Great Personal Brands engage and evoke emotion in their target audience.  All great brands do this.  What emotion does Coke evoke in you, or Apple or Nike or Virgin…chances are your thoughts and feelings about these brands are strong.   An effective Personal Brand should have the same effect!

If your personal brand evokes an emotion (positive or negative) in your prospects; then you will effect two changes.

1.       Clear your pipeline by turning away the prospects who do not engage with your brand,

2.       Turn those prospects who engage with your brand into CLIENTS!

It is the second of these effects we are most interested in!

So how do you use your personal brand to evoke a positive emotion in your prospects?

To an extent - this does depend on your target audience - but in general;

•          Be persistently consistent - subscribe your prospects to a newsletter or a regular communication and communicate with them!  Share ideas, tips and a little bit of your life!  Figures say that a prospect will need to receive 6 emails form you before they take an action, so do not give up after 3!
•          Involve these prospects in your business (or your life) - generate polls or surveys and ask them to provide feedback on your services and ideas.  When they provide feedback, tell them how you plan to use this feedback.  People LOVE to be listened to!
•          Connect - Introduce your prospects to other prospects, or clients where they may be reciprocal business or interests.  I recently introduced a legendary social media consultant with a deep passion for Rugby to another contact of mine who is the owner of a Rugby Site www.heavensgame.com and may need some social media advice…or simply just another fan with the same passion!
•          Take an interest - when you meet with these prospects, take time to understand what their interests are, and send them updates or articles on these interests…consistently!
•          Hustle - My friend Gary Vaynerchuk talks about “always be hustling, we are building businesses here…” and he is right.  If you thought building a business was meant to be easy, then you are in the wrong game!  Spend time and hard work communicating, connecting, involving, and being interested, and you will soon have more clients than you can handle!

In the next post, we will look at the most important of the steps in growing your business…turning clients into LOVERS using your personal brand!

 

 

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Are you intelligent, educated, energetic and like face to face meetings?

What are your KEY brand attributes?

Take 60 mins out from the chaos for a while and take the time to understand your own personal brand using these steps.

1.  The PHYSICAL aspects of your personal brand

How is your appearance, your grooming, your height, weight and general health.  How is your spoken language - do you speak fast or slow….are you easy to understand.  Do you have an accent?  How big is your network - does it mainly consist of friends and family, or mainly professional contacts?  What would other people think of your network - would they want to know you because of your network?

2.  The PRACTICAL aspects of your personal brand

How do you like to work and what have you achieved?  Do you have any testimonials or awards?  Do you prefer face to face time with people, or over the phone and email.  Do you like to use social media to meet new people, or are you shy and prefer to be introduced to other people?

3.  The PRINCIPLE element of your personal brand

When you say you will get back to someone, do you?  How long does it take you to return phonecalls or emails?  How comfortable are you telling your friends or clients that they are wrong, or need to change their approach to an issue?  When was the last time you ’sacked’ a customer because their values did not agree with yours?  What are your values and beliefs?

4.  The INTELLECTUAL element of your personal brand

How educated are you?  What qualifications do you have?  What are good examples of ideas and innovations you have come up with?  What is your personality type - extravert, intravert?  What experiences do you have in life and work?

This is not a definitive list of questions to ask yourself to help you better understand your own personal brand - but they should give you an idea of the questions to ask yourself, and to help you understand your current brand attributes against a set model.  These questions will also help you to understand the strong elements of your personal brand, and the less strong elements of your brand.

This exercise should then assist you in the next stage..making a plan to emphasise and communicate the strong elements of your personal brand, and a personal development plan to strengthen the areas of your personal brand that may need some attention!

Have fun developing and communicating your personal brand!

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If I rang 100 businesses in your local area and asked them if they have heard of you…what would the answer be?

What percentage of businesses i.e. prospects and potential customers in your local area or ‘target market’ know who you are, what you do, and how you can help them?

Unfortunately for most of you, this is likely to be quite low!

