Why A Personal Brand Is Your X Factor

Hello, and welcome to the Do It My Way Podcast. As many of you know, we’ve been doing some amazing interviews with some female CEOs and entrepreneurs over the last six months and have gotten some really great video podcasts out there. My plan was to do audio podcasts along the way, so I would keep with the weekly audio, but then I would add these amazing video podcasts.

Let me tell you, it took a lot more than I ever thought it would. It really creeped into my schedule. I have not been doing the audio like I wanted to, confessions of an entrepreneur over here, but I am getting back to that. They’re going to be 15, 20 minutes like they were before. You can see them every week, have them drop, actually listen to them, not see them because they won’t be video. They will be audio, but I think it’s a great way.

I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say, “Gosh, I was listening every Thursday. I would hear your podcast on the way to take my kids to school or the way to work and I miss having that in the car.” The interview podcasts I do, they’re about 45 minutes. Some of them are an hour, depending on how long the interviews go. I think they’re really inspiring. These women are amazing.

I’m inspired by them and their stories of creating businesses and doing amazing things in the community, but there are just marketing tips. There’s business coaching tips. There’s things out there that I want to share that don’t get into those podcasts that I’m going to bring to you. Today, I want to talk about personal branding. I actually just did a speaking event with the Jenks Chamber.

We talked about why you should create a personal brand and what it’s all about. I think that you all can learn from this. This is something that whether you own a business or maybe you’re a marketing director at a company or the CEO at a company or maybe you’re just an employee and this would be a great idea for you to get the story out and really be that advocate for your company doing this because it’s very advantageous.

First of all, when we talk about personal branding, what is a personal brand? It is just you being you. That’s the best part about it. When people say, “Gosh, you work with all these female entrepreneurs and you do coaching programs and then you launch with them, is it hard to not do the same thing over and over?” it’s not because every person is different. Sure, I might have two people that are into fitness and nutrition, but they don’t both have the exact same story of where they got where they were, right?

I’ve actually coached someone that has lost 100 pounds. That’s a huge deal. That’s a story. People want to do what they did. They’re considered an expert because they have already accomplished that and other people want to follow suit. I have other people that I’ve coached that never were overweight. They’ve always had fitness be a part of their life and it was a big deal, right? There’s different stories with different people and people resonate in different ways.

What do people seek you out for advice? If you had to think about, what are those things that people look at you at? Maybe it could be business, right? You have built a business up in your industry and you’re considered an expert. How many people are out there want your advice? They want to take you to coffee. They want to take you to lunch because they want to know what you did and they want to follow in your footsteps. Well, guess what? You can get paid to do that.

A personal brand is just you taking your skills, knowledge, and expertise. You’re going to help those accomplish what you’ve already done and you get paid to do it. It is your X factor. It’s what makes you stand out from the rest. When you think about companies, all these companies can seem the same, right? Let’s just even talk about digital marketing companies, right? I founded D2 Branding. There are a million digital marketing companies out there.

Even in my own town, every other agency is now a digital agency because they have to be to survive, right? You can’t go around saying you just do radio, television, print anymore, or you’re not going to be in business. You’ve got to be relevant to where people are today. That personal brand is your X factor, what makes you different. What makes D2 Branding different is because I’m the founder. I started a mom website, blew it up through the power of Facebook, got 100,000 moms visiting every month, and sold it to a media company.

I used social media to do that. Why did this work? Because I was the personal brand. I was the mom. That’s what people resonated with. Advertisers wanted someone like me to walk through their door. A mom with young kids, that was the target they were going after, right? Moms that came to the site that wanted to share advice and swap stories and all of that wanted to talk to someone like me with young kids like them. That personal branding really works.

Whether you want to become an influencer, a speaker, an author, or a podcaster, personal branding is what is going to brand you, make you stand out from the rest, and it’s where people get to know you, like you, and trust you. People want to know that I had young kids at the time when I was building this business and I was juggling. It wasn’t just me having all the time and money in the world. I actually used zero dollars to launch the mom website, right?

