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Jamie Kernohan, CEO of GVC Marketing, was a guest on the Mavericks of Marketing Podcast with Shannon Maverick and how personal branding and company branding come together to amplify trust. Here are some tips to build that trustworthy brand.
What is a personal brand? Everyone has one. But, do you use it to your advantage? Are you able to control what people say about you when you leave the room? Here are 3 tips to get you started.
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This can be a difficult decision, it is for me, to choose a topic that you want to be known for and be able to remind your audience that they can count on you to offer the best advice for them on that field. Try not to be everything for everyone. This where your focus comes in. Focus on a segment of information and become the subject matter expert on that piece of the puzzle. I do my best every day to have a mindset of abundance- there is enough for everyone to go around. I am happy to provide insight into my piece of the puzzle- Personal Branding.
Cooper Harris, founder and CEO of Klickly. “Her personal brand has undergone a dramatic shift—from working actress to respected tech entrepreneur and she has handled this shift by only focusing on one message at a time. Keeping your message focused for your target demographic will make it that much easier to both create content around your personal brand and have others define you.”
Goldie Chan offers this advice: “Adam Smiley Poswolsky, millennial workplace expert and author of The Breakthrough Speaker, takes it one step further when he’s advising speakers: “Carve a niche and then carve a niche within your niche. The best personal brands are very specific.” And Juan Felipe Campos, VP of tech and partner at Manos Accelerator, go one step further to focus on communities that he targets with his large-scale clients. “Keep your message and content consistent to one niche topic to become memorable within a targeted community.” The narrower and more focused your brand is, the easier it is for people to remember who you are. And when it comes time to hire a speaker or a new employee, your narrowed-down brand will be what they remember.”
Don’t try to be something you are not. People can sense whether you are being true to yourself, sometimes better than you can. Staying the course for your authentic you- helps with your consistency on daily basis to promote your topic, which influences how people think of you and if they consider you as their subject matter go-to person.
When choosing your area to focus on, consider what are you an expert at? Ask yourself what do I do well that I can offer people insights to?
A story is the best way for people to remember key points. Tell your brand story. One of the best ways to write your story is to use a video to show your story. “Allen Gannett, chief strategy officer at Skyword and author of The Creative Curve, explains it best:” The most effective personal branding strategy these days is to build a true narrative – single character monologues are boring in Tinseltown, and even more tedious for your personal brand.” Goldie Chan, “If your personal brand isn’t telling a story, you’ve already lost half of your potential audience.”
“Ensure that your personal brand promise stays consistent, both online and offline,” explains Fiona Yong, director and millennial leadership coach (ICF ACC). Goldie Chan wrote, “Being consistent is very similar to having a narrow focus—it’s much easier to get recognized for one topic if you consistently create content and brand voice around it.”
It’s crucial to be posting every day- that’s the importance of being authentic to your passions and communicating it in your content. People often say they don’t have anything to say that anyone else wants to hear. This is not true. Find what you are passionate about, and you won’t be able to be quiet.
I am passionate about helping women negotiate their best salary. In my branding series, I talk about how to ask for money. Statistically, women don’t ask for more money when the crucial moments are presented to them. In the past, I suffered from imposter syndrome in thinking that I had to wait for someone to see the value in me before I could ask for the money. Since then, I have learned to ask for the money to help them see the value I offer. It’s been my experience that if a client perceives that the price is too low, it must not be good enough. Charge more; you are worth it.
I no longer suffer from imposter syndrome, and you shouldn’t either.
Be ready to fail and fail often. Failing is a tough one for all you perfectionists out there. As an entrepreneur, I have learned to go and perfect along the way. I have never been a perfectionist, and while in corporate life, this a detriment, it is not in owning your own business. I post, I write, I create video and put it out in the world. Do I wish it would be perfect- I do. I have to get it next time, or I don’t move forward, and you need to keep moving forward every day.
Failing is the best teacher. The immortal words of Michael Jordan- “You will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Take your shot today.
When Timothy Hoang, CEO of Stories By Tim, Inc., develops his influencer clients, he likes to tell them: “You’ll never achieve the best branding until you fail a couple of times while pushing past your comfort zone.” The very best brands always come from repeated trial and error, mistakes and failures, and not from instant perfection.
Keep a positive attitude and the mindset of abundance. If you keep yourself in this state of mind, you are more able to help others.
Jamie Kernohan, GVC Marketing
Goldie recommends “People interested in personal branding need to start marketing themselves like the celebrities and influential people that they look up to every day,“ explains Jason Wong, CEO of Wonghaus Ventures. His own personal brand has gone viral several times, over subjects like ice cream in Japan, inflatable pool toys, and memes, earning him the title of the “Meme King.” His success often comes from studying trends and popular individuals on different social media platforms and then implementing them with a twist. Creatively dissecting social analytics and establishing the next big trend can be within your grasp too, if you pay attention across all social media platforms and not simply focus narrowly on one of them.
