You may start to see posts about predictions for the coming year. I have seen them in my inbox already and some of them are actually quite good.
So, without wanting to miss out I thought I would add my two pennies worth!
I have put together some steps to what I think is going to be a biggie this year and beyond in terms of what will make the biggest difference in your business. That is:
Personal Brand!
What do I mean by that?
Well you’ve heard of branding which is usually reserved for big budget companies who invest a lot of money in their company image, running TV ads, Radio, Print, Social and so on.
You recognise brands, often simply by their logos and you trust them implicitly. When shopping, people are often attracted to the recognised brand.
That is what brand can do.
Your personal brand is simply, your own brand. How people perceive and recognise you and ultimately trust you.
When you have that, you have customers who will buy from you irrespective of your pricing.
I will buy certain brands just because I think they are a better product, most often without trying the less recognised brand.
The good news is, you don’t need to have the Coca Cola marketing budget and executives in order to create your brand.
The world has changed and it continues to do so into 2016 with your ability to create your own brand and your own tribe of loyal engaged fans.
But here is how
1 – Making of a star!
One of the main areas of focus for creating your personal brand will be video. You can create your own TV channel on YouTube. Take The Body Coach, he has thousands of subscribers from his channel and makes millions doing it. He just started out with his own video workouts. But it’s not just YouTube, you can have video on your website, Facebook and Periscope (as well as others).
There is no quicker way to build a personal brand than video. (that’s why I decided to shoot this as a video too).
The fact is I have been using video for some time for online courses but in order to really increase your connection with your audience before they become customers you need to get them to know you. Hopefully like you and then trust what you are saying.
Much easier to do when they are looking at you – don’t you think?
Video is going to be used for the following increasingly more:
- Marketing videos
- Sales videos
- Product demos
- Educational videos
- Service explainers
- Courses
- Plain ol’ catch up
Most people are worried that they need a professional set up with a studio, however, you will be surprised how many top business gurus use their smart phone for video.
You will need to make sure the sound and lighting are good and the camera is steady but for a very small investment it may be worth investing in:
- A tripod for you smartphone including phone holder
- Some basic lighting
- A microphone
That’s it.
I invested hundreds in lighting, green screen, key light, microphones etc and the reality is you don’t need all of that.
The key is just getting on and do the filming and people will start to recognise you, buy into to your style and content and buy from you when the time is right as in their mind, there will be no other choice.
2- Blogging
Another way to improve your personal brand is blogging It’s not new but you need to remember that some people will prefer to read. You can always have someone transcribe your videos and there you have blog content to be shared in all the usual social places.
Your blog is the voice of your brand. Hopefully, you will have your website set up to gather in leads and so driving people back to your blog where they can see the sign up box will really help to build a business though your email list.
Blogging allows you to do this in a more user friendly way.
3 – Podcasting
This is a little like video. If you cant stand the thought if being in front if a camera, you can always try podcasting. It is a great way to get subscribers as you are asking them to sign up to be notified of your next post.
It is also a great way to build your personal brand as you can get your personality across and you can gain authority by inviting authority figures in your niche to be interviewed.
All you need for this is a microphone and yes, a recording device, like the one you are most likely looking at this on! Your smartphone.
Check out this site – http://www.opinionpodcasting.com/
It’s very easy to create your own podcast and become the star of the show.
4 – Social Media
Posting a variety of content on social is still a great way to get yourself out there. Mix it up so you are not always about the sale. Share relevant stuff, tell stories, inspire, educate.
Facebook is great, but don’t ignore Instagram and Twitter.
You don’t need any special equipment at all to post in your social profiles. Just remember to be yourself and ask people to share for you.
5 – Consistency
Building a personal brand will not be quick and easy. It will be a journey that will be hard work. Anyone that has built a successful personal brand will tell you to just keep going. You have to do more than your competitors. Visibility is everything. You can’t just do a bit here and there, or have a sustain burst of activity and then disappear again. You need to commit and keep going.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a glowing example of how someone with passion and determination allowed him to grow a huge business through consistently putting out video content. He himself says that in the early days he had just a few views and now you can count his video views in the millions.
So there you go. You don’t need to do all of the above. Perhaps just pick one for now that you are most comfortable with, but if you are “all in” then here’s an idea for you.
Do some video interviews with other experts you think your customers would benefit from.
Get the video transcribed for a blog post and post a link in Facebook and Twitter
Get someone on Fiverr.com to extract the audio from the video and create a podcast, and add to your podcast creation software. (which will then add to itunes)
Do this a number of times and you have a great start to creating your personal brand.
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