What It Takes To Become Leaders In Our Own Niche with Liana Zavo
“The number one thing I would say about how I got into PR is determining how I can bring value first? When you bring value. money just comes automatically…”
CEO and Founder of Zavomedia Group, Liana Zavo sat down with me to share some of her best tips and words of wisdom when it comes to everything PR, including finding our own niche and how to create visibility, and turn it into credibility. Even sharing what her acronym B. E.P.I.C stands for how to use it to help become a leader in your niche. Below is just a little sample of the entire interview, you can find more on the So She Slays Podcast.
How do we even determine what our niche is or find one?
If I want to give you a microphone, and asked you to speak for 30 minutes about one thing on the spot, what would it be? If that's what you chose? That's exactly your niche, it's really simple. So then after that, I'll tell them look, you need to have a passion, right? You need to be driven by if you wake up every morning and love to speak about that specific niche. Then that's exactly what you need to hone in on and expand. Then how do you expand? How to become visible? How do you gain credibility as an expert, and then you gain profitability for your business? It can be very overwhelming, especially for college students, high school students who are transitioning. I'm a college dropout.
I know money plays a key part in the path we choose for ourselves, how do we be mindful of that but still have the courage to go after what we want?
The number one thing I would say about how I got into PR is I asked the question, “How can I bring value first?” When you bring value money just comes automatically. When you just go after money like oh, this is gonna give me blank, it's not going to be fulfilling after a certain time. That's why I left what I used to do, it wasn't fulfilling in the end. I also asked myself, “What's my mission?” If I can't really fulfill my mission every day, then it's not what I'm meant to do. Right? Money for me is not the driving force, the driving force is, what I give you in value and how I can over-deliver to where automatically people will be drawn to it? That's where I find my expertise.
How do we then start taking the steps to become leaders in this niche?
I use the one-word acronym that I came up with called B.E.P.I.C. it’s where I teach the five simple hacks.
B- Is your Belief, your mindset is everything. I say 80% is mindset and 20% is actually theory and like you actually putting into practice but if you don’t have your mindset that is what you need to work on. Everything stems from overcoming fear. When you overcome fear first then you can set your goals. So get your mindset straight.
E- Look to become Empowered. What gives you that empowerment? You’ve got to become a creator in your own life then you need to find a way to become empowered. Empowerment for me is when I sit down I manifest and that in itself makes me feel empowered when I have clarity.
P- Personal Branding builds trust and authenticity. So when people look me up they know what I’m about as a person. Getting your message down, down to its core, and then finding out if it resonates with your audience is key. Your message has to be very precise. It’s not about yes I can do 10 things it’s about you honing in on one thing.
I- Inner core which contains your inner voice, your diet, etc. It’s making sure everything is tuned in together. When you are not tuned in you won’t be able to hear your inner voice and it won’t be able to guide you.
C- Courage. Have the courage to step out of your comfort zone and land media opportunities. Get on podcasts, write a little bit, find ways that work for you.
What are some tips to make sure your brand is seen as authentic?
Yeah, I would say share your story. Be vulnerable. People want to hear what you went through, especially through COVID people want to relate to you. That in itself is like for you to actually take that leap of faith and speak about your ups and downs and your challenges, the advice you learned. Sometimes people will look at me differently if I really share what I was afraid of during COVID or my struggles. You also need to have visibility and credibility. So I would say share your story, become a storyteller and find someone a PR strategist, someone that can actually help you get into those publications. So start small you know, local news, and then build up your portfolio. I would say get active on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is so undervalued right now and underestimated but they're like an underdog. They're really taking over. I had so many opportunities open for me because of LinkedIn. So many people I've met because of that platform.
Follow me Liana Zavo, I would love to share more tips and how to get you into more credibility, visibility.
Learn how to create more credibility through visibility, the power of the people you surround yourself with, and more by listening to Liana Zavo’s episode on the So She Slays Podcast below.