I had little kids that needed my attention every night. I was staying up until midnight trying to get that site up and going and answer everybody, all the advertisers back and try to get new clients. It really was a grind, but people like to do business with people they like. Rather than a logo, the outside of your business, or what’s on your business card, they want to know who’s behind the business. That’s what’s really going to motivate them.

I shared a couple of stories. One, a local, Kay Koziol. I actually interviewed her on my podcast. She owns a Burn Boot Camp franchise here and she has done amazing. She’s one of the top franchises in the country. Kay has lost 80 pounds, so she has a really great story of losing weight. Now, she looks like she could walk onto the runway, bikini model, and she’s in her 50s, by the way. Women all over that need

to lose 20, 30, 40 pounds look at her and say, “Wow, you lost 80 pounds. Now, you look like that and you’re in your 50s? I have no excuses. I’m going to follow what you did.” She is the front-runner of the business. She is the personal brand.

Another example I shared was Jim Glover Chevrolet and I’ve shared this before. If you think about car dealers, they always had the most annoying– sorry if I’m offending anyone out there, the annoying commercials of anyone. Back in the day, you would flip on TV and be flipping and it would be car dealer after car dealer after car dealer screaming at the screen to get your attention that they have the best deals and the best selection. You just want to go, “You know what? I’m never walking on that lot. Those people seem really annoying. I’m not dealing with that.”

The funny thing is it’s women 25, 54 are the ones who are shopping and make the buying decisions. They make 85% of those buying decisions. Jim Glover says, “You know what? I’m going to put my kids as the personal brand. They’re going to be the front-runners.” He had Kristen Glover out there with Dat’l Do-It. That was their first real big personal branding marketing campaign and it worked. They became one of the top Chevy dealers in the nation with Kristen being the front-runner.

Later, Jared came on and started to do commercials as well. You were like, “These are nice people. He’s a family man. He’s not going to scream at me if I come on the lot. Maybe I’ll meet these kids. They’re attractive. They look so nice. They seem like they would help me. They’re knowledgeable,” all those things you would want when you’re shopping for a car. Personal branding can really make a difference in your company.

Let’s just say you’re out there and you’re like, “You know what? I’m not going to be the front-runner. I am definitely not going to be someone that is on camera and on commercials and doing all this.” I get that. That’s not for everyone. Maybe you don’t have a story, really, with your business that you want to share. Well, you could hire someone. Here, locally, we have a Hahn Appliance warehouse, okay? I actually don’t work with Hahn, but it’s something that I have observed.

You have Gentry who is the face of Hahn Appliances and she has been for years. Well, the audience thinks, “I’m going to go to Hahn Appliance and I’m going to meet Gentry. She’s attractive. She’s nice. She’s so knowledgeable. Maybe she’ll help me pick out my kitchen appliances.” No, Gentry is just the face of Hahn. She is a personal brand that they paid because they don’t have anyone direct that they wanted to use.

I’m assuming, right? They knew if we get a face of it, they’re going to stand out from every appliance warehouse, every appliance store out there because you like Gentry. You’ve gotten to know her and you trust her, so you’re going to go shop there. What do Oprah, Sara Blakely, and J-Lo all have in common? They have developed amazing personal brands. Think of Oprah for a minute.

What do you think of when you hear the name Oprah? She’s a media mogul. She’s the host of The Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s a magazine editor, an actress, a philanthropist. She’s one of the most successful Black women in history. Why do we think that when we think of Oprah? It’s because that’s how she’s branded herself. Talk about a personal brand that has been amazing. That is her.

Think about you. What is your unique expertise, your work experience, and your personality you can put together? It’s how you present yourself to the world and separates you from your competition. What do other people say about you when you walk into a room or leave a room? You want to create a personal brand because people trust you, they have a much higher perceived value of who you are, you’re seen as the expert in your field, and you want to stand out from your competition. You have to personally become that solution to their problem. When personal branding is done correctly, it really sheds you as the best light of who you are.