So how can we make sure as many prospects and clients as possible know about our business, and what we can do for them without committing a budget the size of a small countries GDP!  Well, the good news is – there are plenty of free and relatively cheap tools, tactics and procedures we can use to help promote our ‘personal brand’.

Your personal brand is what others think when they think of you; it’s that simple, and for those of us operating as independent business owners (the MD of ME) your personal brand is critical to your success!

Understanding that you already have a personal brand, and that it is positive, negative or neutral is the first step toward branding success!  I am going to share with you 5 simple steps you can take to ensure that when people hear or read your name, they are thinking positive thoughts, and are clear on what it is you do! Therefore increasing your chances of developing a closer relationship, and ultimately doing business!

Define yourself - Find out who you are and be true to it.  Take the time to write down your passions and interests, and how you would articulate these!  Then when you are clear on what you do, update your profile on your social media sites, update your website (I hope you have one!), and let people know ‘who you are’.

Develop your identity - Create your own style and use it as a differentiator.  Are you passionate about health and fitness?  If you are, bring an apple to every client or prospect visit, or take your clients along to your favourite gym or run

Select the right channels - Use the right on-line and off-line tools to expand your brand.  If your target market use the internet, get a LinkedIn profile, update your website, start a blog. If they are not ‘tech savvy’ look for public speaking opportunities, write in your local newspaper, or conduct workshops (Dan Schawbel posted a recent entry on his blog about how Small Business can grow their Online Empire!)

Communicate effectively - Ensure that people understand your story every time you tell it.  Develop your own ‘personal value proposition’ that clearly and concisely articulates what it is you do, and how it might be different to the other 74,567 small business owners in your city alone!

Measure results - Set goals and prove that you reached them.  Testimonials and ‘published articles might be one way of doing this.  Or record the number of times you now RECEIVE cold calls commenting “I read your article”.  Ring another 100 businesses each month, and record the percentage increase of those who now know your brand.

In closing, you need to DEFINE who you are and what you do, PLAN how you are going to communicate this message, and then PERFORM by getting out there and articulating and measuring your personal brand!

Have fun, and remember; people buy people, so what do I get when I get you?

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Image by Whistling in the Dark via Flickr

How good is Google Alerts - I get so many alerts to great posts and information on the subject of Personal Branding, and one particular post I was alerted to by Don Simkovich over at Free Marketing Tips is no exception!

Don smashed out a super little post on Personal Branding all about how your brand is the Key to Greater Sales - here he shares 4 tips on building your personal brand to increase sales.

I totally like that Don talks about people buying people and all that stuff..because it is TRUE!  Whether we like or not, we are all always selling (that is not a typo!).  I like to talk about each of us being the MD of ME where we are responsible for our own marketing, sales, operations and HR departments!  If this is the case - then nothing is more important that your Personal Brand.

So, if you are in sales, I would like to add 5 more simple tips to help reinforce your Personal Brand and increase sales to add to Don’s stellar advice!

• Buy a pink shirt - and wear it to your appointments with a nice blue suit!
• Make note of what your best clients passions are - send them a reading list or emails on the subject,
• Develop a powerpoint slide all about you and your passions and how you like to help clients.  Host it on slideshare and send the link to some clients and ask them what they think?
• Invite two of your clients with complimentary services to lunch and help connect some business!
• Offer to go along to a ’sales appointment’ with one of your new sales executives!

Whether you work in a Corporate Sales team or run your own business, these tips are sure to help develop your Personal Brand and increase sales!  Remember, success won’t happen overnight - be patient, be consistent, and be persistent!

Now get out there and sell! (and watch this video and ask yourself - what are you selling?)

