Personal Branding

The Three Components of a Strong Personal Brand

KimHeadShot4-200They are: Authority, Online Identity and Personal Style. Lorrie Thomas Ross, founder of “Web Marketing Therapy” says so, and I agree with her.

Here’s my take:

AUTHORITY
The evidence of Authority has clout. It gets immediate respect. Think of the badge a police officer wears. We naturally pay attention to things like that. What’s your badge of authority?

You know that you know what you do and you do it very well. You’re an expert. You can sell your expertise and your experience, even get your clients to give you testimonials and recommend you to others. Great! But there are lots of experts and you’re competing with all of them on a level field, the field of expertise field.

An expert may have the same knowledge as an authority, but the authority has “Brand Power.” These experts are awarded the badge of authority in their field because they have developed a strong brand, in the same way that a company builds a brand. The company logo is part of that brand identity, a badge you could say. They build authority by delivering a consistent brand identity represented by that badge of authority. That is done through constant, ongoing publishing of useful information about what they do. For a company the act of publishing comes in the form of; advertising and public relations, news releases and promotions. For the individual it’s articles, books, blogging, videos and public appearances. Developing authority is the first step in personal branding. Polish up your badge. Publish.

ONLINE IDENTITY
The person behind the badge. When someone looks for you online, hopefully they will find you, what do they find? Is there a professional photograph, the proverbial “headshot” so they at least know what you look like? Most people in business these days have gone to the trouble to set up a LinkedIn account. It’s surprising how many haven’t bother to include a good quality photograph in their profile. Familiar with the term, “Negative Advertising?” This is a good example.

A brief plug for LinkedIn: A great tool for building and promoting your online identity but if you don’t use it well it will be less than helpful. There are many other ways to promote your identity online; Facebook, Twitter, your website etc. While these all have their own unique ways of promoting your personal brand there should be a consistency across these media. Don’t be a party animal on Facebook if you want to build a serious business profile on LinkedIn.

PERSONAL STYLE
It’s that Voodoo that Youdoo so well my friend. Everyone has charisma of a sort. If you really do know what you’re doing and what you’re talking about it will come across because you will naturally speak and deliver a confident persona – your personal style. Here’s the closer…

The best way to build that personal style is through the use of video – because video, well executed and well produced, says so much more about who you are than anything else you can do. It’s a scary prospect for many, but for those who are determined to rise above the fray and build their personal brand to the heady realm of “Respected Authority” it’s a got to. No question. So… Any questions?

Call me anytime.

Kim Elton, Creative Director
Strut Media Group
(604) 340-2270

By |September 29th, 2014|Personal Branding, Video Marketing|Comments Off on The Three Components of a Strong Personal Brand

Selling Your Story

KimHeadShot4-200When you’re making a business presentation you’re selling something.
Whether it’s a formal presentation in front of a crowd or in a one-on-one situation.

Think about it. When you’re engaging someone in a business situation in the back of your mind you’re always thinking: What’s my opportunity here? Am I the spider or the fly in this situation? Is she selling me, or can I get my pitch in and close on a sale, or get to the next step with this contact? We’ve always got our product or service top of mind. That’s our focus. That’s OK but it’s a mistake to lead with that in mind.

HERE’S THE LINK TO THAT VIDEO

We all know the adage that business is built on relationships. You have to establish that relationship first, and that’s about putting your best foot forward and your personal brand. Now, I’m not really telling you something you don’t already know. But are you conscious of it? And do you inject your personal brand into your meetings and presentations – a little something that is unique or different about you. Once they’re sold on you. Selling your product is easy. Unless of course your product sucks, but that’s another matter.

Sell Your Story and you’ll sell your service.

I did a short video you may find of interest about how we at Strut Media Group help business professionals use the power of News and Story Telling to sell their services. You’ll find it HERE

Thank you for your valuable time.

KIM.

By |September 22nd, 2014|Personal Branding, Video Marketing, Videos|Comments Off on Selling Your Story

Be Remembered

KimHeadShot4-200I talk a good deal about personal branding in my writing. At Strut Media Group, I get to meet and interview a lot of business people and learn about their careers and companies. It’s fun and rewarding. The Video News Channels we create and produce for our clients are intended to promote their organizations, and the objective is always a marketing goal; to raise awareness, build the image of the company, get the news out about the company’s activities and drive inquiries.

