personal brand Archives

In News

Why Meetings Are The Best Place To Build Your Personal Brand—If You Develop The Right Mindset

May 24, 2023 No Comments

Personal branding is about authentically delivering value to the people you seek to influence, inspire and impact. One of the best places to do that is in meetings. In fact, meetings (both in-person and virtual) are among the most powerful ways to build your brand and advance your career, when you actively engage in them. That’s because:

The people you seek to impact and influence are there

Many of the people you need to impress so you can keep you career moving upward are right there, face to face or on Zoom. It’s the place to showcase your work and talk about the unique contributions you make to your team or a project.

Meetings take you out of your solo world

Delivering value that’s invisible will not catapult your to career new heights. Everyone’s busy. You can’t expect your boss and other influential people to be actively figuring out what you’re doing every day. Meetings bring your value out of the shadows.

You learn what’s going on

Meetings are learning opportunities. They often provide context, important details and sometimes valuable insights—all of which can be helpful to your success and make your contributions more impactful. You also learn things that have nothing to do with the project at hand—like who the boss chose for the new team member—but are important for you to know.

You build connection and relationships with your peers

It’s hard to build a relationship via email, texting or Slack. Meetings let you connect more deeply and bolster relationships with key stakeholders. Relationships are built through multiple consistent touchpoints. Meetings are among the most meaningful touchpoints.

Meetings let you showcase your expertise

That doesn’t mean bragging. It means demonstrating what makes you exceptional. Meetings let you make your mark and reinforce your brand differentiation. By actively participating (not multitasking) and sharing your ideas and opinions, you show your knowledge and point-of-view.

You demonstrate your communication skills

Meetings provide the forum for articulating your ideas clearly and concisely (and in a branded way—with humor or structure or data). Solid communication skills make you look confident. And by actively listening and participating (no checking your email!), you show respect for your colleagues and let people know you are interested.

Meetings provide a forum for acknowledging others publicly

Everyone wants to be recognized for their contributions. Acknowledging others and expressing gratitude is fuel to those around you. And when you do this in meetings, in front of a group, it’s more like rocket fuel.

You can get feedback

Feedback is essential if you want to learn and advance your career. Meetings provide a forum for others to provide candid actionable input you can use to refine what you do and how you do it.

You demonstrate that you are a leader

Meetings are places where decision makers identify emerging leaders—those who demonstrate leadership skills without holding the title. When you take an active role in meetings, you demonstrate your leadership and collaboration skills and get on the radar of those who have the power to promote you.

You enhance your credibility and likability

By actively participating in meetings and providing valuable input and unique insights, you build your credibility as an expert in your field. The way your deliver your input and interact with other meeting participants can make you likable. Strong personal brands sit at the intersection of likability and credibility.

Make meetings matter. Be deliberate in the way you participate in meetings so you can stand out, grow your brand and advance your career.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By William Arruda

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

I’m a personal branding pioneer, motivational speaker, founder of Reach Personal Branding and cofounder of CareerBlast.TV. I’m also the bestselling author of the definitive books on executive branding: Digital YOU, Ditch.Dare. Do! and Career Distinction. I’m passionate about how personal branding can inspire career-minded professionals to become indispensable, influential and incredibly happy at work—and I teach my clients (major global brands and 20% of the Fortune 100) to increase their success by infusing personal branding into their cultures. Here’s a fun fact: I have the distinct privilege of having delivered more personal branding keynotes to more people, in more countries, than anyone on earth.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Science-Backed Techniques to Achieving Your Full Revenue Potential

April 17, 2023 No Comments

By Terry Rice

Amina Al Tai, an expert on mindset and business coaching, shares tips and strategies to help you unlock your full revenue potential.

I help entrepreneurs build their personal brand and revenue. And although that may seem daunting, the process is relatively simple. You just need to leverage my A.T.M. model.

Actions – The activities you must perform to be successful

Tools – The applications and resources that increase the impact of your work

Mindset – The self-perception or belief you hold about yourself

Pretty straightforward right? Well, I’ve noticed most people tend to prioritize actions and tools while they almost ignore the importance of mindset. Here’s the issue with that; your mindset can tank your chances of success way sooner than any external challenges.

Sure, you might know you need to build your email list. That’s an action to take. And you may determine that you need an email marketing program to help you send and optimize your newsletter. As you may have guessed, that’s a tool.

But what happens if you start thinking “I’m never going to figure out how to use this email marketing program” or “I’m not sure if I have useful information to share”?

This is why mindset is so critical. It allows you to push through those self-limiting beliefs so you can take on new challenges and continue to grow on a personal and professional level.

And, that’s exactly what I chatted with Amina AlTai during this week’s episode of the Launch Your Business podcast. Amina is an expert on leadership, mindset and business coaching. And as you’ll notice, she clearly wants you to win.

During our conversation, which is full of techniques you can immediately apply, AlTai provides input on:

Developing a money mindset and charging your true value
Increasing endurance to push through extended challenges
Removing upper limits that decrease your impact
Identifying and capitalizing on your zone of genius

I’ll share one of my key takeaways from our chat below.

Your mindset can have a negative impact on your clients and revenue

Amina says that on a sales call, it’s not just about your money mindset. It’s also about the mindset of your prospective client.

