A-B-C Strategy for Choosing Platform Priorities

Growing your platform is like climbing a mountain. Often we focus our eyes on the size of the mountain and it’s easy to doubt our ability to successfully make the climb. The result of our doubt often leads to fear and discouragement. How can I ever get to those social media numbers! My email list is growing, but it’s happening sooooo slowly.

Today, we’re looking at how you can shift your attention from fearing the size of the mountain to focusing on the right “gear” or priorities that will propel you up that mountain!    

One of the temptations with growing your platform is to believe that the more types of platforms that you have, the more that your platform will grow. If you try to do everything, it’s hard to do any one thing very well.

So, I want to introduce what I call my “ABC Strategy” or prioritizing platforms:

A – Platform Opportunity that occupies 50% or more of your available time and energy, whether it’s creative planning, execution, administration or financial investment. Practically speaking, you’re paying attention to this opportunity most days of the week, if not daily.

B – Platform Opportunity that occupies 30% or more of your available time and energy working on tasks similar to your A strategy. Practically speaking, you’re working on your B strategy once or twice a week BUT there may be seasons of intense focus.

C – Platform Opportunity that occupies 20% or more of your available time and energy. Practically speaking, you spend time on it once a week OR bulk planning/production/execution on certain days of the month.

The goal of thinking through this ABC strategy is to help you focus on what platform opportunities are the right fit for you, right now in your life. When you know the opportunities that are the right fit, then you can have confidence in execution as well as understand how to plan your time, energy and financial commitment. I also use this model as an annual temperature check to help me re-evaluate my platform strategy.

READY TO BEGIN IMPLEMENTING THIS STRATEGY?

1. Here is a list of common platform growth vehicles. Which ones are you currently doing or considering? 

Email list	Facebook	Instagram	Twitter	Pinterest
YouTube	Blog	Influencers	Podcast	Speaking Events
Lead Magnets	Facebook Ads	Virtual Summits	Online Courses	Merchandise

 

Other: _____________________________________

 

2. Let’s apply the “ABC” Strategy

Which one should be your “A” strategy? Here are a few questions:

• Which platform opportunity energizes you the more you work on it, rather than drains you?
• Which platform opportunity produces the best results for your time and effort?
• If you were sick or otherwise unavailable, would you go to great lengths to keep this going?
• Which platform opportunity would you spend money on to grow or keep going?
• If you are successful with this strategy, how will it ultimately benefit your writing/publishing career?

What is your A strategy? ____________________________________

How do you know which one should be your “B” strategy? *NOTE: Even though your second platform element isn’t in the number one spot, it’s a vital part of your platform growth strategy. You still put in time and energy, but this element requires some momentum from your top choice to keep going.

Here are a few questions:

• Which platform opportunity are you enjoying, but you know that too much of a good thing can wear you out?
• Which platform opportunity can be effective as a seasonal focus and produce results without having to pour in lots of energy all year? (Example: online courses)

What is your B strategy? ____________________________________

How do you know which one should be your “C” strategy? Here are a few questions:

• Which platform opportunity are you good at, but you don’t have the time to develop it every day?
• Which one can you spend a few days a month prepping and spread out your content over the rest of the month? (i.e., podcast recording, YouTube videos, social media bulk-scheduling)
• Can you put this off and catch up if life responsibilities or other priorities ramp up periodically?

What is your C strategy? ____________________________________

As an author, my ABC strategy looks like this:

1. Speaking – I focus effort on my speaking platform four or five days of the week.
2. Writing – I work on my writing two or three days a week.
3. Podcast – I dedicate two to four days a month on podcasting (because I hire out the production and administrative tasks).

Your strategy may look different, and that’s okay!

While lots of options exist for how to grow a platform, the best strategy is the one that is right for you. Once you have an intentional strategy, it helps you to carefully weigh or withstand the temptation to follow a new trend. Just as you can make minor adjustments to your path as you climb up a mountain, it’s wise to minimize frequent, erratic changes while building your platform. Be patient and give your A strategy time to gain traction, but if it isn’t producing solid results, then be courageous and either ask for help or select a different A strategy.

If you want your platforming efforts to be effective, being intentional, patient and persevering is the key!

JOIN THE CONVERSATION TODAY: What’s your platform ABC? As you reflect on your platform ABC, what stands out to you? Is there anything surprising about how your platform choices work together?