In the past, the traditional narrative suggested that to be taken seriously as a business leader, you needed to be at the helm of a successful business. The credibility of a leader was often tied to their personal credentials such as a title and tangible success of their company.
However, the digital age has flipped the script. Today, it’s not just about leading a business; it’s about leading a personal brand. Prolific leaders who create prolific content are now the ones who are taken more seriously. Not because their degree or college education. They’re respected based on their followers. 🤔
Does your business have a face? Should it have one?
The short answer: it should.
The rise of social media and content marketing has democratized the business landscape. It has given individuals the power to build their own platforms, share their ideas, and connect with audiences on a global scale. This shift has led to the emergence of a new kind of business leader: the personal brand leader.
Personal branding is about more than just self-promotion. It’s about establishing a reputation and building trust with your audience. It’s about sharing your unique perspective and insights, and providing value through your content. When done right, personal branding can elevate a business leader from being just another executive to a thought leader in their industry.
Examples of successful personal brands
Tesla and Elon Musk: Elon Musk is arguably one of the most well-known examples of a business leader with a strong personal brand. His innovative ideas, outspoken nature, and active social media presence have made him a household name. Musk’s personal brand is so strong that it’s often hard to separate him from his companies, Tesla and SpaceX. His vision for a sustainable future and space exploration resonates with many people, and his personal brand has undoubtedly contributed to the success of his companies.
Virgin Group and Richard Branson: Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, is another business leader with a strong personal brand. Known for his adventurous spirit and customer-first approach to business, Branson’s personal brand is closely tied to the Virgin brand. His charismatic personality and commitment to innovation have helped Virgin Group become a leading brand in multiple industries, from music to aviation to space travel.
Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg: Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and CEO of Facebook, has a personal brand that is intrinsically linked with his company. His story of creating Facebook in his Harvard dorm room and growing it into one of the world’s biggest social media platforms is well-known. Despite facing criticism and controversy, Zuckerberg’s vision for connecting the world and his commitment to innovation have helped shape Facebook into a multi-billion dollar company. His personal brand, like it or not, has played a significant role in the success of Facebook.
In this new paradigm, content is king. Prolific leaders understand this. They leverage platforms like blogs, podcasts, and social media to share their insights and experiences. They create valuable, engaging content that resonates with their audience. They don’t just talk about their company’s products or services; they talk about their vision, their values, and their journey. They share their successes and failures, their insights and lessons learned. They show their audience not just what they do, but who they are.
This shift towards personal branding and content creation has several implications for business leaders.
First, it means that authenticity is more important than ever. In a world where everyone has a platform, those who are genuine and authentic stand out.
Second, it means that business leaders need to be not just business savvy, but also media savvy. They need to understand how to create engaging content, how to build an online presence, and how to connect with their audience.
Finally, it means that business leaders need to be constantly learning and evolving. They need to stay ahead of trends, adapt to changes, and continually find new ways to provide value to their audience.
Interestingly, companies are now recognizing the value of personal branding and are investing in personal brand marketing for their executives. They understand that a strong personal brand can enhance the company’s brand, build trust with customers, and drive business growth.
The script has indeed flipped. Business leaders no longer need a successful business to be taken seriously; they need a successful personal brand. They need to be prolific leaders who create prolific content. This shift presents both challenges and opportunities. But for those who can navigate this new landscape, the rewards can be immense. They can build a loyal following, establish themselves as thought leaders, and create a lasting impact.
In the digital age, personal branding is not just an option for business leaders; it’s a necessity.
Ready to elevate your brand and accelerate your success? Let’s talk! Schedule a Branding Strategy Call with us today. Together, we’ll explore your vision, define your unique brand identity, and create a powerful strategy to make your brand unforgettable. Don’t wait to make your mark. Click the link to book your call now and take the first step towards transforming your brand!
Today, I want to chat with you about two essential terms that you’ve probably heard a million times: branding and marketing. They’re kind of like fraternal twins in the business world—they’re related and share some traits, but they’re not identical. So, let’s unpack each one and see how they can play nicely together to help your business shine.
Branding: Who Are You Really?
Think of branding as your business’s personality. It’s all about who you are, what you stand for, and how you want the world to see you. Your business name, logo, colors, and the tone of voice you use—all these things create your brand. It’s like the face you present to the world.
Why is branding so important, especially for small businesses like yours? Because it helps you stand out from the crowd. It’s how your customers remember you and why they stay loyal. It’s like your secret sauce!
Take “BeanBrew,” a local coffee shop. They’re not just about caffeine fixes. Their brand is all about creating a cozy community space, offering quality coffee, and being kind to the planet. This branding makes them a favorite among coffee lovers in their community.
Marketing: Let’s Get the Word Out
Now, if branding is the face of your business, marketing is how you introduce that face to the world. Marketing is all about shouting from the rooftops about your amazing products or services. It’s about knowing who your customers are, what they want, and how to get their attention.
If you’re wondering how branding and marketing differ, think about it like this:
Branding is about creating your business’s identity, while marketing is about promoting that identity.
Branding is long-term, focusing on things like your reputation and customer loyalty. Marketing is more short-term, aiming for immediate goals like sales and lead generation.
Branding involves tasks like designing your logo and defining your mission. Marketing is about turning that brand vision into a living thing.
I’ve found that business owners “kind-of” know this topic, but they don’t really know it. And I can tell by asking one simple question: can you show me the branding campaigns you’ve outlined for the upcoming months?
Their answer: “what do you mean?”. They have thought about social media posts, newsletters, and possible articles for their blog. And while that is PART of what a marketing plan will have, that’s NOT ALL.
Let’s put it this way: every brand strategist is a marketer. But not every marketer is a brand strategist. And if you want to grow a business today, you need to level up your branding game.
What does a Brand Strategist do?
