The Importance of Your Personal Brand

The Importance of Your Personal Brand

The-Importance-of-Your-Personal-Brand

If you are the owner or founder of an SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) or are the person responsible for sales or business development in any size organization then your reputation – your personal brand is paramount in your personal success and the success of your organization.

‘Brands are like people’ is an analogy often used to describe the companies they represent.

Virgin is the brand built by Richard Branson and the two are hard to separate. Consumers buy into the personality of the founder and what it represents and promises.

In many cases however ‘brands are people’ – every celebrity is a brand, from Oprah to Dr.Phil, to rock stars and actors to sports people like Beckham.

Business brands take on or communicate the values of their founders. This is especially true for start-ups and new businesses, professional services firms where the names of the founding partners make up the brand names. Although this is not the best way to brand your services business this is still the dominant reality for many.

So the brands are designed and communicated by people. People, especially in services industry is who we all buy from! So it makes sense that ‘these people’ have an optimal representation of who they are and what makes them special in the place where it matters most, the place where positive perceptions are formed – online!

Your online identity and representation is made of your online assets:

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Blog / Website
  • YouTube Channel, etc

The most important of these in the SME (B2B & Professional Services) is LinkedIn, and we’ll cover this next.


For a Free and No Obligation Discussion about your specific needs contact us today.

Linkedin is the Greatest Personal Branding, PR and Business Development Tool Ever!

Linkedin is the Greatest Personal Branding, PR and Business Development Tool Ever!

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LinkedIn, is the most exciting of all social media and one that is not being used to anywhere near its potential by 95% of users.

In fact it is the greatest Personal Branding, PR and Business Development Tool for B2B and Professional Services since…EVER!

With LinkedIn you can:

  1. Take control and promote your personal and company brand
  2. Promote all of your online marketing assets from one central location
  3. Be proactive in the way you network
  4. Headhunt, recruit and be headhunted
  5. Develop new business and maintain / improve existing relationships, generate leads and accelerate sales
  6. Advertise – reach an exclusive, well educated and highest income demographic online, with laser sharp accuracy
  7. Ask for advice, the ultimate in ‘crowdsourcing’ from those best qualified professionals
  8. Find experts and partners
  9. Increase your personal productivity
  10. Conduct extensive research on industry trends, consumer opinions, companies and individuals
  11. Conduct reference checks

and much more!


 

For a Free and No Obligation Discussion about your specific needs contact us today.

9 Ways of Overcoming getting LinkedOut when using LinkedIn

9 Ways of Overcoming getting LinkedOut when using LinkedIn

9-Ways-of-Overcoming-getting-LinkedOut-when-using-LinkedIn

From a Marketing Consultant’s Perspective…

Yesterday I read possibly the best and worst article about LinkedIn.

Here is the article that made me so happy and then half way through as frustrated as I ever get. So in today’s world where Content Marketing is king, and Inbound Marketing rules, what’s one to do but take to the keyboard and vent one’s disappointment? Well that’s only a part of it, as a marketing consultant and one that also provides LinkedIn training to clients, I know that I have to deliver some solutions to our valued clients, prospects and colleagues.

In summary, the first half of the article promotes all of the amazing benefits that can be gained by correctly using LinkedIn. However the reasons given by the author as to the prospective “decline” of the medium are more of an indication to the author’s own lack of strategy to deal with the so called “information overload”.

On the other hand, assuming that there is a slight possibility that the author’s predictions turn out to be correct and people begin to leave LinkedIn for greener social media pastures, this will actually mean that those that are left and are truly using this social medium correctly to their own advantage, will have an easier time of it!

Here are the 9 problems mentioned in the article and my recommendations on how to best overcome them, after all problems are just challenges that have not been solved satisfactorily!

Problem 1: The dinosaurs have arrived in droves

• Late adopters are joining
• They won’t last as they have no idea of what to do

Solution 1

How exactly does this pose a problem I am not sure!

• There are plenty of users who value LinkedIn and use it correctly
• Dinosaurs who use faxes and rely on their PA’s will as dinosaurs tend to do, die out. They are probably not the type of people YOU should be targeting or networking with anyway.

