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How Personal Branding for Founders Can Grow a Startup

December 13, 2020 by Steven J Wilson Leave a Comment

Growing a startup from scratch is no easy task.

Building brand awareness is one thing. Gaining the trust of your customers is another. How do you convince people to do business with you over your competition, especially if you’re new in the market?

This is where personal branding for founders comes in.

For many startups, a strong personal brand can shine a light on the business. It can be the key to cultivating buzz and gaining your audience’s trust.

Below, let’s explore what a personal brand is and the role it plays in a founder’s startup.

What is a Personal Brand?

A personal brand is the public’s impression of you as an individual existing separately from your company. It is how people think of you based on your experience, expertise, values, beliefs, and achievements within your field.

Having a personal brand is crucial in many ways, especially for a founder like you.

That’s why many are taking conscious efforts to shape their personal brands and influence public perception.

They do this by communicating their value and positioning themselves as an authority in their respective industries—a marketing strategy known as personal branding.

Why a Founder’s Personal Brand Matters

Today, consumers have become more critical than ever. Before they give their trust and become customers, they like to know the people behind the company they would patronize. They want to feel positively toward a business’ leadership and how it operates.

That’s why a founder’s personal brand is crucial for growing a startup.

Sure, having a great product or service and an effective marketing strategy is important. But if your company lacks credibility because you’re new to the market, your personal brand can make all the difference.

How Personal Branding for Founders Impact Your Startup

Improving your reputation as a founder doesn’t just boost the public’s impression of you. As you grow your branding, it creates a domino effect that impacts your startup.

Below, discover how a business benefits from a founder’s brand.

1) It allows you to demonstrate your value

In the case of startups, people are buying “you” instead of your products or services.

They buy what you stand for, that’s why it’s essential to effectively communicate your value. A strong personal branding can be an avenue to do that.

2) It builds credibility and trust

The main goal of personal branding is to position yourself as an authority in your industry.

This is important because people always seek trust before becoming a customer. And customers are naturally drawn to experts to solve their problems, rewarding them with their trust.

3) It attracts paying customers

Having a personal brand allows you to reach more people. The wider your reach becomes, the more individuals will become aware of your business. With this growing awareness, plus credibility, you can attract more paying customers.

4) It attracts the interest of investors

Often, investors would research a new founder whenever they pop up on their radar.

They like startup founders with a strong personal brand. So, investors usually check a founder’s website and LinkedIn profile to determine if they would want to support a startup.

And if you have successfully position yourself as an expert in the field, chances are, you’re going to win the interest of these investors.

5) It encourages customers to recommend you

When you are a credible brand, your customers are more likely to recommend your company.

It’s best to practice what you preach, be visible on social media, and keep working on your authority to gain the trust of your audience—and eventually, the connections of your audience.

6) It lets you forge real connections

Your visibility can also help you create a network that can open new opportunities for your company. It allows partnerships with fellow experts to boost your authority and help your business in many ways.

7) It helps you achieve your business goals

Finally, having a well-crafted personal brand can launch your startup to new heights. People will see you as an authority, they will start trusting you, and they will be convinced to buy from your company.

In a crowded market, a strong personal brand can impact your startup in positive ways. A founder’s brand is what will differentiate you from the competition. It stands for your character, culture, principles, and skills which are crucial to earn trust and win you paying customers.

A Startup Founders Guide to Personal Branding

Now that you know how personal branding for founders can impact your startup, it’s time to put in work on your reputation. And working on your branding doesn’t have to be time-consuming.

Here, find out how you can solidify your personal brand to build trust, awareness, and credibility.

1) Create your branding mission statement

To demonstrate your value to the public, you should first know your personal brand’s purpose.

How do you plan to serve your audience? What do you do and what impact do you want to make? The direction of your branding relies heavily on your branding mission statement.

Just look at how Jeff Bezos wrote his branding mission statement.

Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, made it clear that businesses should retain their “Day 1 company” mindset. According to him, Day 1 companies are those that are at the beginning of their potential.

They are obsessed with customers and make quick high-quality decisions as opposed to Day 2 companies that become stagnant, “Followed by excruciating, painful decline.”

This kind of branding mission statement tells a lot about yourself as a leader of your organization. It summarizes how you intend to make an impact on your audience, and is a crucial step to develop a solid personal brand.

2) Build a personal website

When establishing personal brands, first impression matters. Having a professional website is key to leave a positive impression on your audience.

With a personal website, you can publish your own content and create your own narrative. It gives you control over what people will see and read about you.

More importantly, your website will serve as your salesperson who will work for you 24/7 to promote your brand. This is especially true when you optimized it for search—a great way for people to find you online.

3) Develop your social media strategy

When it comes to establishing authority, LinkedIn is arguably the most important platform to have your online presence. It allows you to showcase your experience, values, and achievements in a well-crafted profile.

The channel also lets you gain social proofs, get exposure, and connect with industry peers that can significantly boost your credibility.

LinkedIn is a valuable platform to build a personal branding. When developing a social media strategy, make sure that LinkedIn is your top priority.

Use the platform to help others with your expertise, connect with them, and attract a following that can become an asset to your company.

4) Showcase your expertise

Most experts today branch out from their respective roles to perform different activities. These “extracurricular” activities are what launch their reputation among their peers.

There are several ways to do this. You can author a book, get speaking engagements, maintain a blog, or guest posts in another expert’s blog.

Also, you can even showcase the expertise of other relevant people to your industry on your social media accounts. This shows you respect fellow experts and will help build your brand and credibility.

5) Be helpful to your audience

As you showcase your expertise, you should have the best interest of your customers at the top of your mind. Consumers today can see through your and marketing. They know the difference between a brand’s authenticity and insincere sales strategy.

But how do you win the hearts of your audience? By being helpful to them. Address their needs with well-crafted and valuable content that will help them solve their problems. Develop a solid content strategy with your audience in mind.

6) Get your team involved

In our report entitled Building Brands Within a Brand, my team tackled the importance of employee personal brands to the success of a business. Employers who motivate their employees and executives to build their own brand can benefit in several ways.

Based on the report, employees have the power to increase your reach, engagement, and sales by a significant percent.

Thus, you must get your employees involved in building your reputation online. You’ll be surprised how 61% of employees are willing to go above and beyond their duties to help the company.