Unfortunately, if your mindset leads you to believe you’re not good enough or you just want to get a “yes” out of the client, you’ll accidentally project lack or scarcity.

This is why you need to believe in yourself and your offer wholeheartedly. If you don’t believe that you can bring a transformation to your client, you need to dig in deep to understand where that story is coming from. Fortunately, Amina provides guidance on how to do so during our conversation.

Once you’ve developed your own money mindset, you can coach your potential clients through their potential fears and limiting beliefs. This will allow you to close more deals and deliver better results.

Next steps

Ready to learn more from Amina? First, listen to the full interview below.

Then, be sure to check out her new podcast Amina Change Your Life. She serves up bite-sized lessons and inspiration on career, entrepreneurship, ethical wealth building, and well-being.

You can also learn more from Amina by visiting her website and following her on Instagram.

Feature Image Credit: Laurel Creative

By Terry Rice

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

12 Easy Steps To Build Your Personal Brand On Social Media

January 27, 2023 No Comments

By Bernard Marr

Building and maintaining my personal brand is an important part of my job. But it’s becoming important in so many professions, way beyond the realms of influencers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. Whether you’re an architect, entrepreneur, designer, blogger, lawyer, or whatever, your personal brand can help you stand out from the crowd and attract exciting new opportunities your way.

If you think about it, you already have a personal brand. Everyone has one. If a potential employer or client were to Google your name, they’d probably find your LinkedIn and social media profiles, perhaps followed by any news articles featuring your name or any other websites that mention you. What impression would someone get of you based on the search results? This, essentially, is your personal brand. It’s your online reputation.

Personal branding means taking control of your online reputation and shaping it, so people see you in the way you want to be seen.

So, if you search for my name online, you’ll see my own website, then my latest tweets, my LinkedIn profile, my YouTube channel, and then my other social media profiles. Even just a quick glance at these results is enough to tell you I’m an expert in future technologies, digital transformation, and driving business performance. You’ll see the same (professional) photos of me and read the same voice (mine). All of that contributes to my brand. It’s consistent. It tells a story about who I am and what I do.

Of course, social media isn’t the only way to establish your brand, but it does play a huge role. Here are 12 ways you can use social media to your advantage and sharpen your personal brand.

1. First things first, get your profiles in order. Add a professional, up-to-date photo to your social media profiles, using the same photo across different platforms to ensure consistency. Then clean up your profiles by deleting any content that you wouldn’t want potential employers or clients to see. (You can always maintain a private profile for sharing personal things that you don’t want employers or clients to see.)

2. Be yourself. While you want to cultivate a professional brand, it’s important to let your personality shine through in your social media posts. Write in the way you’d normally speak. Be authentic. Be honest. Talk about things that really matter to you (rather than trying to hop on the latest trends). And don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. This is all part of ensuring your brand stays consistent.

3. Share what you’re learning. Something that I’ve found impactful – and easy – is sharing interesting and relevant news stories from my industry on social media. This really helped me build my profile and stay knowledgeable on what’s happening in my field. To keep up to date with interesting and relevant news stories, you can subscribe to industry newsletters or, even easier, set up Google alerts for certain keyword topics. Do be sure to add your own message when you share something on social media – even if it’s just “I came across this today and thought I’d share it. What do you guys think?”

4. Join industry groups on social media platforms. Then make yourself known by engaging with posts, answering questions, and liking, commenting, and sharing other people’s content in the group.

5. Be generous with your time and knowledge. Be helpful to others online by responding to questions and comments and generally engaging with them. And do take the time to like or amplify other content that you found engaging, inspiring, or useful. Basically, be reciprocal.

6. Make new contacts as often as you can, especially on LinkedIn. You can do this by identifying people you want to connect with in your field and sending a certain number of invites each week, with a short personal message. Make a habit of this, and your network will soon grow.

7. Create quick polls to pose interesting questions and boost engagement. You can always mix it up by posting a mixture of professional and more general questions.

8. Post quality photos and videos from your work life. People love visual content, so if you’re at a work conference, attending an industry event, on the way to visit a client, or whatever, share it. You can mix it up with occasional “everyday” photos and videos while still keeping it fairly professional (think your morning cup of coffee when you’re working from home, that sort of thing).

9. Really, you can post any sort of content that will help to cement your reputation – it could be advice, thought-provoking questions, excerpts from presentations you’ve given, pro tips, how-to content, or whatever.

10. If you really want to establish your expertise, consider writing longer-form articles and sharing them on LinkedIn. I did a lot of this – still do, in fact – and it has played a huge role in growing my personal brand.

11. Use cross-platform tools to make your life easier. For example, you can use a tool like Hootsuite to schedule your posts in advance and share posts across multiple platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube, all from one place. This means you can get maximum value from each piece of content without having to physically post it in multiple places.

12. Try pencilling in a specific time each day or week for social media. You may actively want to limit the amount of time you spend on social media (it can be a huge time suck). So, I find it helps to schedule posts in advance and block out specific times to check in with social media, reply to comments, and see other people’s posts.

Feature Image Credit: Adobe Stock

By Bernard Marr

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things. Why don’t you connect with Bernard on Twitter (@bernardmarr), LinkedIn (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bernardmarr) or instagram (bernard.marr)?