 

Problem 2: Information Overload

• Too much going on, profile changes, updates, group notifications, etc

Solution 2

• There are simple technical things you can do to control what you see on your Home page
• There is a way to control how often you get your Group Digest if at all!
• Most importantly you need a strategy as well as discipline that will provide focus of what you should pay attention to and what to ignore. It is no different to managing your email, which by the way most of us could improve tenfold!

 

Problem 3: Quality of information in many areas is poor and incorrect

• user generated content is LinkedIn’s best friend and enemy

Solution 3

• That can be said about Social Media in general
• Again becoming more astute about what to read and how to do your ‘due diligence’ on the validity of content is something that I have no doubt will be a growing area of education for marketers, journalists, students and consumers in general! Welcome to the new world!

 

Problem 4: Groups are poor

• Self-promotion, useless posts, and ‘quick hit’ requests are common, ie: “I’m selling this – want one?”
• the author even suggests turning off group notifications

Solution 4

• True, many groups can be poor, some are not with very strict posting guidelines that are policed
• Don’t join 50 groups as the author rightly observes some tend to do
• Take the online etiquette / law into your own hands and “flag” discussions as inappropriate and they will be removed!
• As the author suggested ‘one’ solution himself, I don’t know why this was raised as a problem in the first place. My feeling is that “negative controversial headlines like “LinkedIn is becoming LinkedOut” was an exercise in PR and why not! It was successful!

 

Problem 5: News Updates

• The news feed is clogged up with 95% of jargon, irrelevant rants, promotional messages, rehashed articles, and recruiters posting the same jobs day in day out!
• There’s a lack of original thought or opinion

Solution 5

• Again I see no problem but a massive opportunity for those that have something to say that is worthwhile and can deliver their opinion in an engaging way! By being original and adding value to your network it will be easier to stand out in the “sea of sameness”!
• Firstly there’s a technical solution to decreasing the type of information you deem to be of no value
• You can also remove the offenders – that is dis-connect from them! and if you want to stay connected but don’t want to see their updates on your home page, you can click Hide when you move your cursor over the update.

 

Problem 6: User profiles BEWARE!

• “There’s an ex-employee who has a warrant outstanding for his arrest and yet he has a glowing profile”.
• Recommendations are biased.
• Genuine people remain without a competitive advantage. The liars look just as good.

Solution 6

• Actually quiet to the contrary I have read somewhere, I’m sure that someone in the recruitment industry who is a true professional will find this, that people in general tend to NOT “fib” on their LinkedIn profile as they would on their resume! After all the chance of “getting found out is a lot higher on social media”. Just a few weeks ago I met someone who was silly enough to make themselves out to be so much more important than they were! When I examined their LinkedIn profile I realised that they straight out lied about their level of seniority at a major corporate entity!
• Additionally the ability to see who this person in question has a ‘connection in common’ with me, allowed me to get feedback about them that I would have otherwise never received as I wouldn’t have even known who we have in common in the first place!
• LinkedIn RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE BIASED but you also have to know HOW to read between the lines. It is only human to give a recommendation back when the person asks, and other times you have to do it for political reasons. This is the process I follow:
1) I refuse to give recommendations to people who’s work I have not experienced or am not sure about.
2) If I really have to recommend them I will never recommend their technical skills but talk about attitude and make the recommendation very general – nice guy! Like I said read between the lines! Good recruiters do!
• Finally, “genuine people”, by which I hope the author means people who have the best skills, will always have a competitive advantage if they firstly know themselves well enough to know what makes them unique (Branding 101) and can then eloquently communicate their point of difference! “Genuine people” who are talented, hard working and positive will always have more Recommendations than those trying to cover up with “smoke and mirrors”. An incompetent idiot is unlikely to get 20+ people recommending them! Keep in mind that Recommendations are like Testimonials, no-one ever puts a bad one on their website, however we all know that Testimonials still work and it is better to have more than less, when it comes to building credibility!

 

Problem 7: People shared in common aren’t so common and I am losing faith

• People don’t help random people just because you’re a LinkedIn connection.

