Categories
Branding Digital Selling Digital Transformation

Personal Branding: A New Defining Factor in Business

America Runs on Dunkin’.

Just Do It.

Think Different.

These slogans, at first glance, have the power to remind you of which brands carry them. That’s the power of emotional, lasting branding.

Brand building is developing a company’s brand or a specific product or service. It is also about growing brand equity. The goal of branding is to connect with customers on an emotional level and build relationships due to the customer identifying with a particular image or reputation. 

Branding reflects not only who you are as a company but also what you offer and what value and prestige it carries.

But don’t be fooled – in today’s climate, branding isn’t just for businesses and companies anymore. 

As marketing looks to the digital world for innovation and inspiration, professional personal branding has become more critical than ever. And in doing so, brands have become more humanized.

What is Personal Branding?

What is Personal Branding?

What exactly is a personal brand? 

A personal brand has to be something beyond a username and a handle. It starts with your mindset and grows from there. The goal of your personal brand is to integrate your personality, character, and purpose into one coherent message.

A solid personal brand is vital because it helps individuals to stand out in the crowd. It is used to connect with others and help build a support network. A powerful personal brand allows people to recognize, remember, and refer to you more frequently. It’s like having a shortcut built into your name—an easy way for people to access who you are and the type of value you offer.

How to Fine-Tune Your Personal Brand for Success

How to Fine-Tune Your Personal Brand for Success 

#1: Have a Sense of Identity.

It’s hard to stand out as a polished and professional influencer online. Your tone, goals, and message must be clear, concise, and cohesive. Your brand identity establishes trust with followers and clients. Create a clear personal brand identity that represents you personally and professionally.

#2: Where Do You Want to Go?

You can’t be everything to everyone, but if you know your brand and how it can make your business more successful, you can be exactly what people need from someone like you.

When we think about our careers, we tend to focus on the present: what about tomorrow? How does your path fit into the future you want? Do you know what that future looks like?

What if there was a way to see all of this in one place? Understand who you are now and where you want to be tomorrow—and then find out what steps will get you there. That’s exactly what personal branding can do.

#3: Your Audience Matters.

The first step in this process is identifying your target audience. This means that before you even begin writing content for your blog, you should have an idea of who would be interested in reading it.

Who is the audience if you’re working on an article about how to grow a garden from seed? Is it just gardeners? Or is it also people who want to learn more about gardening but aren’t ready yet to commit the time or money?

Who do you want to be seen as? What kind of person are you? How do you want to be seen? The factors that go into answering these questions impact how others see you.

What do you want to say about yourself? Are there certain qualities or skills that are important to showcase? Is there something specific that your audience needs to hear from you?

Who is your target audience? What are their interests, and what do they look for when deciding whether to hire someone? What will make them say “yes”?

Once you know that, you can work toward creating a personal brand that meets their needs and speaks directly to them.

#4: Your Network Can Define You, Too.

Networking is a great way to grow your connections and expand your network of contacts, which can be beneficial for your career. In addition, it allows you to learn about opportunities and share information with others.

Networking can be done in many different ways: at social events, over coffee, or even online through social media sites like LinkedIn or Twitter. You can also connect with people through volunteer groups or online communities focusing on topics that interest you.

Here are some tips for building a robust professional network:

  • Be a good listener—take note of what others are saying, and make sure they feel heard
  • Be inclusive—invite people into conversations instead of talking over them
  • Be genuine—make sure that the relationships you’re forming are genuine and not just surface-level

Don’t take yourself too seriously—it’s okay to joke around once in a while!

Categories
Blog Digital Transformation Social Selling

Is Your Company Ready For Social Selling?

Categories
Blog Digital Transformation Sales

Why Digital Transformation Always Requires A Top-Down Strategy

With so much literature and data supporting the need for digital transformation, it might seem like all modern companies are making the leap. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only 3 percent of CEOs say they’ve successfully completed digital transformations. Why? They might be standing in their own way.

Categories
Blog Digital Transformation Sales Leadership Social Selling

How To Use WhatsApp As Your Vehicle For Sharing Insights With Buyers

shutterstock_693019177

If you have a global sales force, at some point, you’ll encounter WhatsApp in your sales conversations. It’s absolutely the #1 communication platform in markets like Europe, Africa, The Middle East and Asia. 

Categories
Blog Digital Selling Digital Transformation Sales Leadership

What’s a CEO’s Role in Digital Transformation?

With a mecca of digital and social selling tools available to modern sales organizations, many companies are in the midst of a digital transformation. They’re leveraging the power of technology by building a sales and marketing tech stack that empowers efficiencies and drives smarter (and increased) sales.

Categories
Blog Digital Selling Digital Transformation Sales Leadership

Best Practices of the Most Successful Digital Transformation Projects

best-pratices-digital-transformation

If you believe that the world today is a very different place than what it was even four years ago, there’s a new set of hard data to back you up. Businesses all over the globe are struggling to keep pace with an unprecedented rate of change in technology and culture. New research shows that many firms are not satisfied with their attempts so far and that only a few transforming organizations have both measurably improved their performance in the market and were able to hold on to those improvements.

Categories
Blog Digital Transformation Sales Leadership Sales Management

How to Approach Digital Sales with Free Thinking

digital-sales-free-thinkingWe all have leadership expectations to meet, goals to reach, and milestones to achieve. Think you or your buyers and customers are not biased? Think again. It’s baked into us from a young age—check out this post from HubSpot on 26 forms of bias.

Categories
Blog Digital Transformation Enterprise Sales Sales Leadership

6 Digital Practices That Bring Back 5X More Revenue Growth for B2B

It’s not fair. Some B2B companies really do have an unbeatable advantage. New research from McKinsey points to a specific path for digital transformation as the defining factor allowing some B2B leaders to post operating profits 8X greater than their peers on 5X greater revenue growth. In fact, overall, these leaders can post an average profit growth of 13.5 percent while the rest of the industry watches their margins shrink.

Categories
Blog Digital Transformation Sales Leadership

6 Leadership Stories from Sales Leaders On A Digital Sales Transformation

I’ve seen all kinds of sales leaders. Some that are as inspiring to their sales teams as Churchill and Napoleon, some as forgettable as King Edward V (he lasted less than 3 months).

Categories
Blog Digital Selling Digital Transformation

Digital Sales Transformation Will Change The Perception Of Business

Digital Sales Transformation

Business isn’t bad. Why do so many people think it is?

Coming from an upbringing of academics mixed with business, there was always a tug of war. But positive mindsets triumphed.  Individuals that are constantly learning are changing business, the world. As the speed of change accelerates, impact grows from transforming together, but there are still too many silos.  Business innovation will elevate humanity – if we let it, and work together.