7) Build a community

When building your brand, ensure that you focus on a specific niche. Determine which area of expertise you want to be known for, and then build a community around it.

When creating a community, a more targeted audience is better than a broader audience. So, target a specific audience, including potential customers, clients, and investors, who would be interested with your insights.

Then, create a LinkedIn group with these individuals where you can interact with each other. Building a community allows you to create valuable relationships with your prospects.

Start Your Personal Branding Journey Here

If you want to build awareness and gain the trust of the public, start developing a personal brand for founders now. A strong personal brand tailored to the benefit of your potential customers, employees, and future investors can be the key to grow your company.

And for all your personal branding needs, we at Steven J Wilson & Associates can guide a startup founder like you. We are a team of branding experts that developed systems and processes to help you position yourself as an authority in your field.

Talk with us and start your personal branding journey today.

Attract More Ideal Clients By Sharing Your Core Values

December 18, 2020 by Steven J Wilson Leave a Comment

Everyone wants to find their people. In business, that translates to finding your clients. Even better, finding your ideal clients. That’s the point of personal branding.

You’re not just trying to reach anyone and everyone who might kind of sort of need your products or services. The tricky part is figuring out exactly how to find your people.

While there are several methods to find your ideal clients and help them find you, we will discuss connecting through shared core values.

What Are Common Core Values?

Core values are a way to connect with people on a deeper level. Your goal should be to bond over something that drives loyalty, even an evangelized network of customers and advocates.

It all comes down to strategic personal branding. It’s easy to talk about your likes and dislikes, how you go through your day, and your favorite products. Being authentic, however, means showing your honest self on a deeper level. And being strategic about personal branding means finding those who share those same core values.

Once established, a core value is unbreakable and will never be compromised, even for short-term gain or convenience. Core values are very personal and form an individual’s decisions and how they operate in this world.

Just a few examples are:

reliability,
integrity,
optimism,
honesty,
dependability,
compassion,
perseverance,
courage,
and service.

Do you recognize any of these as unbreakable standards you would never compromise, even for short-term gain or convenience? If you’re connecting on this level, your people will recognize them too. And they’ll trust you.

That’s what strategic, authentic personal branding looks like.

How To Find Your Ideal Clients Using Your Core Values

Relaying your core values to the world can feel a bit vulnerable, but keep in mind that you aren’t doing this to be judged. The whole reason you’re infusing core value messaging into your personal brand is to attract those who share your value system and will respect your approach to business.

Be Consistent

When crafting a brand messaging strategy that includes your core values, you need to plan on consistency. Some people turn their core values into their motto and proudly put it on their business cards and website. Others make sure their values are implicitly represented in every message that goes out. Consistency plays into your credibility, and nobody should mess with their credibility when designing a lasting personal brand.

Be Authentic

Yes, I’m throwing a buzzword at you, but in personal branding, this word has been on everyone’s lips since 2016, and for a good reason. Choosing core values to communicate can be detrimental if you don’t live by them. Remember, Enron’s company core values were “communication, respect, integrity, and excellence,” and we all know how that ended.

Tell Your Story

Your About page, brand promise, website content, email sequences, offers, and even product or service descriptions will need to be re-evaluated through the lens of whether you are communicating your core values through your personal brand. Your story is the best way to achieve this. You don’t need to share the words that best represent your core values. Share stories and lessons learned that would resonate with those looking for someone with your core strengths.

Don’t Rely On Being Relatable

Being relatable is incredibly important, but it won’t ultimately build loyalty. Relatability is a great way to drive interest, get noticed, and build rapport. However, it’s your core values that will attract and help you filter for your ideal clients. Sure, everyone may love that you occasionally goof off, but this isn’t connecting on a deeper level to ensure a long-time evangelized community.

Don’t Commodify

Remember to communicate as a community. Gather around sets of shared core values if you do all this work only to openly commodify your network. You’ll lose all that authenticity and credibility you built. Sure, measuring your network for value and deciding what you need to do to continue to build a network that will result in valuable referrals is part of doing business. However, keep your primary focus on client-facing conversations, which need to always remain on your people, not the dollars.

What Isn’t A Core Value?

Your journey to better, more meaningful connections through personal branding means getting a grip on what isn’t a core value. You can still attract and connect with people over shared interests, world views, behaviors, and desires. But you may not get the same results. And you will miss out on opportunities to grow a long-term, loyal network centered around something much more profound.

Common Interests

Common interests mean you like your latte prepared the same way – with soy, a counterclockwise foam swirl, and a little bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Too light! Common interests certainly bring people together and are worth noting. However, we want to go deeper when we’re trying to attract and really connect with people.

World Views

World views reflect your assumptions about the world around you – such as what makes up the stuff of fundamental human nature, the origins of the world and biodiversity, and reflections on government, science, and religion.

Too deep! We can connect with people on this level, but world views are best left to our close circles. Everyone reveals their world views, often unintentionally, but world views will often lead to debates better held in closed rooms. These types of expressions are not for social media, email campaigns, and other personal brand messaging.

Behaviors and desires

Behaviors and desires are essential to understand, but they aren’t core values. They do give us insights into our ideal client’s core values. Core values are deeper and inform behaviors and desires.

Behaviors are the consistent decisions someone makes about whether to play or work on a Saturday morning. And desires relate to the life someone wants and works (or buys) to achieve.

A passion for Lamborghini’s may reveal a desire for luxury. It may also demonstrate a core value regarding self-expression, quality, and patriarchal heritage. So, hang onto that market research about consumer behaviors and desires, but don’t confuse them with core values.

Developing Your Core Values

Many marketers will tell you to define your target market. The truth is, when it comes to core values, you need to be able to speak honestly about yourself and how you approach your work and client relationships. That means defining your own core values first. You can let their core values help to inform whether they are a perfect fit, and they can do the same.

I also recommend that you don’t just pick words that sound powerful and meaningful. Choose values that you can identify as drivers in the ways you set goals and live your life, choose your friends, and operate your business. That’s where genuine connection begins with your ideal clients.

14 Fantastic Examples of Personal Branding Statements

December 21, 2020 by Steven J Wilson Leave a Comment

Having a personal brand offers plenty of competitive advantages whether you’re a founder of a startup, an executive, or an entrepreneur. It’s an essential piece if you want to grow your business.