Sourced from Forbes

In News

10 Ways You Are Ruining Your Personal Brand

January 26, 2023 No Comments

By Jon Michail

Do you minimize the worth of your brand? If you’re doing the following, you could be doing it.

Increasing your personal brand’s value in the eyes of your prospects, in-person or virtually, is the goal of brand building. Prospects will be more eager to pay more for your goods and services and more devoted to your brand, and the value of your rivals’ brands will seem less valued in contrast to the more valuable your brand is regarded to be.

Unfortunately, many people (personal brands) systematically undervalue themselves without even being aware of it. And before they even understand what is happening, their brand has lost all value, and it will be tough to get it back.

Do you minimize the worth of your brand? If you’re doing the following, you could be doing it.

1. Having a poor presentation

Your audience’s attention will be lost due to poor presentation flow. People will have difficulty understanding you, and rather than trying to figure out what you’re saying, they will tune you out.

When a presentation has a natural flow, and the information is organized logically, it is simpler to express your argument. When your sales executives’ presentation abilities are lacking, your sales proposals lose their effectiveness, and you fall short of your sales goals, affecting your revenues and brand development.

In addition, it affects repeat business, cash flows and lost opportunities when your personal brand fails to make an impressive presentation to customers and investors.

2. Poor grooming and hygiene

Qualifications, experience and skills all matter, but so is how your brand is presented. Who we are is revealed by how we look. Perceptions matter and personal brand grooming should project a professional image at work.

Therefore, we must pay close attention to how we look (visual image) and stand (body language). Style and discipline come together to make up grooming. Maintaining personal cleanliness is essential for a variety of reasons — personal, social, health, psychological or just as a matter of everyday living.

To make a good impression and get respect at work (and in life), one must maintain proper grooming and a professional look. First impressions count, and how businesses present themselves and behave impacts current and potential customers.

All brands value professional appearance and proper grooming. The absence of these may result in a negative perception and interfere with the company’s reputation and brand.

3. Letting yourself get behind the times

Your competition will overtake you as soon as you stop moving forward and trying to better your goods and services. You cannot simply take it easy.

Prospects now have more options than ever, and your rivals constantly look for ways to outdo you and gain an advantage. To keep your brand valuable and relevant, you must continue innovating.

4. Being a sell-out

Ever had a favourite brand that abruptly altered its sound and shot to fame? We all detest it when it occurs, known as selling out.

Unfortunately, businesses also carry out this. They begin seeking financial gain, and to win over more clients, they alter their identities and compromise their values. You lose the trust of your devoted customers when you betray your brand interest to increase your income, which eventually destroys the value of your brand.

5. Offering too many deals

Most brands frequently lower their pricing with special discounts to attract more customers. With the advent of daily deal websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, you’re starting to see this even more. When you run too many sales, buyers begin to think that your product is only worth the sale price, not the total price, since they see you selling it at such a low price.

People also do this. Never undersell your value; it will damage your reputation.

6. Social media conduct: inflammatory content

Social media networks, mainly those often targeted toward a kind of media that favours a broadcast approach, such as Twitter or Instagram, are one of the most open spaces where your behaviour will be on show.

This shouldn’t, at its most fundamental level, offend anyone. However, it is up to you and your organization to decide whether to individually reveal any sensitive information, such as your opinions on social or political topics.

Sharing material about divisive issues frequently runs the danger of alienating a portion of your audience. On the other hand, consumers like businesses that take a stand, which has sparked the growth of value-led branding tactics.

7. Inconsistency

Maintaining a consistent persona across your targeted social media outlets is crucial since muddled messages and a confused persona may be highly detrimental to your company.

In addition, a consistent identity across your online presence must also extend to how you act in person; otherwise, your performance at a networking event or business meeting may quickly undercut it. Tone, style, and substance are all governed by consistency.

8. Lack of professionalism

The perception of unprofessionalism might be highly detrimental to your brand.

Although various types of behaviour might be considered unprofessional, general guidelines disallow excessive alcohol use, sexual or improper statements and insulting behaviour.

In addition, remember that rumours can spread quickly, so inappropriate conduct in a low-stakes setting could be reported promptly to more significant individuals.

9. Wardrobe – your visual power

What you see is what you get when it comes to branding. That is, at least, how prospective consumers will feel. It’s up to the brand to gain that type of trust. They won’t have any reason to give a visually unappealing brand the benefit of the doubt. A brand’s visual identity is “what you see” in branding.

First impressions are crucial and always will be, especially while developing and growing your personal brand. Whether you like it or not, your work outfit reflects who you are and how you do business.

10. Lack of direction

Consider the audience that your branding is intended to reach. Trying to please everyone is a definite way to lose a reputation. Instead, choose and stick to a specialty, then use this niche to find related content and create relevant networks in-person and on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Conclusion

Developing your brand would be a fatal blow because its worth should increase along with your career or business’s growth. But unfortunately, any of these outcomes are possible.

For your insurance, you must be alert and take all necessary precautions to safeguard your personal and business brand against these potential sources of brand depreciation.