A Brand Strategist is responsible for the overall brand awareness of a company. They help create, manage and maintain branding through various strategies. They conduct extensive research and use data to develop branding that fits the company and market to create a positive image of the organization.
Brand Strategists can work for corporations or marketing agencies. An in-house Brand Strategist works with different departments and leaders to strengthen and maintain the organization’s branding. When working for an agency, a Brand Strategist works with different companies that come to the agency for help with their brand identity development and management. They meet with a company, develop branding and manage the branding or teach the company how to implement the branding strategies themselves.
When I was developing the Hispanic Market for Beachbody, my official title was “coach,” yet I played a significant role in their branding strategy team. My biggest challenge was figuring out how to sell a protein shake that cost five times more than a regular one. The company had some marketing materials in Spanish, but they didn’t genuinely reflect my culture.
I proposed a series of events, and they loved my idea. During that time, I was living in Connecticut and would often fly to San Juan to host these events. Reflecting on those times, I realize that from the inception of these events, Beachbody consistently ensured their brand was accurately represented. I incorporated my personality, as well as my team’s personality, into the mix. However, we always had to stay “on brand.”
Babak Azad, SVP, media & customer acquisition at Beachbody (the creators of P90X, Insanity and Shakeology), who helped the company acquire more than 10 million customers and eclipse $1 billion in sales, was interviewed in 2018 when Beachbody broke the news on hitting their billion dollar milestone. He said that what drove him to succeed was to focus on three areas — customer lifetime value, BRAND and operational excellence — can dramatically increase the chances of scalability and sustainability of a business. Source: Entrepreneur.
The creators of P90x and Shakeology turned Beachbody into one of the most powerful fitness brands in the world. Beachbody just rebranded as BODi. Their rebranding strategy kicked off with a marketing campaign announcing their health esteem movement.
What can business owners learn from Beachbody-now-BODi?
One crucial lesson that every business can glean from this success story is that branding serves as the fountain of youth for a business. Your products may change, your team can adapt and evolve, but a robust brand remains timeless.
My experience with Beachbody became the foundation of what I’ve done as an entrepreneur and business owner and what I do today for the brands we grow in our agency.
Branding and Marketing: Better Together
The real magic happens when branding and marketing come together.
Your brand guides your marketing efforts, helping you craft the right messages and choose the best channels to reach your customers. Meanwhile, your marketing helps spread the word about your brand, enhancing its image.
Imagine your brand as your business’s heart, pumping out your values and identity. Marketing is like the veins, carrying this identity to the world.
Without a brand, your marketing lacks focus. Without marketing, your brand stays hidden.
So there you have it! Now you know the difference between branding and marketing and why they’re both super important for your small business.
The next time you’re about to send a newsletter to your customers, think about their experience with your BRAND.
When you are sharing content on social media, think about how will your future customers FEEL about that content. Will they gain any value? Will they EXPERIENCE a particular feeling? What are the feelings that you want to project as a business?
Your brand is like a person! It has FEELINGS! And if you tap into the power of a strong brand strategy, the opportunities are endless!
Remember, your brand is the heart of your business, and marketing is how you let the world know you’re here.
Ai Marketing is here. Learn how we’re using it to help small business owners.
Hello! As a marketing leader, I am constantly on the lookout for innovative tools that can help businesses succeed. That’s why I’m excited to share with you our agency’s approach to AI marketing.
After much consideration of the various AI tools currently available, we have adopted a 50-50 approach to AI marketing. While we believe that robots can take over the world, we also recognize the importance of human involvement in marketing. We see AI marketing as similar to Tesla’s autonomous driving technology, where a human driver is still required to provide oversight. At our agency, we want our clients to know the tools we use to build and monetize their brands.
In this article, I am thrilled to explore the evolution of AI in digital marketing, the benefits of using 50Fifty Ai Marketing for businesses, and who can benefit from our brand-new packages.
So, let’s dive in!
What is AI Marketing?
You might be wondering, what exactly is AI marketing? By definition, marketing is the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. AI marketing takes this definition one step further, by leveraging artificial intelligence technologies to optimize the efficiency of how marketing tasks are done.
Put simply, AI marketing allows digital marketers to do their jobs more easily and accurately. By automating certain tasks and processes that humans need to do manually, AI marketing helps teams work faster and provide better results for clients. This allows marketers to focus on tasks that require more human input, like developing creative strategies and customized experiences.
At Marketing for Greatness, we’re a digital marketing agency that specializes in demand generation using SEO and social media. With AI marketing tools, we’re able to expand our offerings and provide even more value to our clients.
Can AI Marketing Work For You?
If you’re considering using AI marketing for your business, it’s important to note that while current AI word processing models like ChatGPT and other AI content generators can generate content, they may not be accurate in terms of optimizing it for search engines. That’s why we continue to use our premium tools for market analysis and keyword research in our SEO tasks.
However, we have incorporated AI tools into other content marketing tasks, such as generating catchy headlines, producing long-form content outlines, and creating short product and service descriptions. Additionally, we have used AI to generate branding guides, social media calendars, social media posts, and even creative assets like logos, business cards, and promo items. Our team has put in hundreds of hours of work to craft AI-generated models, allowing us to offer AI marketing to our clients.
AI marketing can certainly work for your business, especially if you want to have a digital transformation almost overnight. However, there are situations where AI marketing may have limitations, such as when building a trademark or claiming copyrights.
For instance, the US Copyright Office only considers an AI-generated work copyrightable if a human can prove they themselves put a meaningful amount of creative effort into the final content. Digital art, poems, and books generated using tools like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, ChatGPT, or even the newly released GPT-4 will not be protected by copyright if they were created by humans using only a text description or prompt, according to US Copyright Office Director Shira Perlmutter.