When creating a strong personal brand, one of the first things you need to have is a personal brand statement. This short piece about your personal brand has a great impact on all your branding efforts. Thus, it’s crucial that you craft an effective statement.

And what better way to inspire you than to take a look at actual personal brand statement examples from successful individuals?

In this list, we rounded up 14 fantastic personal brand statement examples to get your creative juices flowing. But before we delve into the examples, first, let’s define what is a personal brand statement.

What is a Personal Brand Statement?

A personal brand statement is a 1-2 sentence that sums up your brand. It explains what you do (value), for whom do you do your work (target audience), and how do you do it (unique selling proposition).

Your statement is a distinctive part of your personal brand that is unique to you. It should convey the value you provide to your audience in a concise way, all while maintaining a certain level of intrigue to keep people interested in what you do.

Think of it as a tagline, catchphrase, or slogan about you.

Your personal branding statement is one of the first things that people will associate with you. It can be a defining factor whether your audience will want to learn more about you or just leave your website or social media without doing your desired action.

Thus, it is important that you take your time crafting a strong personal branding statement.

To better understand what it is and how it should look like, let’s take inspiration from some of our favorite personal brand statements below.

Personal Brand Statement Examples

1. “Be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.” – Larry Kim

In the search marketing world, Larry Kim’s name is forever synonymous with unicorns.

The founder of Wordstream and Mobile Monkey is playful but gets his message across: “Be different.” In the marketing industry filled with companies promising you results, many fail to deliver. But there’s always that magnificent unicorn that shows up now and then, so better ride it.

True enough, Larry’s statement being different from his peers make it a “worthy” unicorn to be included on this list.

Takeaway: Be unique. Aim for your personal brand to stand out from the crowd because that’s the whole point of creating your own brand.

2. “Empowering ridiculously good marketing.” – Ann Handley

Here’s another example of being unique.

Ann Handley, WSJ best-selling author and a digital marketing pioneer, chose to describe her work casually, empowering “ridiculously good marketing.” Not many marketers would dare craft their personal brand statements like how Ann did, and this is exactly the point why she’s on this list.

Ann delivered her statement in an unconventional way—with a casual tone—which makes her stand out. She does not only make it clear that she’s good at her job, but she also hints at how comfortable it is working it with her.

Takeaway: Pay attention to the tone of your statement. It can dramatically affect how people will perceive your message.

3. “Create less content. (It’ll be fine! I promise!)” – Brittany Berger

Challenging popular ideas is another way to stand out. Clearly, content marketer Brittany Berger knows this, which she applied to her personal branding statement.

In digital marketing, you’d often hear experts advising brands to create more content. But Berger thinks otherwise.

She understands how exhausting thinking about filling in a content calendar. So, rather than creating new content and getting caught up in the content creation treadmill, she promotes creating less content. She encourages her audience to effectively use their existing content instead to get more success from less effort.

Takeaway: Swim against the tide when you have different ideas that you can actually justify.

4. “Do you want more traffic?” – Neil Patel

A personal branding statement doesn’t have to be a statement. It can take other forms too, like a question. Just look at how Neil Patel, one of the leading online marketers today, did his statement.

In marketing, asking questions is arguably one of the most powerful ways to pique people’s curiosity. It appeals to your audience’s desire to learn and understand, to improve and grow, and most importantly, to solve problems.

Neil’s statement may be a simple question, but it works because it appeals to his audience. This is especially true given his reputation to get his clients more traffic.

Takeaway: Spark curiosity. A personal brand statement needs to catch attention, and one way to do it is by piquing your audience’s interest.

5. “I build and grow SaaS companies.” – Sujan Patel

So far, we’ve seen unique and creative personal branding statements work their magic. But there are times a straightforward approach works too. Sujan Patel’s statement is a good example.

Sujan is a reputable marketer focusing on growing SaaS companies from the ground up. That’s what he does best, and that’s basically what he wants to tell everyone who visits his site.

His statement is direct but bold. He makes it clear that he does not only help in the growth of SaaS companies. Rather, he’s responsible for the growth of those businesses.

Takeaway: Tell what you do best and be bold about it. This kind of personal brand statement is easy to understand while immediately catches attention.

6. “Real life on a budget.” – Jessi Fearon

Jessi Fearon’s brand statement is short, but it’s clear and concise enough to send the message.

Running a personal finance and budgeting blog, Jessi aims to help people plan their budgets more effectively. And she takes her advice from her real-life failures and successes with money to share with everyone. Thus, her personal branding statement.

Sometimes, personal brand statements don’t have to be long and overly creative. Even a simple statement has its own charm.

Takeaway: A short and clear statement works. Properly conveying the message should always be the priority.

7. “Practical help for freelance writers” – Carol Tice

Carol Tice is a six-figure freelance writer who founded the writing blog, Make A Living Writing. The tagline on her website is simple, concise, and straight to the point.

But what makes her statement great is it targets a specific audience: freelance writers.

By mentioning a specific audience, Carol’s personal brand statement makes it clear who will benefit from the “practical help” she offers. Her choice of words also makes it apparent what she can bring in to your table. In this case, actionable tips for struggling freelance writers.

Takeaway: Make sure to target a specific audience. The best personal brand statement resonates because it’s directed to the intended audience.

8. “I believe in you… Now you must believe in yourself.” – Dave Nelson

A personal branding statement isn’t always about you. It is also about your audience. So, talk about them. Talk to them.

Dave Nelson’s statement just did that. As a personal trainer who struggled with obesity, he taps into his audience’s deepest concerns: lack of self-esteem. Then, he encourages them to believe in themselves.

Not only it is empowering, but he puts his audience’s struggles into his mind and connected with them. That is what makes his statement more compelling.

Takeaway: Talk to your audience. Your personal brand statement is your first (and can be your last) chance to connect, so make it speak with people.

9. “The world needs that special gift that only you have.” – Marie Forleo

From one inspiring statement to another, Marie Forleo’s personal brand exists to encourage people to build their dreams. Whether it’s creating a business or the life you love, you have that special gift that the world needs.

Her brand motivates people to create just about anything. And as a passionate entrepreneur, her statement is an inspirational message for aspiring entrepreneurs and creatives.

As the host of the award-winning show MarieTV, Marie sure does know how to use her wisdom to inspire her audience to become the person they most want to be.