By Jon Michail

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

How To Accelerate Your Personal Brand In The Hybrid World Of Work

December 1, 2022 No Comments

By William Arruda

Maximizing your personal brand value in the hybrid world seems like a piece of cake. After all, in the before times (before Covid, that is) you practiced the techniques of real-world branding regularly in meetings, at networking events, etc. Then, Covid gave you a crash course in virtual personal branding thanks to ubiquitous, back-to-back Zoom meetings and reliance on online team platforms like Slack. So mastering the hybrid world is just a mixture of the two, right?

Yes. And no. Sure, you’ve learned skills and you have some experience in real- and virtual-world personal branding—but growing your personal brand in this new hybrid or WFA (Work From Anywhere) world is all about nuance, congruence and prioritization. When those three elements are managed correctly, your virtual and real-world versions will work together seamlessly, which accelerates your personal brand

According to the folks at Webex, hybrid work is defined as a flexible model that supports a blend of in-office, remote, and on-the-go workers. It offers employees the autonomy to choose to work wherever and however they are most productive. All good. But there are challenges too.

To build your personal brand so you can achieve your goals and increase your happiness at work, you need to master the virtual and the real in equal measure. The most important part of maximizing the hybrid world of work is knowing when to be real, when to be virtual and how to integrate the two.

Let’s focus on the most important opportunities for personal branding and how you should think about—and act on—them in this new mixed-up work world. In the hybrid world, you need to polish your presence in both realms.

Ace your first impression.

Your first impression will likely be formed in the virtual world. That’s because, even pre-Covid, we got pretty good at using Google and LinkedIn to learn about people before ever meeting them in person (even when they worked down the hall from us). When you focus on page 1 Google results and build a stellar, authentic, focused LinkedIn profile, you’ll be sure to build a powerful first impression. For the virtual world, prioritize video and images over text. For example, share video thought-leadership in your LinkedIn profile and add videos to YouTube so they show up when someone googles you, thanks to universal search. Just make sure what you put out there is fully aligned with who you really are.

Lead hybrid meetings.

Perhaps the newest challenge spawned by WFA is leading the hybrid meeting. First, you must acknowledge that the people who are together in the meeting room are having an experience that’s different from those who are connecting remotely. And each of the remote participants is having an experience that’s different from everyone else. To succeed in these meetings, prioritize virtual over real. That means overemphasize the folks who are not in the room because what they’re experiencing is a far less visceral. And being remote comes with more temptation to multitask—both of which mean you need to work hard to keep that part of your audience connected and engaged.

Be ever visible to your team and company.

Appoint yourself the company’s chief brand steward. This means whether you’re at the physical office or working remotely, you’re increasing your virtual visibility by sharing relevant company content with your online community. Make sure you’re connected to everyone on your team, to your internal/external clients, and to others so when you are out of site (not at the office) you can be top of mind (in people’s social media feeds). Just make sure what you share is relevant to how you want to be known, delivers value and gives you the opportunity to express your point of view.

Building your brand while WFA requires deliberate and steadfast commitment. The ultimate key to building your personal brand in our WFA world is to make sure there is congruence between the real and virtual—so regardless of whether your human interactions occur in a shared physical space or are happening via a mobile phone screen they convey your brilliance, authenticity and differentiation.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By William Arruda

William Arruda is a keynote speaker, co-founder of CareerBlast.TV and co-creator of the Personal Brand Power Audit – a complimentary quiz that helps you measure the strength of personal brand.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

The personal brand is the new corporate asset. A new book offers a guide to building it

November 28, 2022 No Comments

By Ambi Parameswaran

An excerpt from ‘All The World’s A Stage: A Personal Branding Story’, by Ambi Parameswaran.

‘We spoke about executive presence and executive voice. But digital technology is changing the way we work. Many companies are offering their employees the flexibility to work from home or, in fact, from anywhere. And this trend grew exponentially during the pandemic. Where does all this presence and voice go in that scenario?’ Shankar had a great poser for the three of us.

Kunal decided to chime in with his additional query, ‘Well, many financial institutions too are examining how to make work more modular, so that people can have greater work-life flexibility. What Shankar is asking is quite pertinent. I know a company that has been having even board meetings where directors join virtually from several countries. I am also wondering if there is a need to relook at all the executive presence and executive voice gyan we discussed a few minutes ago.’

‘Virtual meetings are definitely becoming more and more common, but that does not mean that we need to throw out what we know about building personal brands through executive presence and voice,’ Rita said.

I knew that this was a new domain and we all knew very little about how this would shape up in the years to come. There were many contradictory thoughts going through my mind. But I decided to wade in with a question. ‘Well, Shankar, what are the key principles of executive presence and executive voice?’

‘We just went over that. Make sure you look smart and speak well. And be consistent. Shankar repeated what we had discussed earlier. He, however, followed it up with a question. ‘But when doing a virtual meeting, you are reduced to a little box, and sometimes it’s just audio. All your executive presence is nothing in a small box, no?’ Shankar asked.

‘Shankar, even in a small window you can appear like a ghost or a smart executive. I know some managers hold meetings with a brightly lit window right behind them. If they only flipped directions and faced the light, they would look much better and not ghost-like. Or look at the way you dress for a virtual meeting. Some executives are dressed in t-shirts when the rest of the attendees are formally dressed,’ I replied.