In other words, it’s important to be aware of how your marketing is being generated and how it is being picked up by search engines. AI marketing can be a powerful tool, but it may not be suitable for crafting your next bestseller novel or creating a patented product.
Introducing 50Fifty AI Branding & Website
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our latest innovation: 50Fifty Ai Branding & Website. We’re using a set of AI tools with our unique library of marketing prompts to streamline the web development process and create stunning websites that deliver results.
Our AI algorithms work to analyze user behavior and optimize the design of both your brand and your website. With 50Fifty Ai Website, you’ll get a uniquely crafted website that not only looks great, but is also user-friendly and intuitive. We know that a website is often the first point of contact between a business and its customers, which is why we believe it’s crucial to have a website that delivers a great user experience.
50Fifty Ai Website also allows for faster development times and lower costs compared to traditional website development methods. This means that you can have a professional website up and running in no time, without breaking the bank.
But don’t worry – our team of web developers and designers are still involved in the process. We believe that human input is still crucial for creating a website that truly reflects your brand and engages with your customers. Our AI tools work alongside our team’s expertise to provide the best of both worlds – efficient, AI-driven development with a human touch. And with our focus on demand generation strategies and SEO, you can be sure that your website is designed with lead generation in mind.
Traditional Branding & Website vs AI
To give you a better idea of how are we using AI marketing, let’s compare a 100% human-based project vs a 50-50 AI Marketing.
We offer custom demand generation campaigns that are tailored to each client’s unique needs. Under our traditional model, the process of building a website looks like this:
Our brand strategist creates a visibility strategy
Our SEO specialists conduct keyword research
A content marketing plan is created and discussed with the client
SEO experts create “wireframes” or outlines for the content writers
Content writers produce the content
The project is sent to web developers, who take care of the visual elements of the website, such as the layout and design, and build the site using coding languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
The final product is reviewed by our team and the client, and necessary changes are made before launching the site
We then perform a quality control revision, get approval from the client, and launch the site
Once the site is launched, SEO specialists configure it for technical and on-page SEO
Duration: 3-4 months
Team size: 6
Under our AI model, the process is more streamlined and efficient:
Our AI strategist builds a chat persona for the brand
Our brand strategist creates a visibility strategy
Our SEO specialists conduct keyword research
The chat persona is used to generate a holistic content marketing plan, which includes everything the brand needs
AI content writers produce the content and our writers review it
Once the content is approved by the client, the project is ready for the AI website
AI web developers take care of the visual elements of the website, such as the layout and design, and build the site using coding languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
The final product is reviewed by our team and the client, and necessary changes are made before launching the site
We then perform a quality control revision, get approval from the client, and launch the site
Once the site is launched, SEO specialists configure it for technical and on-page SEO.
Duration: 1-2 months
Team size: 2-3
Our AI tools can assist with tasks like generating outlines and producing content, allowing our team to focus on the more creative aspects of website building, such as design and strategy. This approach not only saves time and resources but also delivers results that are just as effective as our traditional model.
With 50Fifty AI Branding & Website, we’ve taken our commitment to providing customized solutions to the next level. Our AI algorithms analyze user behavior and optimize website design to create a unique and user-friendly website that delivers results. And our team of web developers and designers work alongside our AI tools to provide the best of both worlds – efficient, AI-driven development with a human touch for SEO and Lead Generation Strategies.
AI Marketing Allows Us To Do More Events In Our Community
As the founder of Marketing for Greatness, I’ve been hosting business networking events in Austin for the past six years, and they’ve all been sold out! With our AI marketing services, our agency can be more efficient, and I get to work on my passion: connecting people!
Event marketing is a great fit for clients who want to see how customers interact with their products or services. Whether you’re a restaurant, or medical office, or you provide beauty services, home improvement services, or anything in between, we can create a tailored experience that engages with your target audience.
So if you’re looking to create a buzz around your brand and drive engagement with your target audience, let’s have a conversation. Let us help you take your marketing efforts to the next level and create a truly unique experience for your customers.
Whether you’ve just purchased your very first Planning My Greatness guide, or you are an entrepreneur looking to see if Planning My Greatness is right for you, you are likely focused on the goal of scaling your business and building a strong client base. As a new or veteran business leader, your dreams and aspirations are only as strong as the clients who you draw in to experience what you have to offer!
If you are ready to supercharge your clientele and discover new ways to engage your marketplace, the Planning My Greatness planner is the daily action planner you need in your toolbox.
In this post, we will break down how the Planning My Greatness planner works, and how you can use this unique paper planner to say goodbye to social media marketing and content marketing overwhelm and hello multiple $100,000’s in revenue.
Planning My Greatness – Online Marketing Strategy Done For You
The Planning My Greatness planner is more than your average business tool. Each page of this paper business planner is built with intentional, step-by-step guides that will inspire you to dream, plan, and launch the business that you want to lead.
Implementation begins with inspiration. That is why Planning My Greatness begins with an inventory that allows you to put into words the passion and purpose behind your business venture. Through a series of guided prompts, you will have the opportunity to put pen (or pencil!) to paper and remind yourself why you set out to bring your dreams to life!
Every Planning My Greatness planner comes with a full, blank calendar that is undated – perfect for picking up and starting at any time of the year! With multiple cover styles available, you’ll find a version that fits your unique style.
The next step is to customize the calendar with your business’s specific goals, metrics, client information – whatever details you need to help you beat your deadlines and achieve your goals!
Your 30-60-90 Day Plan To Get More Clients
Planning My Greatness is the perfect tool to supercharge your client base in as little as 90 days. Based on the proven method of developing “sprints” in your goal-setting strategies, each step of the planner is built to create a 30-60-90 day plan for discovering and landing the best clients for your business.
In five steps, the strategic section of Planning My Greatness will take you from dreaming to goal-setting to client success faster than you could imagine!