Takeaway: Inspire your audience. Because the most successful individuals make a difference in the lives of their followers.

10. “Travel smarter, cheaper, longer. Where do you want to go?” – Nomadic Matt

In #9, we talked about the importance of involving your audience. Here’s another example to emphasize our point.

Nomadic Matt is a passionate traveler. In his blog, you’ll find tips and resources so you can travel “smarter,” “cheaper,” and “longer.” Because that’s exactly what his target audience wants to know.

Matt’s statement makes good use of his audience’s pain points to capture their attention. Followed by a leading question as a call to action, this personal brand statement is clearly intended to appeal to his audience.

Takeaway: Address your audience’s pain points. Use these pain points to highlight your brand’s value.

11. “Be a blessing.” – Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins is a renowned entrepreneur, life and business strategist, and NY Times author. But above all, he is a philanthropist. And his short yet clear personal branding statement perfectly sums up what he does: help people.

As a prominent life coach, he made it his mission to help transform lives. How? He guides his audience to live purposeful lives by being a blessing to others. This is because he believes that “The secret to life is giving,” and it translates well on all his social media profiles.

Tony’s statement is simple but clearly conveys his philanthropic message to everyone.

Takeaway: Be helpful. Personal brands sincerely aiming to help their audience creates genuine connections.

12. “50% Marketing, 50% Geek – 100% Social Business Results” – Pam Moore

Marketing Nutz founder and CEO Pam Moore’s statement tells a lot about her character. She claims to be half geek, half marketing, which lets you know she’s a dedicated marketing consultant who can deliver results. Also, the fun tone here hints that she’d be comfortable to work with.

This personal brand statement reflects Pam’s personality. By showing her personality in her statement, it makes her brand more relatable, authentic, and unique.

Takeaway: Show your personality. Personality creates individuality, which can make your personal branding statement unique.

13. “It’s time to unleash your epicness.” – Felicia Hatcher

“Epicness” may not be a real word, but it made Felicia Hatcher’s brand statement a real winner that deserves a spot on this list.

Just like how Felicia’s inspirational speeches touch our emotions, her statement also taps deeply into our desires of becoming epic. Why not? You know you can be epic, too.

With her careful choice of words, her statement conveyed a more impactful and memorable message. And it’s clever how this lone word was designed to appeal to the younger generation of innovators whom she hopes to inspire.

Takeaway: Choose your words carefully. Even a single word can make a huge difference in how effective your statement will be.

14. “Learn how to scale your influence at startup speed.” – Adam Enfroy

Adam Enfroy is a blogger who helps online entrepreneurs scale their influence at startup speed, which is clearly defined in his statement.

But what makes his statement even catchier is his use of numbers and social proof. Throughout his career, Adam has built a large subscriber base of 500,000 monthly readers. He knows it is impressive, and that it will help boost his credibility. Hence, he made the smart move of mentioning those numbers on his personal branding statement as social proof.

Takeaway: Use social proof and numbers. People are likely to perform your desired action if other people are doing it.

Bonus Statement: “Super charge your company’s brand. Grow reach. Build trust. Boost sales.” – Steven J Wilson

Finally, this list wouldn’t be complete without my own personal brand statement.

In this statement, I tapped on my target audience’s desire to improve their brands, i.e., grow their reach, build trust, and boost their sales. It is a simple and direct method to inform busy brand CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs about the value I offer.

Takeaway: Offer value. The best personal brand statement clearly tells how you can help your audience.

We hope the examples above have inspired you to write your personal brand statement and got your creative juices flowing. In the next section, learn how you can craft an attention-grabbing, memorable, and engaging statement.

How to Write an Effective Personal Brand Statement

Based on these examples, we have identified key elements that make an effective personal brand statement. The personal brand statement examples above have answered most of the following questions:

What are you expert in? (The value you offer)
Who are you trying to help? (Your target audience)
What sets your personal brand apart? (Your unique selling proposition)

Personal brands struggle to create a statement because they are not being clear on the answers to the questions mentioned above. Once you have answered them, you’ll find it easier to craft your statement.

Now, let’s start writing your personal brand statement with this step-by-step guide:

Step #1: Identify your unique proposition

List down your attributes. It can be your qualities or skills that let you do your work effectively.

Then, choose the top three attributes from the list.

The goal here is to find the things that make you unique from the competition, just like how Sujan Patel and Pam Moore did in examples #5 and #12.

Step #2: Define your audience

Whom do you offer your help? It can’t be anyone. As they say, if your content is for everybody, then it is for nobody.

Hence, be clear on who your target audience is.

As we have mentioned above, half of your statement is about your audience. Address their pain points, converse with them, and highlight how you can help them.

Learn from Carol Tice, Dave Nelson, Marie Forleo, Nomadic Matt, and Tony Robbins’ personal brand statement examples.

Step #3: Inject your personality

Showing your personality makes your personal brand statement unique.

Be it in your choice of words or tone of your statement, it creates that individuality that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Ann Handley, Brittany Berger, and Felicia Hatcher crushed it in this department.

Step #4: Make it memorable

Finally, make your statement memorable.

Leave out the fluff and jargons and word your statement that is easy to remember.

Create a balance between clarity and creativity to ensure you get your message across. Just look at Larry Kim and Jessi Fearon’s personal brand statement examples above.

Power Up Your Personal Brand Statement With These Tips

The best personal brand statement is clear and concise, about 1-2 sentences.
Focus on your audience’s pain points and how you can ease that pain. Always think about how you can benefit them.
Be authentic. Only use superlatives like “leading marketer” or “best-selling author” if you are actually one.
Make it conversational. Direct your message to the right audience.
Use social proof and numbers when possible. This increases your credibility.
Test your statement. Try telling it to a friend if the statement can get the message across. Ask for feedback.
Be ready to pivot. Your statement like most things may need to be adjust to make sure you are getting your message across. If it seems like your statement is confusing or misunderstood then revise it.

Now, Start Writing Your Personal Branding Statement

Do you feel like working now after seeing the personal brand statement examples above? Let those creative juices flowing and start writing your first draft.

Make sure to follow the steps and tips above to craft an effective personal branding statement. Also, feel free to reach out to us if you need more help creating your statement.

An All-Inclusive Guide To Strong Personal Branding

January 6, 2021 by Steven J Wilson Leave a Comment

When you Google your name, what do you find?

