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Guest Thinkers — November 18, 2011

How Great Thinkers Spread Their Ideas

Great thinkers are not much if their ideas never get noticed. And hey, it’s a jungle out there. Here is some advice about getting your thoughts into the marketplace—and getting noticed.

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What’s the Latest Development?

If you want to get your thoughts out into the marketplace of ideas, you’ve got to visit different stalls. That means appearing on news sites, blogs, etc. that aren’t your own. And the easiest way to get there, unless you already have a substantial profile, is definitely online. So start by making a wishlist of sites you would like to appear on, then go after those which want you to tailor your message to their audience. If you aren’t asked to do that, the site probably doesn’t have one.

What’s the Big Idea?

Checking your ego at the door is an important step toward circulating your ideas. It may be hard to face, but nobody cares about you or your ideas, at least not yet. To get your message out there, think of how you can build the audience of the sites you wish to appear on. Tailor your message to their readers and viewers. That probably means dropping about 80 percent of what you want to say and focusing on how-to or actionable advice that suits the audience you’re writing to.

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

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