Be sure to complete this session before even customizing your calendar. In this way your daily tasks will be intentionally integrated with your 30-60-90 plan.
Step 1: Take An Inventory of Your Success & Failures
The first step in the process is to take an inventory of your client building successes and failures. Yup – even the failures!
While it can be exciting and inspiring to focus on the ways that you have been successful in building high-quality client relationships, many of the greatest insights and lessons you can learn in your entrepreneurial journey come from your biggest mistakes and missteps.
Planning My Greatness begins with an inventory page that walks you through the process of answering important questions that will help you understand what kind of client you are looking for, and what type of customer may not be worth your limited time and resources.
The goal is to begin to become aware of your goals, and remind yourself of what – and who – you originally set out to build your business for! When you understand your perfect client, you can begin to laser-focus on the best ones! You will be able to create a social media content calendar that truly focuses on driving leads and conversions.
But how exactly can you strategize to attract your perfect client?
Step 2: Create Your Customer Avatar or Customer Persona
Once you’ve completed your inventory, you will have a better idea as to the kind of client that best fits your business. To help you develop the perfect client, you will create your “Customer Avatar”.
Imagine the client that you absolutely love working with. The kind of client that fills you with passion and reminds you of why you started your business. That is your Customer Avatar (or Customer Persona) – a well-defined picture of the best possible client you could find.
Planning My Greatness walks you through the creation of your Customer Avatar, helping you discover and define the traits and characteristics that make a great client for your product and service. With insightful avatar questions and worksheets, Planning My Greatness allows you to hone in on the persona that you are looking for in a high-quality client. With your Customer Avatar defined and in-hand, you are ready to start building your prospecting list!
Step 3: Develop Your Client Prospecting List
Once you know your perfect client, it’s time to go find them!
Now, obviously there are likely very few perfect clients, but there are far more low-hanging fruit out there in the marketplace than you may expect! Planning My Greatness will guide you through a prospect list creation process that will help you create a list of high-priority potential clients you can start contacting right now. You will find tips included such as:
What is a low-hanging fruit client in the business world? Low hanging fruit meaning in business.
Why you shouldn’t pitch your business to your friends and family.
How to leverage your sphere of influence to get introductions to your avatars.
Tips on building a high-quality prospecting list.
Step 4: Cold Marketing Techniques
With your client list in hand, the real work begins. It’s time to take a step of courage and begin marketing your brand to the world!
A cold marketing activity is referred to any communication sent without prior permission from or contact with the recipient.
If you hate spam and knocking doors, fortunately, you aren’t alone in this endeavor.
To help you start reaching the most qualified and valuable clients as determined by your Client Avatar, Planning My Greatness will help you find the most effective ways to start cold marketing (and market successfully). From drawing in potential client traffic through events, freebies, and paid ads to building and promoting informative content such as blogs and webinars, there is no limit to how creative you can get with your cold marketing.
By combining these proven marketing techniques with the Planning My Greatness 30-60-90 framework and trackers, you will develop a marketing strategy for reaching high-quality clients across the spectrum of marketing outlets.
Simply pick three to five marketing activities, and use the built-in trackers in the planner to start creating, implementing, and launching your brand into the world. Keep your Client Avatar in the center of your focus, and in no time your targeted methods will begin to draw more clients than you could ever expect.
Step 5: Connect With Your Inner Child
While online marketing may be overwhelming, Planning My Greatness is a surefire way to build your brand while having a blast. When it comes to creating ideas for your content marketing and promotion, don’t be afraid to tap into your inner child to come up with the industry’s next big idea!
Ask yourself: if my brand had the chance to advertise on millions of television screens during the Super Bowl, what kind of amazing, fun, and creative ideas would I dream up? Choose your wildest idea, and give it a shot!
The Planning My Greatness planner is one of the best ways to bring out your creative side – allowing you to get over the hump of fear and step into what the world of entrepreneurship has to offer. Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet, and if you slip and fall – cannonball into the business waters with style!
The purpose of Planning My Greatness is to reduce social media overwhelm, add clarity, and inspiration to create content that grows your business so it doesn’t feel like work- ever!
I take that you’re either about to take a step into something new, or you just want to elevate your game plan. Either way, you’re up to making an impact with your brand and this is exactly what this article is about!
I will tell you why you should be happy you’re getting this ultimate marketing strategy, along with practical tips so you can establish brand authority.
You Should Never Rush Into Promoting Your Products Or Services Without A Brand Strategy
In today’s mobile age, reaching potential clients is now easier than ever, but you’re also facing the constant challenge of excess noise with the endless amount of content being served at any given time.
The digital landscape has flipped in ways that marketers could never predict. The pandemic has brought many challenges, especially for micro-brands who mostly rely on word of mouth to generate sales.
So, how will you stand out from the crowd and do it better these days? This takes us to your original topic: authority building.
How To Establish Brand Authority
Well, just in case… let’s cover what is brand authority first.
Brand authority refers to the trust a brand has earned among customers, and the degree to which they see your brand as a subject-matter expert. A variety of factors can influence authority, including robust and compelling content, an active online presence, and engagement over social media.
If this definition makes you even more confused, you’re not alone. As a marketing mentor and brand manager, I hear this ALL THE TIME from my clients and students!
In practical terms, you will build brand authority by doing 2 things:
Stop adding noise.
Turn yourself into an industry leader and market like one.
My New Brand Strategy PDF Is Here
I spent a week crafting this Blueprint, after one of my Inner Circle members asked if I could explain how I was able to work with enterprise clients like Vcita and write for Social Media Examiner.
So … I reversed the process for them, explained the mistakes I made, and wrote the steps I would follow and the shortcuts I would use, if I had the chance to do it all over again.