Is it something that will help you land clients, close important deals, or attract potential customers to your business? If the answer is no, then you need to think about personal branding.

Personal branding is the conscious effort of improving how the public perceives you. If you’re running a business, a strong personal brand can help you rise to success in surprising ways.

That said, it’s time to take the reins of your personal brand now so you can control your narrative. And if you need help to get started, you’ve come to the right place.

Here, we’ll walk you through the fundamentals of a strong personal brand so you can develop a solid strategy for establishing your online reputation.

By the time you reach the end of this personal branding guide, you’ll have a strong understanding of what personal branding is, why it is important, and how you can successfully build a personal brand.

What is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is the practice of promoting yourself to the public. It is a marketing technique that influences how people perceive you as an individual.

In this strategy, you communicate certain qualities to your target audience. These qualities are what you want people to associate with you. They sum up your experience, skills, core values, principles, and purpose as a personal brand.

Think of Michelle Obama. Beyond her stint as the former first lady, people remember her for her authenticity and integrity. She still has that strong influence and public trust even after her husband, Barack, stepped down from office.

The same goes for Oprah Winfrey, who’s also known for her genuineness that she kept consistent throughout her career. Then, there’s Richard Branson of Virgin Group, whose unconventional stunts launched him to superstar status.

What do these individuals have in common? They have effectively communicated their qualities and core values to attract people. They all embraced their own personal brand.

You might be thinking, “But all these people are already prominent and successful individuals. Can someone like me have his own personal brand?”

There was a time when brands were only for a select few. Before, branding only mattered to large companies, celebrities, athletes, and famous people.

But this is not the case anymore.

Now, everyone can have a personal brand. Instead, it’s crucial to manage one’s brand and turn it into a strength. This is especially true for founders of a startup, executives, and entrepreneurs who want to grow their business.

In the next section, find out why you should think of your personal brand now.

Why is Personal Brand Important?

Today, consumers have become more critical than ever. Their trust in business brands continues to go down in the past years. This proves to be a challenge for business owners like you.

Now that the public trusts people more than a business brand, having a personal brand is key in converting them into paying customers.

A personal brand is crucial if you want to be known in your field.

With personal branding, you can position yourself as the go-to expert in your industry. When people look up to you as an authority, they will come to you to solve their problems. And that means business.

You can also attract potential investors and clients as you become a thought-leader in your industry. And since consumers are more willing to pay for experts they believe in, you can even charge premium prices for your products and services.

Hence, if you’re running a business and want to improve your reach, gain the people’s trust, and boost your sales, you need to build your personal brand now.

To help you grow your business, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a personal brand in the following sections.

Getting Started: Personal Branding Questions You Need to Answer

Branding a person can be a challenge when you’re not clear about the things that make your brand uniquely you. Before you get your name out there, ask yourself these questions to give your personal branding journey a clear direction.

What are your goals for your personal brand?

Would you like to be known in your industry or local community? Do you want to build trust? Or maybe, you need to boost your sales?

Setting your goals helps you be clear on what you want to achieve with personal branding. It also helps motivate you, so you’ll keep moving toward success.

What value do you offer?

What are you good at and are passionate about? In what ways can you help your audience?

This gives people a reason why they should care about the person as a brand. Hence, determine the value you offer that you want to communicate with others.

Whom are you trying to help?

If your content is for everyone, then it is for no one.

Be specific with the set of people you intend to help. Who is your target audience? What are their wants, needs, and problems that you can offer a solution with?

What sets your personal brand apart?

Determine the unique selling proposition that makes you stand out.

Do you have certain qualities and skills that allow you to work more effectively than the competition? List down all of them.

How will you communicate your value to others?

Do you want to address your audience formally or casually? Friendly or authoritative? Entertaining, helpful, or informative?

Your brand voice can make an impact on your audience. So, identify the brand voice that best reflects your personality.

Where will you connect with your target audience?

LinkedIn is arguably the most important platform to build a personal brand. It’s a channel for professionals who want to build authority in their respective fields.

But aside from LinkedIn, what other platforms do your audience use? Identify them and establish your online presence there.

What will you do to position yourself as a leader in your industry?

Are you involved in speaking engagements? Do you have time to maintain a blog? Can you author a book?

There are plenty of strategies to build your name out there. Determine what you can do to position yourself as a thought-leader in your field.

What are other successful people in your industry doing that you are not?

What topics do your successful peers cover? What type of content do they publish? Which posts are getting the most engagements?

Determine the best practices in your niche that you can follow as you build your personal brand.

Are you connecting with like-minded professionals?

Can you identify established professionals in your field? Are you engaging with them?

Reach out to like-minded individuals and interact with them to boost your reputation. It’s also an instant exposure to their set of followers.

Are you moving close to your goal with your current activities?

As you start building your personal brand, monitor your progress. Are your strategies working? Which activities performed best, and which do you need to scrap in your strategy?

Have key metrics to measure the progress and success of your branding efforts.

Building a Personal Brand: 9 Actionable Steps

Once you have answered all the essential questions on our checklist, it’s time to put up the pieces together. Follow our step-by-step action plan below to guide you in building a personal brand.

Step #1: Define your branding goals

As we mentioned above, goal setting is key to achieving what you want with personal branding. It helps establish a clear path, identify the challenges of building a personal brand, and motivate you to keep moving forward on your journey.

But what do these personal branding goals exactly look like?

Marketing Nuts founder Pam Moore discussed the top 7 personal branding goals in her podcast, which include:

Increasing brand awareness of your business
Establishing authority in your industry
Generating more leads
Boosting your sales
Decreasing the sales cycles
Connecting with influencers
Building a community

When building a personal brand, think about which goals you want to achieve. Having a specific goal in mind lets you create more focused and effective personal branding content.

Step #2: Determine your value

Previously, you asked yourself what value do you offer. It’s time to put the answer on paper.

You should be able to say what your brand is all about in 20 words or less. To make this, list down the things you are most passionate about. These can be things you’re good at, something you love doing, or things you are most confident to work on.

Then, trim down the list to the top three passions you can offer to help others.

This will serve as your value that you communicate to your target audience.

Step #3: Identify your audience

Don’t write for everybody. Based on your value, determine who your target audience is.