Solution 7

• Yes they do!!! And if you want to know why, please connect to me! I know, blatant self promotion, but as all good content marketers know I needed an “in text call to action”!
• Ok, although I was serious, when I said connect to me, I will give away some more free advice! make sure that when you connect to someone you can actually become memorable by adding value to them right there and then! I have done it 3 times this week. Yes it can be labour intensive, but ask yourself why you are here on LinkedIn – to connect or network and networking is all about building relationships.
• Here’s a major clue about what I mean; make sure you ask for and accept introductions in a way that will add value and leave a positive perception with your new connection!

 

Problem 8: Diminishing value of connections

• It’s simply too easy to connect and this damages the value for everyone.
• LinkedIn should cap the number of connections and charge to connect. All of a sudden, users would think twice before connecting.

Solutions 8

• I just don’t see it…maybe the author can explain to me, I will invite him to comment on this! 🙂

 

Problem 9: Recruiters will lose their competitive edge as more sign up for LinkedIn Recruiter

• Being on LinkedIn was more of an advantage a few years ago than now!

Solution 9

• We should all know that technology in today’s day and age is unlikely to provide you with a sustainable competitive advantage. Relationships with customers and prospects will!
• Technology will not make you a better listener or problem solver.
• Technology will not assist you in communicating with prospects so as to change what they think and feel about you and your organisation! That’s up to you and your marketing consultant, unfortunately if you can not afford one, one will not be appointed to you, although I am sure that most marketing consultants would love this idea in our common battle to eradicate bad business communication!
• There are so many problems (let’s be positive, I should say opportunities) most recruiters face when it comes to developing their brand and marketing in general, let alone using LinkedIn in a way that is optimal, I don’t even know where to start, but here is a link to a very detailed blog I wrote on the topic.


For a Free and No Obligation Discussion about your specific needs contact us today.

Your network is your biggest asset and LinkedIn is the way to demonstrate your personal branding

Your network is your biggest asset and LinkedIn is the way to demonstrate your personal branding

Your-network-is-your-biggest-asset

There are not many certainties in the world today, but here are 3 we can examine and show you how LinkedIn can assist you in benefitting from each:

1. The world has changed and the change of pace will keep accelerating.

Whether there will be another financial crisis or not and how big it will be is not something any of us can predict or control, but jobs will keep being lost; outsourcing, offshoring, resources will keep flowing to where the return on investment is the greatest. Whether it is job vacancies or business opportunities you will have to work harder and smarter to stand out and differentiate yourself from a greater number of competitors all trying to get a smaller share of the pie.

So, who can you rely on when times get tough?
You! And the equity in you; your personal brand. LinkedIn is the perfect personal branding and publicity tool.

LinkedIn, is a way that you can communicate to the world

  1. What you know, your experience and expertise, knowledge and the benefits you can deliver to your clients and manage and leverage
  2. Who you know, your trusted network, the people that think you are good
    There’s no point debating which of the two is more important, you need a good dose of both for success.

2. Online Marketing in general and Social Media Marketing specifically, together with the irreversible swing towards inbound marketing means that if your online marketing assets are not optimised and helping you and your business ‘get found’ then you will rapidly be left behind.

When it comes to B2B and professional services, LinkedIn provides the ultimate platform to combine all of your marketing assets, once they have been optimised – no point driving visitors to a leaky boat:

  • Your LinkedIn Profile itself is a great way to be found by prospects and stay top of mind in front of your customers
  • Your Website
  • Your Blog
  • Your YouTube Channel
  • Your Slideshare

3. Everybody in business relies on it, everybody wants it, everybody knows it is the most effective way of attracting customers, yet when it comes to the holy grail of generating referrals very few businesses / salespeople have a have a plan and a process to turn their connections into contracts!

LinkedIn is the perfect Sales Tool for B2B and professional services marketers that allows you to leverage your networks. LinkedIn provides the perfect and simple platform for every step of a typical Referral Process:

  1. Identifying Referrers / Influencers in your Network
  2. Providing customers with a WOW experience (LinkedIn won’t help you there – you need to be great at what you do or deliver exceptional value through your products and services!)
  3. Stay Top of Mind through regular communication that adds value to your customers and prospects
  4. Educate your network how to refer to you
  5. Ask for targeted Referrals and Introductions, rather than ‘asking for referrals blindly’
  6. Recognise and Reward those that refer to you!

