The Art and Science of Visibility for Underrecognized Entrepreneurs

So, why is that person so much further along than you. Even, when you’re both leveraging the same things (tactics, strategies, etc.)? If you’ve guiltily swatted this thought away, satisfying yourself with platitudes about comparison and mindset struggles, you’re in good company. We all have. Turns out, that’s not all there is to it.

Here’s the bad news: Attention, like many resources, is not allocated neutrally. It is in fact allocated along racial lines—and likely gender lines as well. This means that if you hail from an underrecognized community, people have been conditioned to give you less of it. This is a point I find myself sharing again and again. Because it is so new. Now for the good news: You’re about to get a very hands on, concrete primer on what in the ever loving heck is actually going on.

Updated: 09/26/2024

The (usual) mechanics of visibility

Here’s how visibility works:

1. You find the right eyes

2. You put your thing in front of those right eyes

3. If it’s a thing they want and need (and can justify spending on) they buy, or invest, or support.

Simple right? That’s because in a perfect world, visibility would be a predictable indicator of demand. Visibility is supposed to be a predictable indicator of demand.

Now here’s the thing people aren’t quite saying: It isn’t. Once you put your body of work, or cause or widget in front of the right eyes, you need to do so in a way that cuts through the noise. This may seem obvious to you now, as someone literally living in a time where there have never been more demands on our attention, but many common marketing and branding techniques still rely on assumptions made during times when visibility impact—or cut through in the attention economy—was much easier to attain. Now a days, attractive branding made visible is no longer the sure bet to visibility impact it was.

Def/n: Branding = A brand's (memorable) assets

Once you cut through, then you’ll to be noticed, which is the actual point of being visible in the first place. Well, at least the first point.

The ultimate goal is for that exposure to you and your ideas to translate into commitment. That is where your brand traction comes in. If exposure to you and your ideas secures investment in those ideas pretty predictably, then your brand traction is pretty high. You may even be on the cusp of true momentum.

So, if your visibility impact and brand traction are healthy and hale, you’ll get what you want from your visibility initiatives

"attractive branding made visible is no longer the sure bet to visibility impact it was."

When you’re Underrecognized

Here’s the problem: People have been conditioned to overlook you in particular. Literally. As an underrecognized person, your visibility impact and brand traction are constantly being eroded by visibility biases. Imagine a literal acid eating away at and corroding these assets constantly. What that means is that you, as an underrecognized person, have to contend with dimished cut through or visibility impact, and a diminished capacity to translate brand exposure into commitment, just for being who you are. And it is with these eroded tools that you must confront the noise in your marketplace. This is where that gap you’ve been sensing comes from. That feeling of “why is that person so much further along, when we’re doing the same things?”

Def/n: Visibility Biases are a set of cognitive biases/mental shortcuts that describe the ways we've been conditioned to overlook certain people and experiences

Yes, there’s all the mindset talk. Don’t compare your today to their yesterday, etc. And to a certain extent that’s true.

But you’re also not imagining that gap.

It’s real.

And it’s not there because you’re not “showing up in enough places”

How to Fix It

This isn’t a problem that PR or Marketing can solve. Showing up in more places, while these biases remain unaddressed is really just teaching folks to filter you out.

This is a brand level problem.

And you solve it by improving your brand’s ability to pull interest and push change. The actual steps are these:

1. Assess the phase of visibility you’re in. This is key because it allows you to then,

2. Identify the parts of your Ecosystem of Influence you need to tend to now and which ones you need to tend to next. Tending to this ecosystem is how you,

3. Build towards your visibility tipping point

So, now you know. Visibility doesn’t work the same for you as it does for others. Now you know why. And now you know how to fix it. If you have more questions about any of these concepts, grab my on-demand Visibility Clinic, “The Art and Science of Amplifying World Changing Ideas.” Not only will this answer your lingering questions, it will also put you on the waitlist for the live Visibility Clinics I host, where you get the opportunity to ask me your visibility questions, and I get the opportunity talk nerdy about visibility. It’s a win-win really.

Reciprocity release: All kidding aside, reciprocity is a real concern for underrecognized folks. As I shared in a recent podcast, reciprocity is a privilege and it, like visibility, doesn’t work the same for us. So, when I do something at no charge, I ensure I am adequately compensated in other ways. In the case of the Visibility Clinics, hearing your questions allows me to suss out new visibility biases and new dimensions of the Invisibility Tax.