Rita jumped in with her suggestions on what works in virtual meetings. ‘I read somewhere that there are a few key principles of running a good virtual meeting. And those will help you build your executive presence.’

‘What are those principles, Rita?’ Shankar was now curious. Clearly, he was getting ready to implement some of these best practices for his virtual meetings.

‘Some of the principles are simple. When doing a virtual meeting always face the light. Don’t have the brightest light in the room behind you. And just because it is a virtual meeting that you are attending from home, you cannot dress inappropriately. Always dress right. Ensure that you find a place in your home that is tidy and will not distract the other attendees. As far as possible, find a room that is quiet or keep putting yourself on mute when you’re not talking. Background household noise can’t be helped but can be disturbing. Even if you’re in your office, you’ll be surprised how bothersome white noise can be in virtual meetings. Then there is the nostril problem,’ Rita stopped for effect.

‘What nostril problem are you talking about? Are you once again making fun of my big nose?’ Kunal asked with a half-smile.

‘No, not your nose, silly. I have attended meetings where the attendee is showing off his nasal hair. The simple rule is to ensure that the camera of your laptop or your webcam is at eye level,’ Rita added.

‘Wow, Rita, you are the expert,’ I complimented her on the simple hacks she had suggested. ‘In addition to these key things, I think you must also ensure that you test the system and the bandwidth so that you don’t end up freezing all the time. I always have a backup network to go to and keep doing speed tests to ensure that my internet speed is good.’

‘Everything you’re saying makes sense. But how can everyone ensure all of the above? Many people live in small apartments. How can they fulfil these conditions?’ Shankar wanted to know.

‘Shankar, if people are going to attend meetings from home, then they have to find a corner that is well lit and quiet. And investing in a good internet connection and a backup internet dongle aren’t big asks,’ Rita fired back.

‘I think all that we discussed about executive presence and executive voice applies to virtual meetings too. You need to arrive in time and should be able to join the meeting without any technical glitches. You should have done your homework and not be distracted or looking at your mobile phone when the meeting is in progress. Mute your mic when not speaking. Minimise body movements so it does
not distract the others. Pay attention and participate. In fact, virtual meetings give us an opportunity to put up our hands or send questions and comments in the chat box. All these can help improve the quality of meetings and our personal effectiveness,’ I added.

‘I get it now. Some of these are simple things but we may not pay attention to them,’ Shankar was nodding in agreement. ‘Yes, Shankar. In fact, going forward for a company like yours, that deals with global customers, virtual meetings may be a blessing. And if you run them well, they can improve your effectiveness,’ Rita said.

‘Absolutely, Rita. I think the virtual world is rapidly changing the way we do business. And those of us who understand these new rules of the game can get ahead of the pack,’ Kunal added. Kunal had been doing virtual meeting with global investors.

‘One thing that you have to agree on is that these virtual meetings are a damn sight better than those boring teleconferences we used to have earlier,’ I added.

‘Oh yes! Some of these routine telecalls in my previous job were a waste of time. They used to run for hours and we used to put the call on speakerphone and get on with our work. Only to say “great initiative” or “good point” every fifteen minutes,’ Kunal laughed as he said that.

‘You know that a lot of what we discussed here may sound basic, but you will be surprised to know how often these simple rules are violated or even forgotten. I often spend time coaching executives on the norms of digital meetings,’ Rita explained.

‘I think well-run virtual meetings can be a big help. They can save some valuable resources. And from what you guys are saying, the rules we discussed earlier for personal branding and executive presence are applicable to the virtual world too, right?’ Shankar seemed to have seen the light. Shankar’s next question was something I had expected much earlier. ‘Guys, you have been schooling me about personal branding, but I think we are missing out on one important area—digital and social media. Aren’t those essential for personal branding in this day and age? I’m hoping to hear a no, because I hate social media of any kind,’ Shankar said. And we had another topic to unravel.

Feature Image Credit: Illustration from the book

By Ambi Parameswaran

Sourced from Scroll.in

In News

5 Steps For Building A Personal Brand As A Web3 Founder

October 25, 2022 No Comments

By Himanshu Bisht

Personal branding is essential for any entrepreneur, but it’s especially important in the world of Web3. With blockchain technology estimated to grow exponentially in the coming years, thought leadership in this space can offer a big advantage to founders and builders.

In my experience helping Web3 entrepreneurs build successful brands and creating my own niche presence, there is one common pattern I have found: People follow people. They don’t follow lifeless company logos and brands. Perhaps this is why more and more founders are spending significant time building their personal brands now.

Personal Branding Myths Busted

Personal branding is often seen as narcissistic and self-indulgent. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Personal branding is one of the most effective marketing tools available, and it’s a key driver of success for entrepreneurs.

A personal brand is not about having millions of followers. It’s about authority, trustworthiness and relatability. It’s about building a genuine fan base that appreciates your content and looks up to you as a thought leader in your space.

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of personal branding for entrepreneurs in Web3.

My 5 Steps For Building A Personal Brand As A Web3 Founder

1. Define Your Niche

The first step to building a personal brand as a founder is getting clarity. Be precise about what you’re passionate about and what you want to be known for. This will help you attract the right followers and build a personal brand that is unique and authentic.