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This is the final entry in the series of exploring ideas for the 4 elements of a Personal Brand.  To date, I have written about the PHYSICAL, the PRINCIPLE and the INTELLECTUAL elements of a Personal Brand, and now to finish with the ACTUAL element of your Personal Brand.  I hope this series has provided some of you with some ideas to enhance or strengthen your Personal Brand.  The ACTUAL element refers to your actions, your achievements, and how you meet clients needs - in other words “what do you do?”  This element to your Personal Brand is often explained by what is it you do that seperates you from your competition?  Often, with this element, you are judged as much by what you DON’T do as what you DO.  Like all the elements of a Personal Brand, there is a relationship between each of them.  In the case of the ACTUAL - there is a very real relationship with the PRINCIPLE element.  In other words, if you say you will do something, then it is important for your Personal Brand to actually do what you say.  Following are some great activities that you should consider to reinforce and highlight the actual element of your Personal Brand;

• Define what it is you do - and make sure it relates to WHAT you do for you customers (or target audience),
• Also define what you DON’T do!,
• Seek testimonials from satisfied clients - this demonstrates where you have achieved what you say you do!
• Take some every few months to write down your achievements, and think about how you can communicate these to your target audience and prospects,
• Review your diary at the start of each week, and list the things you need to prepare and do each week to achieve the outcomes for your appointments,
• At the end of each week, review the things you said you would do, but did not get to, and plan to complete them at the very next opportunity you have!

In the case of the ACTUAL element - it is important to remember that your brand will be affected by what you DON’T do as strongly as it will be affected by what you DO.  Therefore you need to consider very closely, the promises you make, and the offers you make, and your ability/capacity to complete them on time as you promise.  Never be afraid to say no, and when you do take on a responsibility, give yourself time to complete the task, and then complete the deliverable early!  This will quickly earn you a Personal Brand that is associated with under-promising and over delivering..which is a great BRAND attribute to have!

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I have written before about the approach we use for developing a Personal Brand at the highest level - which can be summarised as DEFINE, PLAN, PERFORM.  I was reading a SUPER post today from Olivier Blanchard over at the Brand Builder Blog where, with great humour, he shares 36 tips on how to protect and project your brand - and be business savyy with your brand at work conferences, function or events.  Whilst written with great humour - each of these tips are so valuable, and so relevant.  I really enjoy reading posts like this - posts that provide real tactical advice and insight to what Personal Branding is, and why it is important!  Reading this post got me thinking just how valuable these tips are.  So for the next week, I am going to share some tips and advice of how to develop your Personal Brand around the four elements we believe are at the centre of EVERY Personal Brand.  Firstly, I want to explain what these 4 elements are;

1. Physical Element - this is your appearance, your language, your dress code, your network, your confidence, charisma, and your manner.
2. Principle Element - this is your integrity, your principles, the things you say you will do, your honesty and sincerity.
3. Intellectual Element - this is what you know, your experience, education, your intelligence, innovation and your new ideas.
4. Practical - these are your actions, your achievements, your testimonials, what you do, how you meet your clients needs.

I am going to start with some tips to develop the PHYSICAL element of your Personal Brand.

PHYSICAL - This element of your Personal Brand is all about your external and physical qualities.  It is how you interact with your network and how your prospects (in most cases) first interact with your brand!  If I was to ask any of your clients right now what they really look forward to when interacting with you; what would they say?  Would they say they like your charisma and confidence?  Would they talk about your striking physical appearance or how often you make contact with them? Some tips for developing this element of your Personal Brand include;

• Make a permanent booking every fortnight at your favourite restaurant and be sure to invite a client each fortnight for a bite of lunch;
• Introduce clients to one another who may benefit from the complimentary nature of their businesses
• Book yourself on a public speaking course to enhance your public speaking skills;
• Start a regular exercise regime to look better, feel better, and create another interesting aspect to your character!;
• Develop a distinct aspect of your physical appearance - always carry a nice pen, buy a nice watch, polish your shoes, wear a handkerchief in the top pocket of your suit;
• Develop a network call plan - write down your network, categorise them, and write a plan to make regular contact with them using different channels - online, face to face, phone; and
• Start a blog - write a blog and start to write about your passions (more about this later in the INTELLECTUAL element), invite your clients to subscribe to your blog or newsletter.

These are just a few tips to start to develop the PHYSICAL element of your Personal Brand.  Later this week, I will include some tips and more on the PRINCIPLE element of your Personal Brand.

In the meantime, please comment with some ideas of your own - tell me what could be done further to develop the PHYSICAL element of your Brand!  Have fun, be distinct!