I realized that many online marketing coaches layout tips and how to’s, but there’s never a precise and clear process, from start to end. You can search “how to build brand authority” and find exactly 8,360 articles with a “plan”.
But that can take hours of research.
Instead…
Save hours of your time.
Brand Strategy From The Stars
Success Tips To Building Your Brand Authority
Focus on one social media platform at a time.
Use events to spread awareness and build connections.
Do some research to find industry gaps. Your role is to fill those gaps adding high-value content.
Create a content marketing strategy followed by a content marketing plan.
A strong brand needs a strong brand development team so your marketing efforts can create the ripple effects that you’ve seen from brands you admire.
My Brand Authority Blueprint covers these success tips, and powerful brand marketing strategies with checklists that will ease your implementation.
The 5 steps to elevating your brand authority.
20 digital must-have digital assets.
Your 90-day launch plan.
How to land speaking engagements, and more…
And there’s a BONUS!
A printable poster for your wall so you can track your 90-day plan!
There’s something special about living in Texas and watching Chip and Joanna Gaines on the HGTV channel, and now on their very own Magnolia Network.
The famous couple from “Fixer Upper” are a success business story that every entrepreneur wants to hear, especially now when businesses have been facing challenges during pandemic times.
If you were looking for marketing conferences to attend online, you just found one!
Spectrum Reach has partnered with entrepreneurs and marketing experts to share key insights and ideas that are helping businesses rebuild. Chip and Joanna Gaines will be one of the speakers, along with the stars of Jersey Shore and Double Shot at Love, Vinny and DJ Pauly D, and the Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer of Spectrum Reach, Michael Guth.
This powerful webinar Rebuild My Town:Texas- Insights and ideas to grow your business, will be on October 14 at 4:00 pm.
We are sharing this invite with our community of entrepreneurs and you should join us!
Why joining Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Webinar for entrepreneurs on October 15?
Reason #1: Entrepreneurs Need A New Path To Success In Today’s Unprecedented Times
Some local businesses have struggled to stay afloat as the economy goes through phased reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Back in April, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that one in four U.S. businesses is two months away from permanently shutting down.
And when it comes to very small businesses, the struggle is bigger. Particularly, those who are operating on small profit margins, since they may not have the cash reserves to weather periods of economic uncertainty and typically have fewer ways to access financing.
A wise man said …
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein
Your entrepreneurial spirit will help you survive during difficult times. You just gotta stay connected with movers and shakers and attend events like this one.
There’s a popular phrase that says “think global, act local.” I’m a big fan of this concept and have successfully implemented it in my business.
When you act local, you get support from like-minded individuals. Your long hours in the famous “hustle” won’t be as stressful when you know that you’ll have others supporting you.
Joining a webinar to meet other entrepreneurs seems like a smart move!
Fixer Upper’s Chip and Joanna Gaines transformed Waco, Texas — and possibly created a template for future stars. Personally, I’m very curious about their talk. They have led the way for business owners by turning a bakery into a destination shopping spot under circumstances where normally, people would say “stay away.”
Certainly, I am looking forward to all the inspiration that this event will bring. So much needed!
BONUS! Special Giveaway!
I just covered 3 reasons why you should register for this wonderful webinar, but … there’s one more!
Attendees will be eligible to win a gift pack of Chip and Jo’s Magnolia Market home items, valued at $500!
You don’t want to miss this event!
It takes 3 seconds to get your spot. So let’s get it done by clicking here or in the image below.
The coronavirus pandemic is emerging as an existential threat to the nation’s small business owners. This is NOT normal. Even when people try to sugarcoat it. We joke and say “the new normal”, but … the banking account is feeling quite the opposite.
Businesses need 2 C’s:
1) Clients 2) Cash
The way you get clients is through getting exposed in front of potential buyers, period.
Success is mathematical, not psychological.
If you don’t go to events, don’t attend conventions, don’t have professional interactions, sooner than later, your pipeline will simply get dry.
This is a real problem.
The solution to get more leads? Virtual prospecting.
The sooner you can learn how to master the process of prospecting online, the better it will be. But wait… prospecting online?
How to prospect for new clients online or how to prospect virtually?
In person events are out of your lead generation equation. This means that you now have to hustle online. Well… welcome to my world.
I realized that my decade of experience in internet marketing, developing new markets using social media marketing and personal brand marketing could add value to many professionals and entrepreneurs.
What are the best prospecting techniques?
Social media marketing, especially Facebook, is at the top of the digital marketing strategies to find new clients online.
I host networking events for our community of Austin Networking for Professional & Entrepreneurs. We are now over 5,000+ local business owners and counting. As a social media educator, I decided to host online events to provide connections and discuss resources for those who wanted to accelerate their online networking skills. Those events were the inspiration for my book.
How do you reach prospects online?
Finding, reaching, and discovering sales opportunities online can be intimidating. Add to that the urgency and anxiety from a pandemic and you have the perfect storm!
The key to reach out to prospects online is in your personal brand. Without it, you are at risk to be considered a spammer. … You can’t risk your first impression … especially online!
Personal Brand Marketing
Personal branding refers to the practice of marketing and packaging yourself, your career, and your experience as a brand.
What’s your personal brand about? It’s about YOU! People buy YOU before they get interested in your products or services.
My Book on Personal Brand Marketing
My book reached #1 best-seller in 2 categories: Web Marketing and Internet Marketing and I’m just amazed!
What’s in the book?
Part 1: The Essentials of Social Media- Solopreneurs spend many hours of the day, working on marketing tasks, that come randomly, and most of the time, as a distraction. Learning the fundamentals of building a social media marketing strategy is the key to growing a business, along with strategies followed by amazing brands like Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, and Kendra Scott. You will be inspired to build a community of loyal customers, to stop competing based solely on price, and to grow your business.
