If you grew up in Toronto in the late ’90s, you may remember Lucy Zilio.
She had a television show called Tuned In with Lucy Zilio.
These weren’t traditional 30-minute episodes.
They were little 30- and 60-second segments that appeared throughout the evening’s programming on local television.
Lucy would spotlight Toronto-area businesses, giving them exposure to a large local audience.
It was brilliant for everyone involved.
The television station had unsold commercial inventory…remnant space that traditional advertisers hadn’t purchased.
Lucy turned that excess capacity into a show.
The businesses got to appear on television.
And because Lucy was the recognizable host, they benefited from the scaffolding and approval of being introduced by a known, trusted person.
Nobody used the word “influencer” back then.
But that’s essentially what she became.
And I was thinking about how easy it would be for someone to become the Lucy Zilio of any market today.
You don’t need a television station.
You don’t need a production crew.
You don’t need permission from anybody.
You simply choose a market and become the person who spotlights the interesting people, businesses, and opportunities within it.
You could feature the best restaurants in Winter Haven.
Or businesses serving one of the seven categories where everybody spends their money:
Their home, car, food, health, money, kids, and themselves.
Each time you introduce someone valuable to your audience, you strengthen your relationship with both sides.
The business gets attention.
Your audience discovers something useful.
And you become the trusted person who brought them together.
That’s an advocacy relationship.
And over time, it becomes a remarkably valuable distribution network.
Lucy Zilio needed access to unsold television airtime.
Today, the available inventory is essentially unlimited.
You can record a video, write an email, or publish a local spotlight for almost nothing.
The opportunity isn’t just to advertise your business.
It’s to create the show that everybody else wants to be on.
It’s to create the show that everybody else wants to be on.