Marketing for the small entrepreneur has a lot to do with name recognition.  The question I am always asked is how do you get it?

The easy answer is to hire a big PR firm. Right, I know “Not  happenin’.” The harder answer is to do it yourself and that takes really not a lot more than blind perseverance and dedication.

If you are a regular subscriber you already know about using the social networks to build your name. Question is, which name are you building? What? Here is an example: The Rolling Stones vs Mick Jagger; U2 vs Bono; which ones are the rock stars?  Are you out there building your company brand or are you building your own?  Wolverine or Hugh Jackman? Do you see what I am getting at? If you really want to be a rock star you have to make your company identified as a part of you, not the other way around. If you don’t believe me, look at the Trendsetters list in Modern Bride; not one is listed by their company name. Even the write up on the venerable Kleinfeld’s, which is by all rights a major brand, is headlined as Mara Urshel & Ronnie Rothstein.

Now that you have that straight in your mind, what steps do you take to make it happen. Well you start with a small following. Think about being a headliner for a small crowd as opposed to being the opening act for someone else. Seth Godin wrote a great post on this, you can read it here.  Build your small following on your name, not your companies. Companies are thought of a faceless entities, be bold enough to put your face on what you do (of course you have be really good at what you do).

Build audience by getting exposure. Offer to speak to groups like you local NACE or ABC, offer to write articles for your local publications, get to know the producers of your local tv shows, offer to do presentations at local bridal shows. Build you tiny little cult following at the same time you hone your skills.

Take any offer that will get you exposure. You never know who will be in that crowd. I live in a city that understands this completely. The places I have seen songwriters and musicians perform in around here would truly boggle your mind. No matter what the dive, you just never know who will be in the crowd. Randy Travis was discovered singing in a horrible tourist trap catfish dive out by Opryland. He was a dishwasher that talked the boss into letting him sing on a fairly regular basis, night after night for unappreciative half drunk tourists. Now he was doing the other work of hitting Music Row, but ultimately it was someone that saw him perform on that stage that took him over the edge.

Use this exposure to build to the next level.

Here is where the blind perseverance comes in. Except in rare cases, this isn’t going to happen overnight. You need to keep putting yourself out there, keep taking risks. Think about what we all know to be true of actors: 15 years to become an overnight success.  Start zeroing in on larger and larger markets. Pick your targets and keep offering, hit them with an idea on a monthly basis. Don’t be pushy but do be relentless. Believe me, they will remember your name and when the time comes that they need what you have to offer they will look you up. It may feel like you are emailing a black hole. It may feel like they aren’t listening but keep doing it any way.  There are too many stories out there about the PR flack that pitches a client to Oprah/Fast Company/InStyle for a year before they hear anything. Have faith and just keep doing it.

I know that some of you are sitting there thinking how is this going to help my little bakery? I can only deliver in a small geographic area, why do I need to be on Oprah? If you think for one minute that national exposure won’t be felt in your local market you are crazy. The minute you hit primetime, your prices and your booking are going to go through the roof. Besides, there is a great big world out there. Don’t be afraid to think about expanding into it. After all, you just got yourself on Oprah didn’t you; you can do anything!