This document provides guidance on finding your true brand path and establishing a strong personal brand. It advises the reader to stand out by having passion for their brand, embracing individuality over perfection, and clearly defining their audience and niche. It also recommends developing an elevator pitch to communicate your value proposition concisely and effectively managing your online reputation. The document concludes with references for further reading on related topics.
13. REFERENCES A Woman’s Place, by Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, July 11 2011 Building Strong Brands, by David Aaker Kellogg on Branding: The Marketing Faculty of The Kellogg School of Management Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, by Guy Kawasaki
Editor's Notes
Welcome and good morning everyone. It’s great to see you all before you start your day of discovery. Before I get started I wanted to mention how lucky you all are t be here and to be on this journey… given tools, access and metrics at.Highly complex time. Lots of communication channels Because everyone can.They do.Every minute, 48 hours of video is uploaded on YouTube 38 How do you stand out?That’s why I’m here today. step by step process so that you can position yourself and build your personal brandSo let’s get startedShow of hands:Who feels lost lost Who here feels like they know a bit?Who here feels they know what they are doing? Keep hands up, take out stack of cards with your other hand. For those who felt lost, find someone near you with their hand upHelp each other
If you have pen and paper, please take a moment to draw this diagram – it’s a basic venn diagram, 3 overlapping circles.We’re going to talk about 3 key areas the are fundamental to positioning your brand: You Your audience The market
Let’s start with you… The first tenet of brand strategy is to differentiate yourself and standoutIf a brand is not perceived as different, it’s not a brand. Yet our tendency is to want to be part of a flock, it’s how we as women are socializedTo build your personal brand you’re going to need to overcome natural impulseIt’s where you are going to need the help of your friends and peers.Ask the people you know and trust to give you honest feedback about yourself. Ask those who held their hand up a moment ago to help you. They are on to something.It’s hard to do this alone, we simply are not objective about ourselves. And commonly, what makes us unique in the eyes of others, is old hat with ourselves, mundane.I personally believe that everyone has an inner geniusFinding that genius is your job.
Think about what you are passionate about. Passion is key. Fuel you need to spend countless hours becoming an expertMalcomGladwell put a number on it. It takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. That’s 40 hours for 5 years straight!When passion and authenticity come together it’s a potent combinationThat’s what separates good from greatWithout passion, what you do is not sustainable Dana Torres: 40, gold medal winner, fastest women in the water,20 years older than the competitionTap into that passion and let it be your rocket fuel
Ask yourself if you try to be perfect or if you accept your flaws.Who accepts their so-called flaws?Well my message to you ladies is not to even tryGive it up. Its working against you The truth is, when you are building a personal brand being imperfect makes it easier for others to connect to you People need something to connect to as a humanOur brains our wired for human connectionA truth we all know, is that when people are too perfect, they turn us off We like people who are human, who have quirks like ourselvesFindsomething you are comfortable sharingLet that be your signature characteristicSo that’s the first phase– understanding youwhat you are uniquely gifted atwhat your passionate about, What your signature trait is
The next major step is to define and focus on your community or audience.Focus is the operative word hereLots of people really don’t think about don’t think about audience when they think about their personal brand,yet we all have limited time, energy and resources so if you don’t focus, you’re not fully benefiting Focus is keyWhen you focus and define your audience, it’s very important to understand not only the demographics --age, sex, location,Also psychographicswhat makes your target audiencetick?where do they turn for reference, influence and information?How do they like to consume information both online and off?what do they want and what they are not getting today?Fundamentally, it’s about meeting your audience where and how they want to be met both online and in person.Any platformAny media Any placeFor some of you, your audience is truly national.For others it might be regional And for lots of us, it’s smaller,local…limited to hundreds or maybe even a couple thousand people However you define your target, this is a crucial step. Most individuals skip over this step jumping right into promoting themselves then wondering why their efforts aren’t paying off. Taking the time to focus, define and understand your audience inside and out so that you can meet them where and how they want to be met isHow you resonate with them