Don’t get left out, get LinkedIn.

To learn about our LinkedIn courses check this out.


For a Free and No Obligation Discussion about your specific needs contact us today.

Linked In: It is not how big it is but how you use it!

Linked In: It is not how big it is but how you use it!

october-2013

A fascinating debate recently took place on the pages of Anthill, the summary of which can be described as follows:

  1. Should you aim to get as many connections as possible?
  2. Is Linked In suitable for B2C Marketing or only B2B?

You can find the article and readers responses here:
http://anthillonline.com/so-you-have-300-contacts-on-linkedin-well-im-not-impressed/

Doesn’t the question of how you should connect and with whom all depend on your product or service offering?

Although I see merit in both arguments, I am partial to side with Jen Bishop. Obviously by definition, Linked In is more suitable to B2B, however “all of us” are consumers and now there are 80+ million on there who are a marketer’s dream demographic! Which raises the question of reward v effort and ROI of targeted ads in this medium versus building your personal network…but that’s a whole other debate.

To support Tom’s point, I know of a Marketing Consultant (Self Proclaimed Linked In Guru) who has 17,000+ connections. Although he is undoubtedly a very smart guy who seems to be very successful and have his heart in the right place providing a lot of free education, I do not agree with some of his tactics and “teachings”, in fact I have reported one of his tactics to Linked In as I see them akin to “black hat SEO” …

I digress…the point being he is selling “educational product”, CD’s, Pod/Video Casts, PDF’s etc…The more connections he has the better for his business! In that respect he is doing a great job – satisfying customer demand and making a profit without doing anything wrong!

SO LET”S ALL BE CLEAR ABOUT OBJECTIVES – HORSES FOR COURSES! We should not make sweeping statements but instead spend a little time working on our strategy, value proposition and then worry about evaluating the media channel, it’s advantages and limitations and the process with which you will maintain DIALOGUE in your chosen channel.

Success on Linked In and in fact in all Social Media channels, to be specific VIA NETWORKING & WORD OF MOUTH, NOT ADVERTISING, relies on the principle of leveraging and building your reputation with your existing professional (and personal) connections as well as building new connections that will also hold you in high regard. Now how you will do that is the big challenge and not one of technology but strategy! What will you offer them to make their lives/jobs easy and what do you need to do to attract people to your profile in the first pace?

Many Linked In users damage their reputations because they forget the simple rules of engagement when it comes to interacting with their existing and prospective audience online.

I received two Linked In invitations in as many weeks, from individuals that indicated they were friends and gave no specific reason as to why they wanted to connect with me and used standard “templated” invites. In fact, having searched my electronic databases as well as my “super computer” called the human brain; I could not remember how or where I MAY have met these two people. These two invites were great examples of what not to do on Linked In. This doesn’t mean that these individuals can’t add value to my network or I to theirs. It does mean that I will wait to accept their invitation until such time that they can illustrate the value in connecting with them, and either choose to be more honest or learn how to better use the technology!

My Linked In connection policy is based around either one or both parties being able to POTENTIALLY add value to another. It’s a decision process that most PROFESSIONAL Linked In members should be able to answer in a matter of 30 seconds (in this case deciding whether to connect or not):

  1. Has the person inviting me illustrated a clear reason for doing so?
  2. Is this reason of value to me?
  3. If there was no clear reason stated, they have one last chance. I look at their profile for 20 seconds and decide for myself, read between the lines how connecting with them may benefit either me or them:
    – Are they a potential prospect or referrer for my business?
    – Am I a potential prospect for theirs? Is what they sell so unique (are they a real expert in their field) so as to interest me, even though they may not have given me an initially strong reason to connect.
    – Am I a potential referrer for their business?
  4. Finally, if the answers to most of those are negative, I will not connect with them, as they are likely to fill my inbox and those of my network with useless junk and be a time sucking vampire!

Your CONNECTION policy maybe vastly different, BASED ON YOUR SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES, but the bottom line is you NEED to have one, and the only way to do so is to have a well thought through strategy.


For a Free and No Obligation Discussion about your specific needs contact us today.