Client Spotlight: Dr. Robin Buckley is a cognitive-behavioral coach, speaker, author, and partner at Insights Group South, where she helps women thrive in their careers and relationships. A former Authority Accelerator client and all-around badass, she wrote Real Imposters Don’t Experience Imposter Syndrome for Entrepreneur.

Good morning, ,

The article I wrote for today's newsletter started with a conversation. (Some of my best article ideas start the same way.)

I met Sam at a networking event earlier this summer. In our break-out room, she mentioned that she had been working as a consultant for a few years, but her business consisted of one long-term project for a single client.

In subsequent conversations, I learned that Sam started consulting after her job was eliminated during the pandemic. It was a move she had already been considering, but she wasn't planning to make the leap for another few years.

The good news is that Sam's employer wanted her to finish overseeing the implementation of a project she helped design.

She had her first consulting client before she finished her exit interview!

But that project wraps up before the end of the year.

And there's nothing in the pipeline.

"I feel like I'm starting from square one," says Sam. "How do I start getting my name out there? Someone suggested that I write a book to launch my business, but that feels like a really big undertaking. I thought I could start by writing articles. I'd love to get published in Harvard Business Review!"

So, where do you start?

Let's get into it.

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What to Write When: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Authority

Should you write a book? Or focus on your blog? What about your email newsletter? Should you focus on that next? Do you need a lead magnet? Or should you write for high-visibility publications? What about social media? How does that fit into the mix?

If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, then you already know writing helps you build your reputation, increase your visibility, and reach the right audience. It is an exceptional authority-building technique that showcases your perspective, insights, and approaches to solving problems. It allows readers to get to know, like, and trust you.

It also differentiates you from your peers.

Over the course of your consulting career, you will use various forms of writing, such as social media posts, email newsletters, blog posts, articles for third-party publications, and books, to share your perspective and demonstrate your expertise. Each form of writing serves a distinct purpose. Understanding how they work together is essential to knowing which to use at each stage of your consulting career. Here, I offer a step-by-step approach to help you focus your writing efforts. 

First, write to develop your perspective.

You must develop your perspective before you can share your perspective. If you are an early-stage consultant or you have recently shifted your focus to serve a new industry or offer a new service, start by posting on LinkedIn and writing for your blog and email newsletter.

Use this time to learn about your audience’s biggest challenges, how they've tried to address those challenges, why those attempts failed, and where they turn for guidance. Understand the counsel your audience is receiving and where other experts in your field are oversimplifying or overcomplicating the solutions they offer. Note where you can add some nuance, fill a gap, or offer a different perspective. 

According to data on the lifespan of online content compiled by Scott Graffius, a post on LinkedIn receives half of its total engagement within 24.3 hours while a blog post receives half of its total engagement within 1.95 years. GetResponse reports that the lifespan of email newsletters is even shorter than that of social media posts, with half of all opens occurring within the first 8 hours. 

Writing helps you interrogate your own thinking, and when you share your writing, you invite others to offer their perspective so you can refine your thinking. These vehicles are perfectly suited to experimentation and the development of your perspective:

• LinkedIn. LinkedIn posts have a short lifespan. However, they also have a high likelihood of engagement and great potential for building your network. This makes LinkedIn an excellent place to offer up ideas even when they aren’t fully formed and to invite and actively engage in discussion. Those types of posts have the potential to help you see your idea from a new perspective, thus refining your thinking, and are great ways to build relationships with others in your field. 

• Newsletter. Email newsletters have a much shorter lifespan than LinkedIn posts, but go directly to people who have opted-in to receive your newsletter and are interested in what you have to say. You may choose to share ideas in which you have a great deal of confidence, or you may invite the recipients to test developing ideas with you. Because your newsletter community is easy to reach, you have plenty of opportunities to share your thinking as it evolves.  

• Blog. As is the case with email newsletters, your blog is a platform you own and control, so it is more secure than sharing your ideas on social media. Blog posts have the longest lifespan and greatest flexibility because they can be revised, updated, or deleted at any time. You can also expand the lifespan of a blog post by repurposing it and intentionally sharing it over and over again. Because your blog can be accessed by anyone, you want to have confidence in the ideas you present at the time you present them. Think of each blog post as a snapshot of your thinking at a particular point in time. 

Your blog and email newsletter serve as the foundation of your authority-building efforts and are enhanced by your presence on LinkedIn. Regardless of what other forms of writing you employ, make sure your foundation is solid and reinforced throughout your consulting career. A solid foundation will position you for future growth. 

Second, write to build your network and authority.

As a mid-stage consultant, you have a strong point of view and experience-based expertise to share. You have an excellent reputation, a strong network, and a steady(ish) stream of projects. However, you may find that your reputation is confined to a small circle of clients and colleagues and your network lacks focus. You may also find that you are doing too much of the wrong kind of work.