Part 2: A Guide to Personal Branding- Here’s where you’ll get the- A 1-page blueprint to building a personal brand that builds a long-lasting first impression and ignites revenue. This is what thriving brands are doing in the digital economy. What if you are a brick and mortar business? Do you need to follow personal branding strategies? Absolutely! Humanizing your brand is the ultimate secret to survive the retail apocalypse.
Part 3: How to Write So They Listen- You will learn the psychology behind crafting content that moves your audience to action and learn why writing is not just about sharing pretty words.
Part 4: A Full Year of Copy For Social Media Marketing- You’ll have everything you need to simply plug n’ play your profitable content marketing plan. These are not just ideas to post. You will get detailed campaigns with strategies and templates.
Part 5: Social Visibility- You’ll get the Social Visibility Blueprint to turn your social media marketing into your salesforce. My promise with Your Visibility Blueprint is to eliminate the overwhelm from social media marketing. I want to provide you with a blueprint to ignite visibility, so you can build the business you love, and have the life you deserve. Most likely, you’re a purpose-driven business owner like me; I take my mission to activate your greatness very seriously!
BONUS: Along with this book, you will unlock access to amazing resources, such as:
* A complimentary Forensic Marketing Audit (Value $500+)
* Editable Visibility Workbook to plan your content like a pro (Value $47)
* Special price in our Marketing For Greatness Courses (save up to 80%)
* The Marketing For Greatness Network. Connect with other solopreneurs and participate in life-changing conversations.
If there were a clear, actionable way to boost your personal brand using social media WITHOUT turning yourself into the embarrassing “I am the influencer” style… Or even better … BENCHMARKING your growth so you see where your revenue is at. … Would you feel motivated to market your amazing products or services? You see: you’re willing to put in the work. If you read my book you’ll find a lot of practical advice to implement personal brand marketing the right way!
If you’re a business owner, no matter if it’s small or big, you crave 1 thing: brand loyalty. A strong brand loyalty transfers into repeated customers who buy your products or services, regardless of changes in price or convenience.
Brand loyalty isn’t about likes and followers. You can’t deposit likes in your banking account! So we need to make sure your marketing & sales efforts translate into steady cash flow and profit, of course. Make no mistake, your focus needs to be on building a strong brand, followed by developing brand loyalty.
Does that make sense?
If so, experiential marketing should be part of your next marketing strategy. What is experiential marketing and how can you start running some experiential marketing campaigns? Keep reading, because I’m covering it all.
What Is Considered A Strong Brand
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos defined brand very simply as “what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Seth Godin, a popular entrepreneur and blogger, gives a longer definition:
“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter, or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection, or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.”
Your brand gets represented through in pretty much everything that your business does on a regular basis, including the following four areas:
> Visual Brand Identity, such as your logo, website, and color scheme
> Brand Voice, such as your blog posts, mission statement, social content, and website copy
> Brand Values, such as the types of causes your company supports
> Brand Personality, such as your company’s culture and customer service philosophy
The path to build a strong brand doesn’t need to be complicated. Many marketers make the mistake of narrowing their efforts to customer acquisition. If this has been your approach, you’re doing exactly what your competitor is doing. How can you stand out?
The way you overcome this obstacle is simple. Build something money or products can’t get you: a genuine connection with your customers, or community.
A strong brand is a result of connection and community. You can have the most beautiful website or write the perfect sales page, but you won’t build a strong brand or reach your revenue goals effortlessly until you build a strong connection and community.
Kendra Scott – A Strong Brand Example
When I think of a strong brand, I like to think about Kendra Scott, for example. If you know of her jewelry, chances are you know about her story. How she went from a $500 project in the spare bedroom of her home to a billion dollar fashion brand loved globally.
If you have visited one of her stores, chances are that you have a memorable experience.
And just in case you still haven’t heard about Kendra, let me give you some context. She’s one of the top America’s richest self-made women and she ranked higher than Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Donna Karan and Diane Von Furstenberg. It’s amazing when you think that beading classes and $500 we all she needed to start a business.
There’s a reason why Kendra Scott’s locations are flourishing in the middle of the retailpocalypse. She’s been able to create a connection and a strong community, using experiential marketing.
What Is Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing, also called “engagement marketing,” is a marketing strategy that invites an audience to interact with a business in a real-world situation. Using participatory, hands-on, and tangible branding material, the business can show its customers not just what the company offers, but what it stands for. Source: Hubspot.
Experiential marketing is all about facilitating consumer interaction so they can have a brand experience. And this can be achieved when consumers can meaningfully connect with your brand, and, of course, can also meet and mingle with each other.
Let’s not forget the 2 important elements of a strong brand that lead to brand loyalty: meaningful connections and community.
Here are some of the experiential marketing examples:
✔️Classes or workshops
✔️Product testing or tasting
✔️Factory or headquarter tours
✔️Giveaways and competitions
✔️One-time phenomenon like street art, installations, pop-up concerts, and even pranks.
How To Build Successful Experiential Marketing Strategy
In order to have success in your experiential marketing efforts, you need to see it as a strategy, not a tactic.
The terms tactic and strategy are often confused: tactics are the actual means used to gain an objective, while strategy is the overall campaign plan, which may involve complex operational patterns, activity, and decision-making that govern tactical execution.
A tactic is something you do a few times, but there is no repeatable system that can be duplicated. A strategy consists of a series of steps, all connected, aligned with a main goal, that can be duplicated.
Now let’s discuss the key elements for a successful experiential marketing strategy.
Design Your Experience
How do people feel about our brand? is a fundamental question that every product or service creator must answer.
Without getting too technical, there are some basic UX principles that can be applied in order to plan your experiential marketing strategy more efficiently.
User journey mapping is an excellent exercise that can shed light on that. User journey map is a visualization of an individual’s relationships with a product/brand over time and across different stages of their journey.
