, marketing, sales, and legal-among others. This leaves very little time to show up in your business in the most important role: you.

The business you have created is more than just a money-making idea.

It's an expression of who you are and how you've lived your life.

And yet all too often, this remains below the surface, buried under the demands of the business. The very thing people are looking for in media - your values and expertise - never see the light of day.

It's why entrepreneurs barely scratch the surface in their own thought leadership.

They chase trending topics because they don't know what to say. They follow scripts written by computers because they don't trust the clarity and credibility of their own thoughts. And worst, they share surface-level, watered-down content that is scrollable and forgettable.

The best way to improve your media presence as an entrepreneur, is to bring this subject matter expertise to the surface.

Here are three key questions to help you get started, based on McEwen Media’s coaching programs and Impact Media Strategy.

Question #1: Who are you?

Whenever I take clients through this exercise, I typically get the same response: job title, industry, set of responsibilities. I refer to this as the LinkedIn version of yourself. But who you are is not what you do.

The first step is to recognize that your current role is an expression of who you are: your values, beliefs, and standards that guide the decisions that have brought you here.

Go deeper than the LinkedIn version of you. Ask: why this role? How does it fulfill me? What values does it serve?

If you need help exploring this, try our expertise-building exercises in the Impact Media Strategy online course.

Question #2: What do you want to be known for?

Similar to the first question, many entrepreneurs get stuck on their market positioning - best-in-class, great value, etc.

But your media presence is not your marketing funnel. Your media presence primes the market to favourably receive what you have mapped out in the funnel.

With this question, think of your legacy: What does the opening line of your obit say? And think about where it is announced: Privately among friends and family? Or broadcast across media platforms because your impact is so deep in your industry, its absence makes the news.

This is what you want to be known for. Not just what you know, but how your knowledge can help others. Identifying this is the first step towards finding out how you can become a sought-after media expert.

Our Impact Media Strategy online course guides you on how to establish your expertise, and then present yourself as a credible source to media.

Question #3:How do you want people to feel in your presence?

This is perhaps the most undervalued aspect of improving your media presence.

For today's brand, nailing the right vibe can be the difference between building repeat business, and hustling for leads.

Once you've nailed your vibe and tone, it's important to ensure your brand consistently shows up this way throughout the client journey. It can sound overwhelming, but if you were truly honest with the first two questions, this last step should be authentic and true to you.

Implementing your brand values across your business is the purpose of building a media strategy. And if this sounds daunting, McEwen Media is here to coach you through it, start to finish.