This is when you want to consider writing for high-visibility publications.

A high-visibility publication is any publication that allows you to share your ideas with an already-established audience populated by the people you most want to reach. Writing for these publications helps you share your message with more of the right people and expand your audience. It also provides social proof — the publication vetted you and decided you have something important to share with their readers. They recognized you as an expert in your field.

In most cases, your articles will be published online. These articles are similar to a blog post, with a long lifespan that can be expanded by promoting and repurposing the article again and again. It is rarely possible to update these articles, so you want to have confidence in the ideas you present. That being said, these articles are dated, and you can always stop sharing them when they no longer accurately reflect your thinking and they will fade into obscurity. 

Articles written for third-party publications are remarkably flexible marketing assets that offer readers a detailed examination of a very specific topic in a format that is easy to digest. In most cases, you can syndicate these articles, publishing the same piece on your blog with a link back to the original, thus reinforcing the foundation of your reputation-building effort. Unlike your blog and email newsletter, however, writing articles for high-visibility publications gives you access to an already-established audience, making it easier to build your network.

Third, write to share your hard-earned wisdom

As an established consultant, you have a strong point of view, extensive experience, and a reputation as an authoritative expert and leading thinker in your field. Your sphere of influence is vast, and your network includes other recognized experts, clients, and emerging leaders. As you start to transition from a mid-stage consultant to an established consultant, consider writing a book to share your hard-earned wisdom. 

While you may choose to write a book earlier in this process, keep in mind that writing and promoting a book requires a significant investment of time, money, and effort. You want to undertake that effort when you can afford to focus your attention on your book — when your pipeline is full and you don’t need to worry about where your next project will come. Writing a book can be a fun distraction, when what you really need to do is the hard work of business development. 

You don’t need to write a book to build a successful consultancy. 

If you do write a book, the return on your investment will probably not come in the form of book sales. Your book is much more valuable as a marketing asset than as a stream of income. 

As a published author, you will be seen as an authoritative expert simply by virtue of the fact that you have published a book. If that book stands on its own merits, your reputation as an authoritative expert will be confirmed. If the book lacks insight or is poorly written, it could damage your reputation — at least with those who read it. 

A book is a stable marketing asset, and it must stay relevant and resonant over time to be valuable. You have a better chance of writing a book that holds up over time and opens the door to more opportunities if you have an established audience and a solid reputation. Use articles — published on your blog or in high-visibility publications — to test and refine your ideas and make sure they stand the test of time.  

To learn more about how articles and books work together, download my infographic on The Relationship Between Articles and Books.

Articles and books work very well together. Don’t be afraid to start with articles and use the articles you’ve written as a foundation for your book. Not only is it easier to write a 750 to 1,250 word article than it is to write a 35,000 to 65,000 word book, but those articles can help you build your audience for the book you intend to write.

Once your book is published, you can repurpose your research and writing into published articles that continue to build your audience and generate further excitement for your book. Breaking each chapter of your book into articles is a great way to repurpose your book and reinforce the foundation of your reputation-building effort. 

The first step is simple. 

No matter where you are in your consulting career, writing will help you build your authority, increase your visibility, and reach the right audience. Whether you focus on your blog, write for high-visibility publications, or start work on a book depends in large part on your current priorities and whether you have a solid foundation in place. 

Writing never goes to waste. Even when your writing is not published, writing helps you think deeply and improves your ability to communicate highly complex ideas. Sharing those ideas allows you to refine them even further.

Are you ready to take the first step?

Just write.

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"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means."

~ Joan Didion, New York Times Book Review, "Why I Write," 1976

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Upcoming Events

Pitched to Published™ 

Interested in learning how to write, pitch, and publish articles for high-visibility publications? Join me on Wednesday, October 9, at 11:55 AM Eastern, for a mini-training on how to edit your work, followed by a Q+A. This is a free, public event. Register here.

Master Class: How to Write for High-Visibility Publications

In this 60-minute master class, I will share the SILVA Method™ and walk you step-by-step through the process I use to help my clients secure bylines in publications like Harvard Business Review, Inc., and TD Magazine. Join me October 15, November 12, or December 10 at 3 PM Eastern. Register here.

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The Writing Practice Community

Writing Practice is a community of experts who want the support, structure, and time to complete one article, blog post, or other writing project each month. Membership includes monthly writing workshops, editing workshops, and deep work sessions, along with regular writing practice sessions. Dues are $100 per month, and you may cancel at any time. Interested in learning more? Reply to this email and I'll send you the details.

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If you see yourself in any part of Sam's story, my Writing Practice community might be the perfect fit. If you'd like to explore it further, drop me an email or book a call. I'd love to learn more about you and your business and how I might be of service.

I'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Take good care,