Below is a map of the user experience journey that we designed to enhance the experience of our Networking Events for our Austin Networking Community.
Our map traced the different stages of the users, from their first contact with our community, all the way up to brand loyalty. Then, on each step, we map the user’s mindset and identify opportunities to make a better experience for them.
Make sure you keep your map visible so you build your experiential marketing strategy according to your design.
Purpose Driven Instead Of Revenue Driven
Have you been invited you to a party and you ended at a business presentation? This is exactly what not to do!
When you’re opening your doors to receive people, you can’t do it with the sole idea of turning everyone into a client. Your goal is to build connections.
A connection can give you introductions, ideas, and can also turn into a client. But don’t just focus on the third one.
The most successful experiential marketing campaigns leave attendees with a great story to tell.
Kendra’s brand leverage charity events to bring their customers together at their location.
Take a look at their invitation and note how their message is all about giving back. This makes consumers coming for a reason beyond than buying an accessory they want.
If you adopt a purpose-driven strategy instead of a revenue-driven, you will be able to serve others, have fun, and create a much pleasant experience. Just trust the process. You are building your brand. Users will help you build revenue. It will happen!
Narrow Audience Over Broad Audience
Since you will bring people together, you want to think about an audience that actually blends well.
Think about their interests, behaviors, demographics, and location.
Facebook Ads are a great resource to find your target audience. Using the saved audience feature, you can target your audience. However, you don’t always need ads to find your target audience.
Let’s explore briefly the 4 categories:
Interests: People’s hobbies, favorite activities, and favorite sources of entertainment. For example, if you’re hosting a beer festival, you might include people who list beer brands in their interests.
Behaviors: Device usage and purchase behaviors. If you’re hosting a tech conference, you might target people who have the latest models of devices or complex purchasing behaviors.
Demographics: Traits like age, gender, relationship status, education, and job titles. A leadership workshop might want to target individuals who have “manager” or “director” in their job title.
Location: Where people live (for example, your event’s city or neighboring cities). If you host an event in Austin, you can easily target anyone in the Austin city + 25 miles around it.
Research! Don’t just rely on what you believe. Take some time to research the audience. One of my favorite tools for audience research is Facebook Audience Insights.
How to use Audience Insights to find your target audience, free?
Let’s say you want to attract women who are into holistic health from ages 25-40 who live in Texas.
Using Audience Insights you will be able to see the communities or pages they already like. Take your time to explore each of these recommendations. You will be able to get an idea of the kind of experience this audience is used to.
Audience Insights also reveals your audience’s digital behavior. How do they consume digital content, what things they like, comment, and share.
Knowing their behavior will allow you to make smarter decisions of what channels to use and even the format of content you should create to get their attention.
Narrow Your Channels
You don’t need to have a campaign all over social media. The more channels you have, the harder it will be to create meaningful connections.
In other words: less is more.
I’ve been hosting networking events for professionals & entrepreneurs of Austin for over 2 years now. Our key channel is our Facebook Group. We build meaningful connections and invite our members. We get sold out 100% and it’s all organic.
If you notice our experience journey map below, we only planned to use 4 channels to attract users: Facebook Group, Facebook Ads LinkedIn, Eventbrite.
As a matter of fact, we haven’t needed any Facebook Ads at all.
Take the time to identify which of your current channels can bring you more opportunities.
The best efforts are those who can be implemented effortlessly.
Always Lead With Authenticity
The more virtual our lives get, the more we hunger after something genuine.
Gone are the days when you could succeed with flashing big checks, luxury cars, and a picture-perfect lifestyle.
Simply put, being authentic means staying true to who you are, what you do and who you serve. In an environment in which more human elements matter it creates value and benefits for your connections as well as improving your business.
Authenticity works because…
It elevates your business above the competition
It builds your identity and image into something influential
It gives substance to your business, services and products
It enables people to relate to your business
It helps people understand how what you offer is of benefit to them
It tells people that what you offer is of high quality
It marks you out as a reliable, trustworthy company
It encourages engagement and can turn audiences into advocates
When you lead with authenticity, you will find that your users will feel free to take your brand as it belongs to them. They feel connected. It’s because they are part of it.
Kendra Scott now opened a Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute. Make no mistake, this has been possible because of her strong community. It goes beyond a product. It’s a mission that every Kendra’s jewelry user feels like it belongs to them.
To Recap
You will design an experiential marketing strategy because you want to develop a strong brand and brand loyalty. You want acommunity.
Some of the experiential marketing activities can be:
✔️Classes or workshops
✔️Product testing or tasting
✔️Factory or headquarter tours
✔️Giveaways and competitions
✔️One-time phenomenon like street art, installations, pop-up concerts, and even pranks.
The first step to a successful experiential marketing strategy is design. Start with a basic user experience journey map so you can craft the user experience with all the details in mind.
I hope you get inspired to adopt experiential marketing to build your brand. It’s one of my favorite strategies.
Just in case you want to learn more about me, here’s part of my BIO.
Jessica Campos, JD, BBA is an educator, author, forensic digital marketing expert & strategist who is passionate about UX. She traded in her law career in order to pursue her passion: helping entrepreneurs build wealth by taking advantage of the thriving content economy.
Jessica‘s 15+ years of experience in entrepreneurship, background in law and business, tracked online sales record, and her network, represent a wealth of resources for professionals and entrepreneurs that want to attain success.
Want to discuss your future experience marketing strategy?
If you’re here, chances are you want to be recognized for your expertise and want to stand out from the crowd. Perhaps you’re looking to starting a business and can benefit from branding tops. Or maybe you have a full-time job and want to become an independent consultant. Or, you are a business owner already but you feel like you should be making money online.