Remember, personal branding is a two-way road. Whether you want to talk about DeFi, or you are more excited to talk about cryptocurrency, it is important to choose a topic that you are interested in talking about and is something people want to hear about.

2. Choose Your Social Media Platform

Social media is a powerful tool for personal branding. In fact, most of the Web3 audience is hanging out either on LinkedIn or Twitter (also known as “crypto Twitter”). By being active on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Medium, you can reach a wider audience and share your ideas with the world.

3. Create Content That Educates And Entertains

Once you’ve defined your personal brand and chosen your platform, it’s time to start creating content—but not just any content. Make sure your content is engaging, informative and entertaining.

The best personal brands are built on a foundation of great content. If you can consistently produce high-quality content that educates and entertains your audience, you’ll be well on your way to building a personal brand that people know and trust.

4. Attend Web3-Specific Industry Events

Your personal branding journey doesn’t stop at content creation. To really take your personal brand to the next level, get out there and meet people face to face. And what better way to do that than by attending Web3-specific industry events?

By attending events and networking with key players in the space, you’ll not only gain valuable insights, but you’ll also make important connections that can help you further your personal brand.

5. Collaborate With Other Thought Leaders In The Industry

As you start building your personal brand, it can be helpful to collaborate with other thought leaders in the industry. You can do this through guest blogging, co-hosting events or even just engaging in thoughtful debates on social media.

Not only will collaborating with other thought leaders help you further refine your personal brand, but it will also help you reach a wider audience and solidify your position as a thought leader in the space.

Final Thoughts

For Web3 founders, there are big advantages to building a personal brand and providing thought leadership in the space. In fact, these are key factors in attracting the right investors, customers and followers when you are starting something new from scratch.

By following the steps outlined above, you can start building a personal brand that will help you attract your desired audience. So what are you waiting for? Get started today.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Himanshu Bisht

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Himanshu Bisht is an experienced startup marketing expert. He helps entrepreneurs build impactful companies & powerful personal brands. Read Himanshu Bisht’s full executive profile here

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Shanee Moret Explains How to Build and Monetize Your Personal Brand

October 7, 2022 No Comments

By Terry Rice

Business growth expert Shanee Moret shares how you can grow and monetize your personal brand without spending all day on social media.

Shanee Moret never wanted to build a personal brand, she was forced to. While her daughter was in the hospital she was given an ultimatum by her manager, get back to work or you’re fired. As you can imagine, she chose the latter.

To support herself she offered copywriting services but she ran into another problem, she absolutely hated cold calling. The solution? Start creating content on LinkedIn to attract inbound leads. She gave herself 30 days to make it work and by all accounts it certainly has. Today Shanee has well over one million followers on LinkedIn and helps other entrepreneurs build their brand and revenue as the founder of Growth Academy.

Shanee sat down to talk with me about how she built and monetized her brand – and how you can do the same – during the latest episode of the Launch Your Business podcast.

Here are a few of my favourite takeaways.

How to Tell Your Story

We all have a personal brand. Personal branding just allows you to have more control over the narrative. The best way to get started is by learning how to tell your story. But, your story shouldn’t just be about you, it should reflect how you’re uniquely suited to help your target audience.

As Shanee states “It’s all about understanding who you want to attract and understanding what they’re struggling with. From there you can determine how you could leverage your own story to attract those people.”

One framework I recommend for this is Donald Miller’s Storybrand. In short, you position your audience as the star of the story, then talk about how you’ll help them find success and avoid failure based on your own experiences.

Shanee also speaks to why it’s important to be vulnerable and authentic. And look, I know those are both overused buzzwords, but she shared the impact it has on her business and how it can help you as well.

“I’m speaking to them emotionally, I’m using my own experiences. But because they resonate with it they’re going to be attracted to what I’m saying. It’s going to spark their curiosity. It’s going to make them come back to the content, engage and increase the chances of them becoming a client”

Need more help telling your story? Ask your friends and family what stands out to them about you. We often overlook the most interesting parts of our own story because we’re too close to it.

Getting Over the Apprehension of Building a Personal Brand

One issue you may have with building your personal brand is, well, not wanting to share personal information. If that’s the case, Shanee has good news for you. “You don’t have to share your personal life to build a personal brand. Look at Gary Vaynerchuk, he barely shares anything about his personal life but he’s visible.”

So while you don’t have to share what you ate for breakfast, you do have to be visible. You can do this through text-based content, images or video. I realize I may have lost you at the video part and I can understand any apprehension you may have about it. When I first started creating videos I somehow looked angry and scared at the same time.

Shanee shared her rocky start as well “For the first one my hands are shaking. People look at me now and say ‘Oh, you’re so comfortable on video’. Yeah. This is like thousands of videos later. This is just a lot of practice and I’m still not the best. I still get nervous even before livestreams and masterclasses but I show up and I do it.”

Despite the challenges, she explains why she keeps showing up “I want the desired result of growth. I want to be able to provide for my daughter, my family at a generational wealth level more than I’m afraid of getting on a video.”

So, what will a personal brand do for you? Once you get clear on that you’ll have all the motivation needed to push through any of the associated challenges.