These people that you should be targeting include:

Those who will pay you
Those who will influence the person who pays you
Those who will benefit from your message

Then, create a buyer persona for each individual. A buyer’s persona describes who your ideal customers are. The more detailed the persona is, the better.

Creating focused content based on these personas allows you to connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Step #4: Define your brand voice

Being genuine makes your brand as human as possible. This helps you connect better with your audience. But how do you make your brand authentic?

By defining your brand voice.

Your brand voice is how you communicate with your audience. It contains the language you use, the tone you speak, your purpose, and the character you aim to invoke in your content.

Image from Social Media Explorer

Your brand voice plays a big part in how effective your brand message will be. Be sure to decide how your brand will sound when you start branding online.

Once you’re clear with your value, your audience, and your brand voice, it’s time to develop your personal branding statement.

Step #5: Develop your branding statement

A personal branding statement is a short sentence that sums up what your brand is all about. It is an essential piece that conveys the value you provide to your audience and why should they care about you.

Your personal branding statement is one of the first things that your audience will see when they check your brand. Thus, it’s vital that you take your time in creating a compelling statement.

When creating your statement, make sure it is clear and concise, about 1-2 sentences. It should also include your value and is directed toward your audience. It also pays to be authentic.

If you want to be inspired and get your creative juices flowing, check out our list of fantastic personal branding statement examples here.

Step #6: Build your presence online

The next step is finally building your presence online.

In this phase, you have to sort out the social media platforms that will be relevant to your personal brand. These are the platforms where your audience thrives.

Social media is an excellent place to start. For those who want to establish thought-leadership, LinkedIn is one platform that you shouldn’t miss.

Aside from social media, you should also build or upgrade your personal website. While social media networks are helpful, don’t just rely on these third-party platforms. These social networks may lose their popularity one day along with the effort you invested in them.

On the contrary, a website is a platform that you own and have full control of. This platform allows you to establish your presence and continue to be relevant in the long-term.

As you go along your personal branding journey, you will also need to go beyond owned media to strengthen your online presence. This involves features in prominent media like Forbes, Entrepreneur, or even your local news sites.

Step #7: Create focused personal branding content

Now that you have set up your social media accounts and website, it’s time to work on the meat of your brand: content.

Content is a powerful tool in establishing your brand. A well-thought content plan wins people’s trust.

Through the content you’ll make, you can demonstrate your expertise and position yourself as an authority in the field. It also helps connect people within the industry and build community.

Most importantly, content offers solutions to the problems of your target audience.

That’s why it’s important that you identify your audience and their pain points. By doing so, you are narrowing down the topics to come up with a pool of ideas that are focused on helping your followers.

Also, remember that the key here is being authentic, consistent, and helpful with the content you make.

Step #8: Build relationships within your industry

Don’t just post content and move on working on a new one.

It is important that you reach out in your industry so you can get found online. But how?

You can start with simple networking. Commenting on other people’s posts or sharing someone else’s content can go a long way. This is especially true on LinkedIn, where posts soliciting conversations reach more people.

From there, you can take the conversation to one-on-one interaction. Take a look at this example when you interact with others on social media platforms.

Just keep in mind to always be helpful when interacting with others. It’s the secret to creating valuable relationships within your industry.

Step #9: Monitor your progress

As you work on building your personal brand, make sure that your strategy is working. This is one crucial step that many personal brands often overlook.

To measure your success, set key performance indicators (KPIs) as you determine your personal branding goals. These KPIs will tell you what works and when do you need to adjust your strategy.

Some tangible metrics that can determine your success include:

The number of your followers
Engagement, especially comments on your posts
Page visits
Mention of your name on social media
Sales growth

Strengthen Your Brand with These Personal Branding Strategies

With our personal branding guide above, you should be able to start working on your brand. But we’re not done yet.

In the previous section, you asked what other successful people in your industry are doing that you are not.

Here, discover the secret to the success of an established personal brand. Find out what other activities you can do beyond your current role that will help propel your name to prominence.

1. Write a book. If you’re looking to boost your credibility, authoring a book is the way to go. Many established brands have authored a book to demonstrate their knowledge in their respective fields.

2. Speaking gigs. The best-known experts share their knowledge in front of a large audience. Seek speaking opportunities in your local associations or start a podcast to boost your authority.

3. Interviews. Aim to be the go-to person for local news outlets regarding concerns about your industry. Leverage sites like HARO (Help a Reporter) to improve your chance of getting interviewed, showcasing your expertise.

4. Social media. Getting personal on social media gives a human face to your business brand.

5. Maintain a blog. Blogging is one way to demonstrate your expertise consistently. Whether you publish an article daily, weekly, or monthly, make sure that the topics you cover are helpful and relevant to your audience.

6. Email marketing. As your blog gains new visitors, you have to turn them into loyal–and paying–customers. Email marketing helps you build this loyal following.

7. SEO. In many cases, people find solutions to their problems in search engines like Google before seeking professional help. Maximize this opportunity to connect with these people by optimizing your content for SEO.

8. Outreach. Outreach strategies like guest posting do not only expose you to a wider audience outside your platforms. These also create links to your site, which is great for SEO and your visibility.

9. Partnerships. Partnering with a fellow expert can also be beneficial to your brand. You get to tap another thought-leader’s resources instantly and widen your reach.

Things to Remember When Building a Personal Brand

Finally, here are other important tips to solidify your personal branding efforts.

1. Be yourself. Being your authentic self is the key to convey your message effectively. Find your brand voice and inject your personality as you develop your content.

2. Get good at telling stories. Your stories are what make you unique. Learn the craft of telling your stories while keeping your audience involved. It’s all about balance.

3. Post content regularly. Consistency is key. Create a content schedule so your followers have something to look forward to every time they visit your profiles.

4. Get out of your comfort zone. Learn how to write, get involved in speaking engagements, or learn SEO. The most established personal brands did more beyond their existing roles to get noticed by the public.

5. Stay on topic. Always tie back your post to your core topic, even if you post about your personal life on your social networks.

6. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Learn from established brands and use their example as a guide in developing your own strategy.

7. Get others talking about you. Actively ask for feedback and reviews from past clients. Their words speak volumes about your skills and values, boosting your credibility.

8. Use personal branding tools. Tools make the personal branding task a lot easier. Check out our list of affordable and easy to use personal branding tools here.