There’s a lot of information out there on how to start an online business which is why it’s so important to develop your personal brand and why reputation and expertise should be part of your marketing strategy to attracting your target audience.
If you’ve been plugging away and haven’t experienced much growth and are 100% clear on your value and what you offer to your clients, we’re here to give you a blueprint that will catapult your personal brand strategy.
Whether you’re just starting to build your personal brand, or you’re looking for tips on how to improve your personal brand, you’ve come to the right place.
What is personal branding?
Successful personal branding is the art of promoting yourself and highlighting at least one core skill that you want to be recognized for. Examples of personal branding are everywhere in mainstream media. Oprah is the epitome of personal branding. She’s made iterations of her personal brand throughout the years. She’s now one of the most influential thought leaders in the world. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon defined what a personal brand is as “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Therefore, personal branding is an art that anyone can apply to their life and work. If you’re up to boost your career, now you know!
Personal branding has very little to do with colors and graphic design, as most people confuse. Personal branding is the result of a series of elements that form your identity (your brand). Think about branding as the verb of adding elements to a brand. Like painting a building versus building it.
How does one create a personal brand?
1) Define your niche.
Let’s say you want to start a consulting practice and your potential clients are within the medical industry. Your focus will be on promoting YOU, which for some, might feel a tad bit uncomfortable. For this reason, I recommend starting with shining the light on your accomplishments and accolades.
Sit down, grab a pen, your favorite journal and answer these questions as in-depth as you can:
1. What is my area of expertise?
2. What do people compliment me on all the time?
3. Which projects have others had to help me with repeatedly?
4. What motivates me to get up and get moving?
5. Which roles seem to drain my energy?
6. Which projects can I spend hours on without feeling overwhelmed or tired?
7. What are topics I could talk about all day?
Once you’re done, walk away and take a break. Your brain will process everything you’ve put down on paper and do its magic. In no time at all, you will be able to review everything you wrote down with a fresh outlook.
2) Claim your authority.
In today’s world of constant distractions, most professionals and entrepreneurs struggle to get their marketing messages heard. We’ve been told time and time again to not brag, not to sound arrogant, and the truth is— we care way too much about what other people think about us. This is why claiming our authority can feel like a huge challenge for some of us.
If you are committed to develop and grow your personal brand, you must ask yourself this one question, “How can I stand out from the crowd?”
Take Charlie Epstein, CEO of Epstein Financial Services in Holyoke, Massachusetts. There was so much competition in his field, so rather than simply trying to win a deal, Epstein wrote Paychecks for Life and tripled the size of his business. Essentially what he did was create authority. He became an expert in his field which inspired confidence in people who eventually helped grow his business by becoming his clients.
I’m not saying you have to write and publish a best-selling book in order to build your personal brand. What I am saying, is that establishing your expertise and claiming your authority will help better prepare and develop your personal brand.
Here are some questions that can guide you in discovering what you’re an expert in:
1. Who is my target audience?
2. What information do I know that they don’t know?
3. What are the specific skills I can teach them?
4. Out of my talents and skills which do people need the most?
5. What will people pay big money for?
6. What problem(s) can I solve?
What you’ll begin to see is a clear understanding of the problem you are solving for someone, You’ll be able to see how you evaluate and develop a set of criteria for when new leads come to your business.
In doing so, you start to move away from being all things to all people, and into an expert or authority in your specific industry. I can’t stress enough how important it is that you go through this process when developing your personal brand.
3) Your voice and tone
Most people focus solely on the visual aspect of their personal brand. However, THE most important element is: voice and tone. It’s not about what you say, it’s about how you say it. Your personal brand’s tone of voice will inform all of it’s written copy, which includes website, emails, social media, and overall packaging.
Tone and voice is what sets you apart from the crowd. You want people to recognize your voice as distinct and unique.
Here are a few questions to get you clearer on the type of tone and voice of your personal brand:
1. Do I want people to perceive me as serious, casual, or high energy?
2. Do I want to speak more to women or am I neutral to gender?
3. Will I be discussing political topics or will I stay away from them?
4. Will I be bringing spirituality into my content?
5. Is my tone formal or informal?
6. Do I share my personal side or am I strictly business?
There’s no right or wrong to these questions. The beautiful thing about having a personal brand is that YOU get to decide! It’s your brand, your voice, your message. The last thing you want is to sound like a second-rate version of another brand. This is your time to shine and uniquely you and still get your message across to your target audience.
4) Check your online presence
If you already have a quite a bit of content out there, now is the time to do an Internet audit of everything under your personal brand. If you’re starting from scratch, it’ll be easier because you would have determined much of the content, tone, and voice and start building on solid foundation.
Be sure to conduct a thorough sweep of these channels:
✔️Your Linkedin profile
✔️Your Facebook profile
✔️Reviews
✔️Youtube
✔️Google your name
Assess how your brand is showing up online. Update any incorrect information, polish up your platforms, and remove anything that is no longer aligned with the brand you want to build.
Your personal branding action plan
Now that you have these four steps, the next step is your personal branding action plan.
Let me ask you this. Be honest with me.
Is developing your personal brand urgent for you?
If it is, great! I have a Personal Branding Guide that you can get started on today.
And if it’s not that urgent for you, I highly suggest that you get this guide, and keep it for future use. What I’ve learned over the years having worked thousands of people just like you, is that getting the information is just as valuable as starting the project. Everyone learns differently.
Take advantage of the guide which will walk you through the next phase of your personal branding journey.
The hardest part of building your personal brand is your mindset! Once you are ready, a marketing consultant that focuses on personal branding will put this plan for you in a few hours. It takes me typically a day to create a personal branding guide, and if you’re ready to work with me on implementing your personal brand, take the first step and get your guide below.
Now I’m turning the conversation over to you! Looking forward to hearing your feedback!