How to Monetize Your Personal Brand

The number one mistake Shanee’s see people make with their personal brand? They don’t have an offer for their audience. As a result, there’s no journey for their audience to go on once they know, like and trust you.

An offer can be as simple as encouraging people to join your email list, which is exactly what I do on LinkedIn. My weekly newsletter, The Solopreneur’s Shortcut, promises one thought, one time-saver and one tactic to help you grow your business and avoid burnout. It comes out on Friday and all week I tease out highlights of the newsletter content on LinkedIn. I then encourage people to join my email list so they can gain access to more detailed information. You can take a similar approach and then promote offers you charge for once someone joins your email list.

Shanee spoke about how your audience can help you craft that offer, and why it’s the key to monetizing your brand. “I’ve helped people build that offer because your community will reveal certain things and patterns over time that you could craft the perfect offer for them. And I feel like that mindset, that monetization is bad is why some people have big personal brands but they’re still ineffective”

Your personal brand can easily become a revenue generating asset, but that won’t happen until you extend an offer to your audience.

What’s next?

Those were a few key takeaways from my conversation with Dorie. To hear the full conversation and get access to additional resources tune in to this week’s episode of the Launch Your Business podcast.

Launch Your Business is brought to you by ChatterBoss. A company that helps entrepreneurs make money, save time and avoid burnout by providing top notch executive assistants. To learn more and save $50 off your first month visit www.chatterboss.com/launch.

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Feature Image Credit: Nick Nelson

By Terry Rice

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

What Colours Should You Use For Your Personal Brand? (and Why It Matters)

July 29, 2022 No Comments

By Shaan Rais

When it comes to personal branding, the right colours have the power to attract clients and opportunities, while the wrong colours can do the exact opposite.

When it comes to personal branding, the right colours have the power to attract clients and opportunities, while the wrong colours can do the exact opposite. So, what’s the secret to choosing brand colours that lead you to the C-suite and closing bigger deals?

The first step in figuring this out is understanding the psychology of colour. Colour has the power to influence human behaviour. It can be utilized to induce a desired mood or emotion in someone and elicit a desired response (Masterclass Staff, 2022).

Colours are broken into several categories, the most common being primary and secondary colours. The primary colours are defined as colours from which all other colours can be created by mixing. The primary colours are:

Red
Blue
Yellow

Secondary colours are created by mixing two primary colours, with the most common being:

Green
Orange
Purple

The psychology of colour

Each colour can vary in intensity, also known as chroma (think, electric blue vs. navy blue) and its value (lightness or darkness). Here is a quick reference guide:

Red is passionate and energetic. Brands that use red in their branding are trying to communicate excitement, vibrancy and action.

Blue is calming and trustworthy. This is why many financial and healthcare services use blue in their branding.

Yellow is cheerful and optimistic — perfect for brands that want to communicate happiness and positivity.

Green is refreshing and natural, making it an excellent choice for eco-friendly and health-focused brands.

Orange is energetic and playful, often used by brands targeting younger audiences.

Purple is associated with royalty, luxury and mystery. If you want to convey a sense of sophistication and elegance in your branding, purple is the way to go.

Black, white and brown are considered neutral colours, but they also evoke emotions:

Black is powerful and mysterious.
White is pure, sophisticated and simple.
Brown is a mixture of all the primary colours and is natural, earthy and strong.

When it comes to personal branding, you want your brand colours to represent who you are, and authenticity is everything. Choosing your brand’s colour isn’t a game of “hope for the best.” It’s a scientific approach that starts with clarifying what you want to achieve and how you want to be perceived by your ideal audience.

For example, let’s say that you are a take-charge nurse who wants to leverage a personal brand’s power to move into an administrative role. In this case, you may lean towards choosing colours that convey compassion, excellence and leadership.

Let’s use Kaiser Permanente, a non-profit healthcare organization, as an example. The brand’s logo uses a calming blue to represent “loyalty and trust,” while the white brings balance and peace to the logo. When you look at the Kaiser logo, how do you feel? Do you see how this large organization used colour to make the brand feel “human”?

Get clear on how you want to be perceived by others

Now that you have an overview of colour psychology, it’s time to understand how you want others to see and experience you. What are three words you want people to use when they describe you? What colours come to mind when you hear the words fiery, bold and ambitious?

Ask yourself how your industry and/or niche are viewed. Would you expect to see a doctor in private practice using pink and purple in their branding? Another point to consider when thinking about industry standards is: Do you want to disrupt the industry or offer a slightly different approach?

Your primary brand colour is the colour you’ll use most often. It should demand attention. Visually, it is the star of your show and is used in your logo, website, social media and marketing materials. Your secondary brand colours are the colours you’ll use less often in your branding. They can accentuate some aspects of your website or add visual interest.

Consistency is key

Now that you know the psychology behind choosing the right colours for your brand, it’s essential to use your colours consistently. You’ll use your brand colours on your website and marketing materials.

Another area where your brand colours should be consistent is in your attire. So many leaders and entrepreneurs miss the mark by displaying brand presence in the way they dress. If you’re planning on doing any public speaking, attending events or networking, wear your brand colours! By showing up “on brand,” you will stand out in a crowd and make yourself unforgettable.