Personal Branding Examples

To motivate you further, here are three examples of individuals that are killing it with personal branding. Get inspired by their journey as you build your brand in your respective field.

Brian Dean

Brian Dean is a name that rings a bell to big companies and fellow SEO experts alike in the internet marketing world.

Brian built his popularity around his credibility.

In a world full of SEO “experts,” companies struggle to find someone who can actually deliver results. Brian Dean stands out because he positions himself as a reliable SEO expert.

Visit his site Backlinko, and you’ll find well-thought-out content and testimonials from real people to prove his expertise. And there are no sketchy ads to boot.

What Brian Dean Teaches Us: To build a personal brand, you need to build trust.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is one of the most admired tech leaders today. As the founder and CEO of Tesla, his personal branding has helped the car brand rise to popularity in recent years.

But how did he do it?

He gets personal on social media.

While most execs are still hesitant to build their personal branding on social, Elon Musk defies this trend. He is not afraid to share his opinions, personality, and crazy antics on his channels.

In return, his public popularity has helped spread the word about his company more effectively than Tesla’s advertising.

It just goes to show how tying a face to a company brand can work wonders.

What Elon Musk Teaches Us: Personal branding can beat company branding.

Lewis Howes

Lewis Howes was a professional athlete who found a new career as a lifestyle entrepreneur. If you’re following the guy, you’ll know how he went from playing football, suffering an injury, to creating a lifestyle business.

He uses his personal experience to teach people how to start a lifestyle business around their interests. Listen to his self-development podcast, The School of Greatness, and you’ll get to know how inspiring this man is.

What Lewis Teaches Us: Inspire with your personal story.

Final Words

When you take the reins of your personal brand, you control your narrative. You have the power over how people see you. You allow your brand to grow in a way that’s favorable to you and your business.

That said, it’s high time you work on your personal branding today. The guide above should help you get started on your journey. But if you need more guidance, consider hiring a personal branding consultant.

A personal branding consultant lets you save time, money, and energy, building your reputation online.

9 Key Benefits of Using WordPress (Why It’s Your Best Option)

May 29, 2020 by Steven J Wilson Leave a Comment

If you’re serious about your business, you should be thinking about putting up a website now. Having a website is a crucial tool for your digital marketing that can significantly help improve your branding and lead generation.

And when it comes to building a website, WordPress is your best choice.

You’ve probably heard about it, but today, you’ll learn more about what WordPress is. You’ll also discover why a lot of website owners love it, and why you should be using this platform for your business website.

By the end of this post, you’ll be convinced that WordPress is all you need to create your site.

What is WordPress?

When we talk about WordPress, we are referring to the self-hosted software WordPress.org. We don’t want you to confuse it with the hosting service WordPress.com.

But what exactly is WordPress?

Many of you know about WordPress as just the simple blogging site. But that’s a common misconception.

Throughout the years, WordPress has evolved into a powerful website builder and a content management system (CMS). And with its exceptional performance, it managed to become the most popular in the field, followed by competitors Joomla and Drupal.

That said, WordPress has become one of the various options to create and manage a website. Be it blogs, personal sites, business websites, and eCommerce stores, you can do it with the said software.

Why is WordPress so Popular?

One study from Kinsta shows that WordPress is the top website builder and CMS worldwide. In fact, it powers 35% of all websites on the Web. That’s a staggering one-third of the Internet.

Even top brands use WordPress to power their websites, including Time Magazine, TechCrunch, and Target, among others. To put that in numbers, the said CMS makes up 14.7% of the world’s top websites.

But why is the platform so popular?

It’s simple: WordPress is easy to use and flexible enough to build various types of websites.

Both its closest competition, Joomla and Drupal, require a certain level of coding knowledge to use these platforms. But not WordPress.

Although WordPress allows experienced users to work with advanced knowledge of coding, it’s not a requirement. Instead, the platform offers basic features for beginners which allows them to create a site even without technical knowledge of any programming language.

That’s a convenient feature, especially for busy individuals and business owners who can’t afford to spend time learning even basic coding.

And that is what sets WordPress apart from the competition.

With such convenience, it is no wonder why WordPress is a reliable website builder used to create 500+ sites each day.

Advantages of Using WordPress

The numbers above are proof that WordPress is the top choice for building websites across the globe.

But WordPress isn’t only popular, it also offers plenty of advantages for its users. Here are some key benefits of using WordPress to power your business or personal website.

1. Flexibility

Whatever your website needs, WordPress can deliver.

Whether you need a basic site to publish personal blogs and showcase a portfolio or a complex version to power an ecommerce store and multinational corporations, it can be done with the software.

The said website builder offers many themes and plugins to adapt to a business’ changing requirements. Depending on your needs, WordPress can be as elaborate or as simple to create and manage a wide range of sites with various purposes.

But its flexibility doesn’t just end there.

You can also use WordPress regardless of your technical experience level. It provides a user-friendly experience to everyone, whether you’re a newbie, an advanced developer, or anyone in between. This brings me to my next point.

2. Ease of Use

With just a few clicks, you can start your own site with WordPress. Yes, you can build a site even if you don’t have knowledge about coding.

But that’s not all there is to it when we talk about this software’s ease of use.

One of the most impressive features of the said CMS is its simplified content creation.

Many website owners find it time-consuming to add and format new pages, blog posts, and images regularly. But not with WordPress.

With its straightforward interface, you’ll find creating content here a breeze.

WordPress Dashboard — Source: WordPress.org

From the dashboard menu, you can access everything you need to create a new post. There, you’ll find text editors, ways to upload media files, and formatting tools.

You can even make simple site updates yourself. No need to wait for your web designer because WordPress allows full control of your site without much trouble.

3. Constantly Improving

The team at WordPress understands how important site speed and performance are to users. That’s why they always work to improve the platform.

When you use WordPress, expect that they’ll be rolling out some major core and minor updates every now and then. That is to fix small bugs and improve speed and performance for better user experience.

Not only the software is always improving, but so are its plugins and themes. This is vital because outdated plugins and themes are common reasons that slow down a website’s speed.

The great part is: the WordPress software updates itself automatically. And if ever you need to update your software version, themes, or plugins manually, you can do it in as simple as clicking the “Update Now” button.

