Sneak Preview: Personal Branding Isn’t Shameless Self-Promotion

The following article was written by Glen Carlson, co-founder of the Key Person of Influence Business Accelerator, for the March 2016 edition of Octane magazine:

Consider the three types of branding you can develop as a business owner: a company brand, a product brand and a personal brand. In today’s competitive landscape, we’ve seen how personal branding has become a vital tool for entrepreneurs to communicate value, create demand for their experience and grow their business. So why do so many people resist it?

Often, there’s an underlying fear that people will lose their privacy and be viewed as insincere. This assumption isn’t unfounded. We’ve all come across the brazen self-promoter who bleached their teeth, over-styled their hair and shamelessly flaunted themselves in the name of branding. They’re great at making themselves the center of attention but not much else. This misguided approach does little for developing an ability to influence; luckily, your brand never needs to be this showy veneer.

Instead, consider your brand in terms of representation; it’s nothing more than what you’re personally known for. Imagine the following scenario: A handful of key players in your industry get together for an event and your name comes up in conversation. What if you could predetermine what they would say about you? That’s what designing a personal brand is really about— not creating a show for the masses, but engineering a powerful reputation among your peers. I’ve identified five key principles I use to continually develop my personal brand.

1. Perfect Your Pitch: The foundation for creating a successful personal brand is being able to effectively communicate what you want both yourself and your company to be known for. This mustn’t be something like “customer service” or “integrity,” because this is entirely egocentric. It’s all about you and your product. The truth is people don’t care about you or your product; they care about themselves and their problems. Your customers care about results. When you can craft a compelling pitch about the results you and your organisation deliver that becomes the foundation for a well-respected personal brand.

2. Constantly Publish Content: Publishing content in the form of blogs, articles, reports, etc. is about taking that pitch and scaling it. It’s not about vanity. It’s about packaging your sales pitch into compelling and sharable content. When prospects invest time (their most precious asset) in consuming your content, they become pre-sold to the idea of spending money with your company. Having a strong content strategy shortens sales cycles and expands your reach, while allowing you to charge premium prices through increased demand.

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Read Glen’s other three tips in the March 2016 issue of Octane magazine. Request a copy by emailing us!