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Wow, it has ben a busy few days for me. Being busy has been good though…it has presented numerous opportunitites to get my brand ‘out there’ and have other people consume and taste what I stand for, and what I can do for them…The really great thing about the last few days, is it gives me complete confidence, that whatever I might need to know or need help with, there is someone in my network who can help me. Why…because I have helped them, or given them a little bit of me in the form of inspiration or insight, that makes them want to return the favour when given the chance. Would your network do the same for you?  You see, this is what Personal Branding is all about! There is a quote that I always like to remember which goes somehting like “the best time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining” and when it comes to Personal Branding and networking; there is no better advice! A recent post from a Gen Y Personal Branding must read Dan Schawbel recently reminded my why you absolutely MUST be aware of your Personal Brand and be taking every action possible to reinforce and communciate your brand RIGHT NOW. His post was in the form of some feedback from a reader of his blog telling a Personal Branding success story (which I luv) with Bob Tarne, who was recently laid off from his employer. Bob talks about the process he went through to find work, and how his online branding efforts where THE reason he got the job he ended up with at Lombardi Software. He spoke about how those interviewing him commented on his blog and his online profile; and how glad he was that he had a blog, and kept his pofiles up to date and consistent! (incidentally, he spoke of how he researched the potential emloyer online also to get a feel for THEIR brand).  Being out of work right now in a slowing economy (if you accept that the economy is slowing in the US!) is down right scary, and Bob could have faced many months on the sideline trying to develop a network, and seek employment, if it had not been for his Personal Brand, and the visibility of who he was and what he stood for! So, I would urge anyone reading this, to ACT NOW (if you have not already). For all those who are NOT clients, and are not sure where to start in order to do something about your Personal Brand, then visit Dan’s blog (or many others) for some insight and guidance….or better still give us a call and see if we can help!

A conversation yesterday with a respected colleague got me thinking…Philip Higginson, the CEO of PRO:NED took me to lunch yesterday, and we spoke about a variety of subjects.  On our return, Philip presented me with a small gift; a book by Sydney Finkelstein called “Why Smart Executives Fail”.  Finkelstein is a pre-eminent leader and researcher in management theory.  PRO:NED and Sydney Finkelstein are partners in an initiative focused on Board Diagnostics; helping Executives to understand and avoid business failure.  I was referred to Chapter 9 in the book which is aptly titled Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People…a great title for a most interesting chapter!  In short, these 7 habits are:

1. They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environments;
2. There are no clear boundaries between their corporate interests and their business interests;
3. They think they have all the answers;
4. They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who is not 100% behind them!;
5. They are consumnate company spokespersons - they are obsessed with the company image;
6. They underestimate major obstacles; and
7. They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past…

I found these 7 habits most intriguing, and if I was to summarise these ‘habits’ then I would say that they could be broadly catergorised as being an issue of self obsession!

Recently I have been reading some great blog posts on this subject of self-promotion and self obsession, and I felt it was time to start to tell everyone about what personal branding is REALLY about.  Personal Branding is not ONLY about marketing yourself and self promotion.  Personal Branding is about discovering your passions and talents, then articulating these talents and passions in a way that is of interest and value to your target audience!  Being consistently persistent in communicating and artilcuating these passions and talents is the key - and is where social media and social networking is crucial.  This very topic has been addressed in several thought provoking posts of late.  Janet Thai at the Bentley’s Marketing Blog wrote about self promotion and personal branding…where she raised the question of how to achieve a balance between me-centricity and you-centricity! Earlier in the week, Dan Schawbel posted an excellent entry on an interview he did with Daniel Pink about the release of his new book “The Adventures of Johny Bunko”

The post about the interview was named “Myth: Personal Branding is all about YOU” His thoughts and key takeouts on this book can be seen here…

This is along post I know…but an extremely important one that I am passionate about.  Remember - PERSONAL BRANDING IS NOT JUST ABOUT YOU…it is about how YOU can use your passions and talents to better serve people who NEED what you have to offer!  Your Personal Brand is NOT what you say about yourself, it is what OTHERS say about you!!