I believe this to be true. “Tim Salau, community builder and founder of Mentors & Mentees, who works with college students to help them build brands that will get them hired, believes in this idea as well.“Your personal brand should follow you everywhere you go. It needs to be an authentic manifestation of who you are and amplify what you believe.” With this in mind, your personal brand is not only a reflection of a series of job functions like marketing, finance, or creative but also ideals like giving back thoughtful leadership or mentorship.”
“Personal branding is the story people tell about you when you’re not in the room.” Jessie Maltin, co-host of Maltin On Movies works with her father, renowned film critic Leonard Maltin and has watched him build his career over the past several decades. “All you have in your life is your name and the reputation you garner.”
“A personal brand is a lifelong project that constantly evolves and changes. Even the experts who build or enhance the biggest brands in the business know that there are no hard-set rules for creating a personal brand. But these general guidelines help provide first steps, especially if you’re starting a new brand or rebranding.
Creating the right personal brand will not only help you be known in your field and consistently land work but it could be the difference between “Who are you?” and “Thank you for being here” in your career.” Goldie Chan
IF YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN CREATE A CUSTOMIZED MARKETING PLAN, FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND BRAND AND EXECUTE IT TO DRIVE ROI- Call US or Email us
Many of my clients come to me expecting me to hand them a job. My role as a career coach, is to help them identify what they need to do find their dream job. When I tell people, I am not a recruiter and I don’t have jobs to offer, they don’t want to work with me. Right there is the real issue, they don’t want to work on the process, themselves or with me. They want me to hand them a job- well who doesn’t. I wish it worked that way, but I don’t make the rules, here.
These days, I preface most conversations with, I am going to ask you to be uncomfortable and you will need to be willing to cross a bridge you may not want to. It’s the bridge of knowing what I need to do, which by the way, you already know these pieces, to get to what you want. Are you willing and do you want to cross that bridge? Then, we have the ability to work together.
If you have ever tried to loose weight, you know you need to cut back on calories to be thinner, but it’s whether you can cross that bridge to workout everyday and reduce your calories every day, that will determine your goal of losing weight.
Its is the same with looking for a job, starting your own company, becoming an influencer. In your mind, you know what you need to do but are you willing to cross over to achieve your goals? Will you work at it every day- Yes, every day to get to where you want to be?
When you are networking- a.k.a talking to others you are representing your personal brand- what you stand for.
My client said to me the other week- “Wow, you are right, I went to an event, I met people who liked what I like, I gave them some pointers on our favorite topic and they said they know people at company X and they will introduce me. This is brilliant, I am going to two more events next week.”
Helping a client with their marketing strategy, this week, instead of a follow up phone call, I asked to meet face to face, so we could connect in person, and they could know that I have their best interest at heart. It’s important for my personal brand to show my clients, that I am genuine and that I do care about their business.
Influencers- it’s all about being relevant to your audience- offering the content they want to know about- that’s a fulltime job right there.
“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar
What will you offer this week, to improve your personal brand and cross your bridge to your goal?
Here is how I do it.
Typically, I don’t even mind meeting new people. Sometimes, though I get a little nervous and when I do this is what I think of…
First- every day is a new day and you never know who you are going to meet. I love this thought. This means to me to no two days are going to be the same boring one. Today, I may meet someone who does something interesting or who knows someone I know. This to me is a game- not exactly Wheel of Fortune but it’s a daily game, I can play it so I don’t get overwhelmed with building my business or my network on social.
Second, I recommend a wingman. If you get nervous about going to an event and you don’t know anyone there- take some one you know with you. This can help you feel a part of the community environment until you get to know people there. Certainly, the more you attend events, the more people you will meet, and your network grows. Pretty soon, you won’t need your wingman to go, unless you just really like them with you, and they are interested in the same industry as you.
Thirdly, for every event have goal. I don’t mean a creepy stocker goal, but before every event, pick a number, of the people you will at least say “Hi” to. You can start there. If you feel more advanced, then make a goal of how many people you will speak to and introduce yourself to. (so have your Tell Me About Yourself Speech down). Now, wait for it… if you are ready to move on to the heavy metal round- pick a goal of people to speak to, introduce yourself to, exchange business cards, and then… actually connect with them on LinkedIn after the event. On average less than 6% of people actually follow through with connecting with people on LinkedIn.
There you have it. My game for my networking – I hope it helps and if you have any other suggestions on how to help people meet people – let me know.
Good luck- You are one stranger closer to a friend.
