Heidi Cohen Interviews Mark Schaefer
New book: KNOWN: The handbook for building and unleashing your personal brand in the digital age
Q: What’s your best piece of advice for readers looking to improve their marketing?
The main concept behind my book is that there is a significant and permanent advantage to being known today.
A person who is known will get the business, attract more opportunities, make more important connections. It is so essential to achieving many personal and professional goals today.
Q: What was the inspiration for KNOWN?
Like most things, it was my personal experience! I used to be in the top 1% of the executives at a Fortune 100 company. I was the go-to-guy in my company for anything Internet.
Then I left to start my own company and learned that everything I had achieved really didn’t matter any more. People didn’t care what my title was, how big my staff was, or what awards were on my walls.
I had to start re-building my reputation from scratch. I had to learn how to become known.
Q: What is the key concept behind KNOWN?
I did more than a year of research on the book and interviewed about 100 people from all over the world to learn if there is a single, scalable process to become known – and there is.
In fact, every person went through the same four steps to achieve their goals.
So the book establishes those steps and takes the reader through exercises to make this path accessible and achievable. It is a very practical, actionable book.
Q: What do you want readers to take away from your book
To be known today, you need more than a dream, a passion, or even a big idea. You need a PLAN! This is the book to do it. It is filled with exercises, case studies and inspiring stories to help people get to work and become known.
Q: How do you describe yourself professionally?
I am a marketing consultant, author and college educator. I blog at businessesGROW.com and you can find my podcast The Marketing Companion there, too.
Q: What are 1-3 books that inspired your work/career?
The single-biggest influence on my career was Peter Drucker. He was actually my teacher in grad school. I have read all his books, usually more than once!
Q: What is the biggest challenge that you’ve had to overcome?
Probably overcoming personal tragedy while sustaining a career at the same time. That is gut-wrenching, brave work to do.
Q: What’s something unusual or fun that most people don’t know about you?
My summer job in college was guessing weights on a midway at a theme park.
Q: Is there a piece of marketing content that you’re particularly proud of?
I’ve worked with many big brands and some amazing companies but most of my work is covered by NDAs. I did turn around a pharmaceutical brand and made the customer millions in new revenue by discovering a marketing nuance that had been right in front of their noses! I wish I could say more, but that was a fun one to watch!
Contact information
- Name: Mark Schaefer
- Company: Schaefer Marketing Solutions
- Blog: www. businessesGROW.com/blog
- Book: KNOWN, The Content Code
- Twitter: @markwschaefer
Thanks, Mark.
Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Heidi Cohen is the President of Riverside Marketing Strategies.You can find Heidi on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
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