For some odd reason, the Johnny Lee song Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places popped into my head. I’m not a big country fan (though we listened to a lot of it during drives with dad growing up) so I’m not sure why the song crossed my mind. However, it did. And as I examined the lyrics, I realized Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places could be applied to building our platforms.
Image by Alessandro Bonvini
Johnny Lee wrote Looking For Love, I’m guessing, because he was looking for love in all the wrong places. Makes sense, that’s what the song is called after all.
But the song is about love not platforms, you may say. That’s true, but his pursuit of love in the wrong places is often how we pursue the growth of our platforms.
Let’s take a look at some of the lyrics:
Playing a fools game, hoping to win.
Struggling leaders are looking for the quick ways to build an audience and gain a following. They’re not up to the challenge of the hard work and effort it takes to build a solid audience.
Give up on playing the games. Instead, decide to put in the time and energy required to build a large, committed following.
Telling those sweet lies and losing again
In looking for more, we can get caught up in telling stories (lies) to build our platforms.
We promise things that we can’t deliver. We offer results that fall flat. We share things that aren’t true.
We can’t tell lies to build our platforms. Doing so we result in ultimate failure.
Looking for love in too many faces
There’s the feeling that we have to gain more followers to build our platforms. That’s true. We have to get more people to follow us to continue to grow.
Yet we’ll often chase too many different people while we look to build our audience. This is why I shared how we must focus on a specific audience member to grow our platforms over on Michael Hyatt’s blog.
Chasing too many target audience members only muddies our message. Learn to focus on one or two key audience members.
Stop Looking For More In The Wrong Places
It’s time we stop chasing after more in the wrong places. We’re not going to grow our platforms this way. In fact, you’ll wind up hurting your platform in the long run.
So, what can you do to build your platform in the right places?
Stop playing games: Instead of playing games, begin to take building your platform seriously. Learn the skills needed to build an audience from the ground up. Begin implementing sound strategies and tactics that will help you increase your platform.
Stop telling lies: Lies will only hurt your platform in the long term. Don’t be tempted to tell lies to attract a larger audience. Stick to the truth and only the truth.
Stop looking broadly: It’s easy to think we can reach everyone. We can’t and if you try, you’ll begin to sound inauthentic. Rather, create an avatar of your ideal audience member and write for that ONE person.
When you stop looking for more in the wrong places, you can begin building an authentic platform. Give up on the wrong places and go to the places that actually work!
Question: Have you found yourself looking to build your platform in the wrong places? What have you done to correct it? Let’s hear it in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.