Personal Branding and The Art of Self Promotion

Location: Home Office – Reading / Viewing Time: All-in, 30mins!

First up, apologies for the relative silence last week. The only post that went live here on the blog last week was my excellent interview with “The Rise to the Top” founder and host, David Siteman Garland. So, this week I want to try and bounce back with this post, which actually ended up developing into a much bigger one than I expected it would. So, here we go with a look at personal branding and the art of self promotion.

Now, you’ve no doubt heard me say before that I’m a Businessman First, a Blogger Second. However, nowadays, more than ever before, being a successful business owner is about making sure that your corporate name, identity, brand and even your personal brand (if you want to make it part of the corporate attraction of doing business with you) is in every nook and cranny online, fundamentally resulting in yourself and your business being in front of every potential customer and business partner out there.

Over the weekend I tend to read a lot. In fact, this past weekend, I got through almost two of Donald Trump‘s books. Love him or hate him, The Donald is a fantastic businessman and entrepreneur. Above and beyond everything that he’s done and achieved in regards to business, and his individual outlook on a number of topics, whenever I read his books, or see him on TV one thing stands out more than anything else – he very well could be what some people call him – The KING of Self Promotion.

Now, its true, he does have the ability to stick his name in huge gold lettering on every building he owns (and he’s got a few, lets face it!), but, its more than just that. His yacht, the ‘Trump Princess’ and his plane, the ‘Trump Shuttle’ for example… He is everywhere. Nowadays he’s more well known for his TV show and countless other antics – other than building skyscrapers. Be that as it may, Donald Trump knows how to promote himself and his brand better than most, lets face it.

Before the Dawn of Social Media and Online Networking!

Here’s the thing… As someone that has been in business for 20 years, and owned and operated my OWN business for around half of that time, on and off (but, religiously for the last 7 years), I know that there is a lot more to promotion and branding than just Twitter and the other social media big guns.

Everything from your corporate logo and the letterhead you use, even a promotional, or personalized business pen – right the way down to your ‘Elevator Pitch’. Before the online world took over the realm of branding and promotion, the old school methods worked just as well. However, it wasn’t as easy to get your name ‘out there’ as quickly, and with as wide of a reach as it it nowadays. You ARE your brand. Your company is your brand, too.

My True ‘Business Card’ Story!

Here’s a quick story on the importance of perception with quality in mind. When I first started the Live2Sell Group I wanted to get some business cards printed. I am quite particular when it comes to QUALITY on these types of things. After weeks, literally, of searching around I found only one local printer that could cut the cards the way I wanted them cut, and using the paper stock I wanted used. However, there was a catch – I had to print 5,000 cards. I’m sorry, but who the hell prints that amount of cards all at once – especially at the beginning of a new enterprise..???!!

So, what I had to do is go through Google, and find a printer in London, England (where I have had numerous cards before, obviously). I called, sent them my artwork via email, they finalized the layout and printed 500 cards. They then sent them to the Philippines via Fedex. Why did I go through all this? Because, when I hand someone that I meet for the first time my business card, its that exact ‘thing’ that they take away with them. It sits on their desk, in their bag, whatever. And when they pick it up and ‘feel’ it, I want them to think QUALITY when it comes to me and my company.

Building Your Personal Brand In The Online World

A little while back, I did a Guest Post for Keith Bloemendaal over at his blog where I discussed a handful of tips to be able to work on to build your online brand and start promoting yourself in a sightly more strategic way – at least on the web, anyway. When the post went live, I noticed he linked to ALL of his own social media and networking profiles, on the specific keywords in the article – now that’s smart branding!

One guy that has become a personal branding kingpin over the last couple of years is Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary seriously gets me going… My juices pumping! When I got hold of his book, Crush It, I read the entire thing in one sitting. I recently just read it again for the second time, and it got me even more excited than the first time around.

What I get from Gary, above and beyond everything else, is his passion – the one thing that he talks about over and over again in his numerous speaking engagements and throughout the pages of his excellent book, as well as his great online videos.

The fact is – he’s right – you do NOT have to be stuck in a crappy job, doing something that you hate day in, day out anymore. The world we live in craves information like we crave oxygen. Gary has a way of being able to make you ‘get it’, and inspires you to want bigger and better things – all based around your personal brand and what you can offer people interested to know more about stuff you are an expert in.

Another go-to guy on the subject is Dan Schawbel. Fast Company Magazine call him a ‘Personal Branding Force of Nature’. His book, Me 2.0 focuses mainly on one thing – making sure that, by utilizing online media and social networking, you are seen as the go-to guru in your field of expertise, whatever that may be. I loved his book, and completely devoured the interview that aforementioned David Siteman Garland did with him on Building Your Personal Brand. He serves up tip after tip on his Personal Branding Blog, too and if you are wanting to capture your niche, you need to subscribe to it STAT!

Are You Following The Donald’s Self Promotion Midas Touch?

My reading this weekend got me thinking a little. Am I doing a decent job of branding myself? My company? My lifestyle? Across the board, I think I’m doing a half decent job. Over the last couple of months I’ve been called a ‘virtual business guru’, an ‘outsourcing evangelist’ and even an ‘entrepreneurial force’. My free eBook certainly helps spread the word, too. I know people pass it around, too, because I have received emails from people saying its a great resource and they aint on my subscribers list! If you haven’t got your copy yet, do so here or at the bottom of this post.

Here’s a quick test – go to Google.com and Google yourself, in a number of different ways. Then, when you’re done with that Google some keyword phrases that you want either yourself, or your business to be known and respected for. I did this recently and captured some of the results using Google’s new Search Stories video function and was actually pleasantly surprised with what I found. You can check out the video, above.

I’d like to wrap up this look into this extremely important subject with a few resources for you to check out. First up, read Becoming a Remarkable Personal Brand by good friend and fellow blogger, Maren Kate. She has a great style for this type of stuff. You’ll enjoy it. And then, be sure to finish up by watching the two videos below. Don’t miss either of them.

Blogger Robb Sutton talks about treating your blog like a system and branding your online ‘look’. Everything is covered from logo design, right down to the photo you use for leaving comments on other peoples blogs. Unmissable stuff from this great blogger. Click here for the full article if you want to read more from Robb on the topic.

The incomparable Gary Vaynerchuk strutting his stuff at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. There’s a little cursing in this one (1min, 8secs – “Clap that up, coz its the real shit…” – hilarious!). The content is simply golden. Seriously.

Above is a great ‘mindmap’, so to speak on the separate entities surrounding personal brand building and promotion. It’s not cast in stone, obviously, but it is something that you can build around, for sure.

I hope you enjoyed this look into the art of self promotion and personal branding. In our fast changing world of entrepreneurial lifestyle design and with our thirst for more, more, more, I sincerely hope you picked up a few things today. Comments below, as always, are very much appreciated and I always get back to every single one of them (as part of my own personal brand building mission!). Feel free to RT this article, too, if you found it to be a good resource.