I have to tell you one thing before we go. People can definitely spot a fake from a mile. Personal branding is all about being authentic to who you are. I had somebody come to me before and say, “I really want to be a real estate expert. I’ve seen people out there and Grant Cardone. They really don’t have a female that’s doing this kind of real estate expert thing nationally.” I said, “That’s a great idea. Tell me what you’ve done in real estate so we can craft a story.”

They said, “Well, I’m just starting. I really haven’t done much, but I really want to–” I’m thinking, “Okay, it’s going to be difficult for you to come out and be the expert on something that you haven’t done anything in.” Now, could you start to build your personal brand and start to show up on social media and post about real estate? Yes. Are you going to be considered the expert? No. It’s more like, “Come along with me on the ride. I’m starting this new business.” You’re sharing what you’re learning and tips and advice that you have, but it is going to be hard to be that expert.

Whether it’s business, which we talk about a lot, I coach a lot of women that want to have coaching programs. They want to coach in their area. Stephanie Bonner is an example that I helped here locally. She was in nonprofits for years, spent 20 years working with nonprofits, had a lot of success with capital campaigns and with fundraising. She wanted to create a consulting business around consulting nonprofits, right? Most nonprofits don’t have just a slew of people working for them. They’re usually on a tight budget. A consultant can be very helpful to come in from the outside and give direction on how to raise money, how to create a capital campaign, how to deal with donors.

Those are all really important things. Maybe it’s a business you’ve done. Maybe it’s fitness. Maybe it’s nutrition. Maybe you’re an expert gardener. Maybe it’s raising kids, right? I built a whole mom website around lifting moms up, sharing advice, swapping stories. I don’t know if I was the mom expert, but I became that because that was how we branded ourselves. Maybe it’s relationship advice. Maybe it’s fashion. Maybe it’s organization. There’s all different kinds of things that you can be the expert at. It doesn’t need to just be in business.

Now, how to create a personal brand. The easiest thing to do is you want to start showing up on social media as the expert. You want to make sure that your profile brands you that way. Now, if it’s your personal profile you’re using, which I do recommend, it works great because people already are on there. The algorithm doesn’t kill your content because it’s a business. When you’re a business, Facebook, Instagram, they’re going to show up and say, “Hey, hit the boost button. Your content’s buried because it’s a paid platform.”

If you’re using your personal, you want to put that your kid’s graduating from high school, that your daughter just had won a soccer game, whatever’s going on, but you want also everyone to know you’re a real estate expert. You have this house for sale that maybe people in your area or your followers would want to go look at this house. That’s how you’re incorporating your personal brand into that. Remember, content is key. You’ve got to give value, value, value before you ask.

One of my favorite books is from Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary Vee on social media. If you don’t follow him on Instagram, he’s got great digital marketing advice. He owns VaynerMedia, which is one of the largest digital marketing agencies out of New York. I think they represent Nike and some really big brands. His book is called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. What that means is the jabs are the content. It’s value, value, value, and then you can ask. The right hook is the ask.

If you go on social media and you’re just asking, asking, asking, we’ve seen all these people that it’s the used car salesman, it’s the person selling the weight-loss supplements from a multi-level marketing company. No, you ignore, you delete, you might unfollow. You’re not dealing with that person. If they give you value and they start talking about how this weight-loss product worked for them and changed their life, and then they share a story of their sister doing the same thing and their mom and their friend, suddenly, you start to pay attention. Then they ask, “Would you like a free consultation?” Now, you’re like, “Yes, I think so,” because they gave value, value, value, then they ask.

That’s my most important thing to you that I’m going to leave you with today. If you want to create a personal brand, you’ve got to give value, you’ve got to start showing up on social media as the expert, and you’ll be on your way. Maybe you want a personal brand and you think maybe your company is hiring someone or you want to show up and be that person or you want to create that side business that’s a personal brand, I would love to do a 30-minute consultation with you. Just go to d2branding.com and click on Get a Quote and we’ll set something up. Until next time.