I don’t know about you, but I’ve been to a few rock concerts where the opening was just plain god-awful. There is no other way to describe. I can’t put my finger on it, but it was just no enjoyable in the slightest. I had come there to listen to a band and I was instead made to listen to something that just didn’t have any chutzpah whatsoever. I wondered what it was and then realized it; showmanship. That’s what this band didn’t have. They just turned up and seemed almost…mechanical. And this lack of energy and showmanship doesn’t just matter for bands, it matters for brands too. The best branding strategies always have a bit of showmanship about them. Razzle dazzle or whatever you want to call it.

That’s what separates A-list bloggers and businesses from the decent ones. You can spot those that go the extra mile and use those few special branding strategies to mesmerize their audience. It’s why these showmen achieve the success they do. Don’t be the opening act for the rock star and don’t hang up those boots and guitars. You can be the best showman there is and be amongst the dominant players in your niche. What is showmanship, after all, except the expression of an idea or message in flamboyant and entertaining terms to a wide audience? All it boils down to is the development of a style that sets you apart from everyone else, something distinctive and unique.

Take Lady Gaga for instance (no, it wasn’t her concert that I went to. I don’t even like her that much). Born as Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga is such a wonderful name for a showman though, don’t you think?), she is a gifted songwriter, vocalist and pianist. Just search for videos of her early years on Youtube if you don’t believe me. But she knew she had to be different to get noticed and make it big, and so Lady Gaga was born. Now that’s what I’m talking about. For years, there was no one in the pop or rock industry with that kind of pull or charisma. Queen is the last band I can think of in that regards, and it’s no surprise that Lady Gaga draws a lot of  her inspiration from a band that included one of the ultimate showmen in Freddie Mercury.

And Gaga achieved this while having near total mastery over her craft. Don’t mistake showmanship for gimmicks; showmen are the real deal and they know almost everything (or everything) there is to know about their trade. Where they excel however is in showcasing their talents where others don’t. I have no doubt there are more talented musicians than Gaga out there. But they will never be as successful as Gaga so long as they focus solely on their craft. They need to rebrand themselves, use branding strategies that set them apart. Only them will they have the audiences eating out of their hands. And the same rule applies to you as well.

If you were a military leader, how important would it be if you had someone working for you on the other side of the divide? The cold war was famous for secret agents and sometimes even double agents. But as a businessman or blogger, how wonderful would it be to have a secret ally on your side that helps you achieve your goals, all without the prospect or target even knowing about it? That’s the power bestowed by understanding brain function. By using it, you will be able to convince your customers that this is the thing to do simply by treating their mind as your playground.

The mind and brain function is a potent weapon for marketers and bloggers alike. Using it, capturing it and controlling it will help you immensely. Some feel that they constantly need to reinvent their schedule to appeal to their audience. That is not true in the slightest. The thing is, once your prospects are used to something you shouldn’t take it away from them. People don’t like change, especially if they like it and it resonates with them. Change it and you’ll undo all the good work done so far.

But what’s more important is you risk confusing them and their minds, and brain function will struggle to fully interpret different messages. The brain doesn’t want to remember everything, it is selective in its choices. But if something is repeated relentlessly, it will remember it since it figures it is important. This is also true for messages that are emotion heavy and consistently delivered. It’s why you remember your wife nagging you so clearly while you don’t remember where you kept that damn remote/key/pair of socks. Emotional context can be everything for brain function.

Advertisers know this and that’s why we remember advertising slogans dating back to our childhood more than we remember our fourth grade teacher’s name. It’s also why our first crush or love is remembered so vividly since details of him/her are played over so often in our heads. That’s the power of repetition, and that’s the power of harnessing brain function. Get a message and stick to it; the minds of your prospects will thank you for it and retain your message better.

We know of his name and we know of the qualities he espouses. We even know that he wears a wig that looks something like a bird’s nest. But do we really know how Donald Trump came to dominate his niche market? Chances are that Donald Trump has made a building in your city and if he has you will know of it. Chances are that you will know of the buildings he has made in some other cities, such as Trump Tower.  What is it about “The Donald” that makes us know so much about him and his niche market to the exception of others? This hit when I looked out my hotel window and saw the Trump International Hotel, Chicago staring back at me. Just how does he do it? And can his rules be applied to blogging?

Be visible, always

Is your online presence limited to your own blog or website? Are you running a blog sans videos? Then you’re not building your brand through visibility. People relate to a face and the qualities it exudes. It’s part of the magic mojo. It’s part of who you are. There’s no point in being a world-class sage at the top of the Himalayas if you want to get your message of wisdom heard. If no one knows where you are or who you are, you’ve lost the battle.

Cash? Never!

It’s fair to say that Trump has more cash than most. But he rarely pays cash to get new audiences. Many people understand the fundamentals of business but they still do the basics wrong. Robert Kiyosaki doesn’t write books to get his jollies. He does it for a reason. Everything done in a business is for a reason. Everything is strategic. Think strategically of how to acquire something for nothing. That’s leverage baby.

Outperform expectations

The Trump International Beach Resort in Miami caught me by surprise. What I felt I’d get and what I got was very different. The staff was polite, the air smelt great (what a wonderful fragrance it was) and it was all a bit shocking. But it was pleasantly so. You perhaps cannot do a Trump. But you can do the little things exceedingly well and delight your readers or customers so that they want to return.

You too can be like ‘The Donald’ and dominate your niche market. Okay, it’s hard to take someone difficult when he has hair like that. You’d imagine someone worth millions, billions even, would have a good hair stylist. But you can’t argue with his results and how it can work for you. You can’t knock it unless you try it.

To paraphrase Shakespeare; “To link or not to link, is that even a question?” But the million dollar question is what you should link to in your blog post if you want to go down that road. What sort of link building strategies should you use? The number of outbound links you have and the manner in which you use them is critical. Here are some ways in which link building strategies could be beneficial to you.

Building networks and relationships

Building a niche community helps build a blog up over time. Don’t dismiss the idea of linking to blogs you might be linking to. Your readers and the the community as a whole might appreciate your going the extra mile and the relationship could be more rewarding than you think.

Don’t steal credit

The reason to have outbound links is to prove your facts and to corroborate your own research. Not everything you write will be original, but the least you can do is link back to the source of the information. Let readers know your research has been done and it’s all credible.

Don’t overdo it

Don’t be a link whore. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Relevant links can certainly help you with SEO and Google, keep the number of links reasonable. Don’t overdo it because beyond a point it seems like spam or an untrustworthy maneuver. If that happens, it’ll do more harm than good.

Credit guest writers and image sources

If you can’t afford to hire a blogger or a photographer, have no fear. Some blogs and photographers will allow you to use their resources (with prior permission, of course). Giving a short bio about them and their work and thanking them is the way to go as a way of appreciating their gesture.

Flesh out your opinion

With any kind of luck, your opinions are based on fact or research. Having an opinion is a good thing, but back it up with facts. Don’t be a rabble rouser that forwards an opinion just because you can. Use links to back up your statements.

You don’t have to always link

Sometimes, linking to something externally can slow down comprehension and understanding of the topic at hand. So don’t be too heavy on the linking and do away with it altogether sometimes. It’s not a rule of blogging that you have to have outbound links every time.

Showcase information

Sometimes, you want to quote more about a particular source or bring together a bunch of diverse opinions under one roof. Link back at times like this since it adds credence to your own post and it is a way to pay respect to the source from whom you got this information in the first place. Don’t be a plagiarist. Linking is not the same thing as plagiarising.