If advancing in your career is your goal, consider using your brand colours in your email signature, across social media and any other place you show up. To remain consistent, you also need to know the hex codes of your brand’s colour.

What is a hex code?

A hex code is a six-digit combination of numbers and letters to specify a colour. Hex codes start with a pound sign (#) and are followed by six characters, three numbers and three letters. For example, the hex code for electric blue is #00FFFF.

Hex codes are essential for personal branding, because they ensure that your brand colours are consistent across all platforms. When you use hex codes, you can be confident that the blue in your logo will match the blue on your website, and the green in your social media posts will match the green in your email signature.

A best practice is to create a guide that outlines your brand standards, including your colour palette, words that describe your brand, etc. This document is known as a brand guide, and it can also include logos, fonts and even the filters you use on social media. As your brand grows, everyone on your team will know the standards, and they can easily maintain the same level of consistency.

Colour is an essential tool that should not be overlooked for personal branding. By understanding the psychology of colour and choosing colours that align with your goals and values, you can create a strong and recognizable personal brand.

By Shaan Rais

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

How To Best Build Your Personal Brand As A Leader (And Why It’s Vital)

January 4, 2022 No Comments

By John Hall

Chris Ducker once famously said, “Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” During life, you’ll undoubtedly come across different types of leaders.

The cliché of the angry boot camp drill sergeant certainly represents one form of leadership, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have business leaders who get results from their employees by displaying empathy and understanding.

Such interactions go a long way in establishing your personal brand with those you interact with on a daily basis. But for those looking to establish themselves as an authority in their niche, personal branding goes for even greater reach.

Why Building A Strong Personal Brand Matters

Your personal brand is what you project to the world. It’s how others see you, and how they will ultimately talk about you. For highly visible leaders, your personal brand will likely have a major influence on whether someone decides to do business with you.

Many like to think that they do business with people, rather than a faceless company. A leader with a strong personal brand can essentially become the face of the company to customers and prospects. Unlike a company, a person is someone we can become attached to and more easily identify with.

These results are readily apparent through social media. On average, brand messages shared by employees have a 561 percent greater reach than if those same messages are shared through branded channels. This content also receives eight times as much engagement.

If regular employees can have that type of impact just by sharing brand content, it’s well worth considering how much reach a leader can have when they share their original insights. That reach and engagement is what will allow you to grow your business and establish yourself as a genuine authority in your niche.

Be Consistent In Your Efforts To Build A Personal Brand

Northeastern University recommends, “Before you start crafting your personal brand, you also need to determine who you’re trying to reach. Is it other industry thought leaders? An individual at a particular company? Recruiters? The sooner you define the audience, the easier it will be to craft your story, because you’ll better understand the type of story you need to tell (and where you need to tell it).”

While it’s true that many business leaders have built their personal brand through blog content, this isn’t the be-all end-all of brand building. Public speaking, or simply sharing your insights on social media, can also help you establish credibility in your niche.

What matters more than your preferred platform is establishing consistency in how you present your knowledge and insights. For example, using a tool like Boosted lets you easily customize video templates with your own font, logo, music and more to help you create a consistent look each time you post content to social media.

A distinct visual style will clue viewers in that they are looking at your content, and not anyone else’s. When someone is scrolling through their feed, they’ll immediately recognize your content.

Consistency also means that you will regularly devote time to your personal branding efforts. A flurry of posts at the beginning of your branding initiative won’t do you much good if you quit writing and posting after three months. A strong personal brand requires ongoing effort and maintenance.

Share Content That Truly Builds Your Brand

The type of content you share as you build your personal brand goes a long way in defining how others perceive you. It’s one thing to have a quick wit — but if you’re all witticisms without any actual meaningful insight for your industry, it will be easy for others in your niche to ignore you.

On the other hand, sharing case studies, insights from your business and personal experiences, client success stories and other value-driven content will help you establish a brand that people actively want to engage with.

To find the right focus for strengthening your personal brand, executive coach and speaker May Busch recommends asking trusted people to tell you the words that they associate with you to identify the gap between your current reputation and what you want your personal brand to be.

She explains, “Once you’ve identified the gap between perception and reality, choose the aspect that will make the biggest difference in changing perceptions. What will give the biggest boost to your personal brand? What’s the one thing that will make the other parts of the gap easier to close? That’s what you want to work on first.”

Whether interacting with someone on social media or writing a new blog post, always consider how it will help you cultivate your desired persona and provide actual value to your intended audience. This will help you become more than just another personality — you’ll be an authority.

Building A Personal Brand That Delivers

The personal brand you cultivate will greatly influence how others perceive you (and your company) long before they do business with you. You must take ownership of your personal brand so that you can direct the conversation.

By staying true to yourself and being proactive in sharing your unique message, business prospects, industry leaders and others will come to know who you are and what you stand for. They’ll view you as a reliable, trustworthy source, as someone who provides meaningful insights.

With a strong personal brand, the results you’re looking for in your career are sure to follow.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By John Hall

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

John Hall is the co-founder and president of Calendar, a scheduling and time management app. He’s also the strategic adviser for Relevance, a company that helps brands differentiate themselves and lead their industry online. You can book him as a keynote speaker here and you can check out his best-selling book “Top of Mind.” Sign up for Calendar here.

Sourced from Forbes