The most effective interviews – and ones that are the most interesting to watch – are the conversations that go beyond the news of the company and get into the personal insights of the individual delivering the information.

Recently I was talking to a client about doing an Executive Profile for him – a one-on-one Charlie Rose-style interview – and he asked; “Well what would we talk about?”

I gave him a brief response about the format of the program and the PR value of this type of content, not only for his organization but also for his personal brand. Later, I decided to follow up with an email to give him a more in-depth explanation.

Here’s what I wrote:

Dear Friend,
With your many years of experience, you have achieved a deep understanding of your business and the industries and people it serves. It goes beyond the nuts and bolts of what you sell. Your perspective and understanding have a broader context. In these interviews, we like to get the opinions and insights of the individual beyond the mandate of the company they work for.

We like to get personal in a business context. What does your background and life experience bring to the work you do? Do you have any short stories that illustrate and illuminate your perspective on certain issues or the industry in general? What was it like in the past? How has that changed? What does the future hold? What are your hopes and expectations – for the industry, your company, your family and perhaps the solidarity you hold for the rest of the people on the planet we all live on?

The idea is not to get too sentimental of course, but these are the questions that lie behind everything we do in business. It’s these values, perspectives and insights that have an engaging effect on an audience because they go deeper than the profits and bottom lines that business discussions can often dwell on. It’s about telling your story rather than pitching your product or business.

Having this perspective in mind as you think about your interview will keep your thoughts focused and help to guide the direction of the conversation.

I look forward to doing this interview with you. Let’s arrange a time soon.

Regards,
Kim

~

I have seen how this type of personally delivered content is more engaging, more memorable and more effective as a result. It all comes down to our basic human desire to be remembered. We all want to be remembered and that is, interestingly, the ultimate objective of good marketing.

Be Remembered.

Thank you for your time.
Kim

By |September 22nd, 2014|Personal Branding, Video Marketing|Comments Off on Be Remembered

Business is Personal

You’ve heard this expression before: “You know it’s not personal, it’s just business”

When you here that, the first thing you do know is you’re about to get cheated out of something. It’s a cop out and it’s just plain dumb. Because few things are more personal than your business. What you do for a living is part of who you are. It defines you as a person to a large degree and when someone meets you for the first time, one of the first things they want to know is what you do for a living, because it tells them a lot about you.

And the reverse is also true. When someone is considering investing in your company, buying your service or product they are already well on their way to making a purchase decision. They probably already know a great deal about your company, your services, your products. What they want to know now is, who YOU are. Why?

Because BUSINESS IS PERSONAL.

Don’t make the mistake that many otherwise smart people in business do and say “It’s not about me. Our product, our company speaks for itself” Nonsense! People buy from people. Not companies. Promote yourself and build your own unique personal brand.

Because YOU are your best competitive edge. Business is personal.

By |August 31st, 2014|Personal Branding, Video Marketing|0 Comments

VPR: A Brand Is A Promise

What’s video PR? A fair question. Well first it’s video of course and using the power of that medium to promote… anything. But VideoPR is quite specific. PR of course stands for Public Relations which in short is a communications strategy that is used to promote something in public forums; a company, a product, a cause, or a person… and VideoPR focuses on the individual, YOU, the person.

Why is that important? There are a thousand reasons and if you stay tuned to this blog eventually you’ll hear all of them. Today it’s about Branding.

In business and marketing we talk about branding all the time and a lot of us forget what branding IS, really. So here’s a rule of thumb for you. If/when someone pops the question “What is a Brand?” or What is your brand? Which is a question that amazingly often stumps the very people that are in charge of that brand. Here’s the answer:

“A Brand is a Promise”

What is your brand? It’s a promise you make and keep with your customers, clients, prospects and everyone else.

Once more, A Brand is a Promise.

So what is your personal Brand? We’ll talk about that on the next VideoPR blog I promise.

By |August 11th, 2014|Personal Branding, Video Marketing|0 Comments