The final step is one that most people overlook when it comes to thinking about their personal brand, yet most companies obsess about…analyzing the lay of the land, and understanding how those in your space operateIf you are lucky, you will find that there’s no one in your space and it’s a green field opportunity. If this is where you are,move fastIf you’re like everyone else, you’ll find there’s a lot of folks in your space, what I call the “pack”. What I want to do is look carefully at how pack is organized and how each of your competitors positions themselveswhat are they saying about themselves? (key messages)what’s similar and different from you? (how do they stand out relative to you)What niche have they carved out? (what’s their expertise)What’s their tone, manner and where are they going to meet their customersYou’ll learn a lot by this
Once you have these three components:1. Clear understanding of what makes you unique 2. Clear understanding of what your audience needs and wants3. That nonone else can tap intoYou can position yourself within a specific market or nicheFor example, Palmiers…..the love of Chocolate Who loves chocolate?In the case of blogging, Lisa, Jory, andElisa were asked the question: Where are all the women bloggers? So held a conferenceLot’s of women bloggersBlogHer was bornToday you’re over 25 million strong and growingIn retrospect, it’s hard to believe that the blogging industry left out half the population!Another example, if you’re blogging about infertility issues, maybe it’s the empathy and personal experience you bringWhat’s key is that you look at what’s happening in your space and look for what your audience or community needs, that they are not getting. Here’s where you start matching your authentic self with your passions and audience needs When you do this, your audience can find you building a communityAnd you can find them
So how do you bring it all together? We talked about position yourself so that you standout and resonate You’ve maniacally focused on who you audience and what they need You even know where and how to meet them A good next step is to develop a clear and concise elevator pitch. A statement that you can repeat and act on over and over, everyday, online and off, that will withstand the test of timeMy elevator is pitch is: I’m a brand strategist, I make complex concepts easy to understand. This means that companies and individuals can go after new markets, focus resources, and accelerate time-to-results.This is why I’m here, to demystify brand building and break down into parts so that you can take action. These are the same basic tenets that the world largest brand are based on.
Managing your reputation is critical to building a personal brand because so much of the relationship you have with your audience is based on trust.Here time is key:What you do today is how people remember you, which is how they talk or write, which impacts the future.Your reputation proceeds you and it’s how people remember you.How people remember you is how they talk about youMemory and WOM influences about 80% of buy decisions Memory is so powerful that it takes on average 11 positive interactions with someone to get over one bad memory.When you think about it that way, every interaction countsAct and communicate consistently with highest integrity. If you want to be trusted, trust first. May seem obvious, it’s the Golden RuleWhen your Mom “friends” and you, it helps you live up to the Golden Rule, we know how to act, we sometimes forget.Simply put, brands are based on trust and trust is based on people doing thing right thing every timeTime and repetition is importantEdelman’s Trust Barameter research suggests that people have to hear a message 3-5 times to believe itAmplify your effortsCombining online and offline marketing such as blogging and events, as we’re doing todayWith blogger’s this is particularly important given you could be anyone.How do you build and protect your reputation?You need to actively build and protect your reputation. Easily done on Facebook, LinkedIn and by monitoring what is being said about you online. Because WOM is important, ask for peer references Tim Ferris exampleGone are the days where we could separate our personal and professional lives. Today, everyone can and will twitter about you.There was an article in the New Yorker recently, titled a Women’s Place. In the article Sheryl Sandberg, COO of FaceBook’s, was interviewed. Sheryl represents a very modern viewThis is an important shift given 10 years agoToday, all time is public. There is no privacy.Knowing this important. Being consistent and authentic is key. It goes back about what I said about perfectionyou can only sustain being your authentic and passionate
The last thought I want to leave you with is that it takes courage to build a personal brand. You have all shown that you have tremendous courage and are making an impact. Today. Here. NowNot everyone can be charismatic rock star. But everyone can be engaging and have courageBecause when you are authentically passionate and tapping into a need like no one else,You will attract people around you.They will find youTrust meYou will not be on your own forever, The simple truth isEvery flock starts with a single bird that got there firstBe the one who got there first
Keep answers short – get as many questions as I can
“Don’t let your fears overwhelm your desire. Let the barriers you face—and there will be barriers—be external, not internal. Fortune does favor the bold.Read more Guy Kawasaki quote – in building your reputation it’s important to give far more than you ask for in return. NPR gives 48 weeks a year and only asks for donations 4 weeks a year. Tim Ferriss, author of the 4 HB and WW is a top blogger who also give more information that’s useful than what he asks for. I think most of you inherently know this so I wont delve.