4. Simple Integration of Themes and Plugins

With a large and growing directory, WordPress has a theme suitable for just about every type of website. Whether it’s for a personal blog, a business website, or an online store, you can choose from basic and premium themes available via the WordPress theme directory or purchasable from a third-party designer and design marketplaces.

Just like themes, the platform also offers tons of plugins to add specialized features on your site. A plugin is a piece of software added to WordPress to perform specific functions to the website. This includes analytics, contact forms, shopping carts, and more.

Once you’ve chosen your theme and plugins, you can integrate them easily into your website. WordPress allows for hassle-free customization without the need to write any code at all. That’s why it’s a great choice for non-tech savvy users.

5. Ranks Higher in the SERPs

Search engines such as Google love WordPress. And what does this mean for your site?

Your website is more likely to appear in the search engine results page (SERP).

WordPress is designed to optimize sites for search engine optimization (SEO). SEO helps websites get more traffic through organic search engine results.

In simpler terms, you’ll be easier to get found when users search for certain keywords on Google and other search engines.

This is because WordPress uses code that is clean and simple. WordPress also has some built-in tools and plugins that are SEO-friendly.

For instance, WordPress allows you to optimize each page, post, and image for specific keywords. This can be done via the platform’s title, meta description, and tags section.

When done correctly, this makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site. With such SEO features, WordPress tends to rank higher than others in search engines.

6. Security

In general, WordPress is a safe platform to run a website. It is built with security in mind, which is evident with all the constant updates to fight off threats.

However, the Internet is still unpredictable. There will be malicious attacks, hackers, and malware that can compromise your site.

The good thing is that WordPress enables you to enhance your site’s security with additional protection against intruders.

From integrating password protection, two-factor authentication and SSL certificates to installing WordPress security and backup plugins, the platform ensures that you are safe from cyber-crime threats.

That is if you stay alert and implement some security best practices available on the platform.

7. Mobile Responsiveness

In today’s world, mobile responsiveness is essential for any website. Both your audience and search engines require your site to look good on mobile devices. But why is that?

First, 52% of traffic comes from mobile devices. With such numbers, you have to impress and make those visitors stay, and a mobile-friendly website can help you with just that.

Second, mobile responsiveness also serves as a factor in search engine rankings. If you want to rank higher in the SERPs, your website should be mobile optimized.

Fortunately, WordPress strives hard to cater to mobile usability. The platform is geared to provide responsive designs, optimized images, mobile-friendly plugins, and fast site speed.

8. Own Your Content

Originally a blogging platform, you can expect WordPress to deliver with your content needs.

Publishing content on this platform is easy. It offers a built-in blog feature that allows you to add a new post whenever, wherever. No need to create a separate blog that will save you from all the hassle.

Then, WordPress lets you set up email subscriptions and RSS to your blog. The said CMS also has commenting capabilities, and it is even simple to add new blog posts to other pages of your site, say, your homepage.

With WordPress, you can use its blog features even if your site is unrelated to blogging. This makes it ideal for publishing announcements or updates about your business.

9. Great Support

With more than 30% of website owners using WordPress, you’ll never run out of how-to guides, tutorials, and resources for just about every concern you have regarding the platform.

Users have built a community of WordPress-loving individuals across the globe. They engage and help fellow users through various means, including WordPress forums and WordPress camps.

And it’s not only limited to WordPress. This community also extends to third-party applications that you may be using. So, you’re assured that there will be no shortage of resources on the web.

That’s on top of the help you can get directly from the WordPress support team. This includes 24-hour live chat support, resources, and documentation to get the most out of the most popular CMS.

Designing Your WordPress Website

Now that you know the pros of using WordPress, it’s time to design your first website.

Fortunately, design companies are making it easier for users like you to visually create your WordPress site. With professional-looking themes paired with intuitive page builders, you can have your own website in no time.

Here are some themes I recommend to get you started:

Thrive Themes

Thrive Themes offers conversion-focused WordPress themes and plugins to help websites turn visitors into customers, clients, and subscribers. It provides the tools you need to implement value-based actionable content for your audience.

Features:

Theme builder
Intuitive drag & drop editor
Quiz builder
Lead generation plugin
Testimonial plugin
Comments plugin
A/B testing for landing pages
Scarcity marketing tool
Professional online course builder

Learn More About Thrive Themes

Elementor

Elementor is built for professionals from freelancers to agencies. It’s an all-in-one solution for a visual design optimized for faster performance.

Features:

Visual theme builder
Design-responsive pixel-perfect layouts
Drag & drop landing page builder
Popup builder
WooCommerce builder
Form builder to generate more conversions
Dedicated widgets to streamline marketing efforts
Seamless integration of your favorite tools

Learn More About Elementor

Divi

Divi by Elegant Themes offers an advanced visual builder technology that takes WordPress to a whole new level. It features a visual editor that replaces the standard WordPress post editor, which can be enjoyed by both design professionals and newbies.

Features:

Drag & drop building
Visual editing
Custom CSS control
Responsive editing
800+ pre-made designs
40+ unique page elements
Inline text editing
Email opt-in provider support
Pricing tables
Social follow module
Built-in split testing

Learn More About Divi

Choose WordPress to Power Your Website

If you’re looking for a website builder that is easy to use and flexible, WordPress is your best option. This platform demands almost no effort from business owners who only want to create their first website—no coding knowledge, no design expertise, no hassle.

With plenty of available themes and plugins, you can create your site with just a few clicks. And maintaining your site wouldn’t be a problem with its technology.

To conclude, WordPress is simply the best choice for creating and managing a website. It wouldn’t be the most popular CMS in the world for nothing.

Now that you know the benefits of using WordPress, I hope this convinces you to use it for your website.

If this convinces you, then share this article and help fellow business owners start their own website.

What Is Lead Generation In Digital Marketing?

April 9, 2020 by Steven J Wilson Leave a Comment

In today’s developed market, lead generation becomes crucial for the survival of businesses, especially during this time. Your business can grow or become extinct based on how many leads you are able to generate.

Lead generation in digital marketing is about crafting valuable content for your audience & guiding them through a funnel that ultimately results in a sale.

To help you keep your head above the water and even thrive in today’s highly competitive business environment, I’ve put together a complete guide about lead generation. In this article, you will discover:

What are leads
What defines a high-quality lead
How to generate high-quality leads
Tips to increase the number of leads you get leveraging the power of digital marketing

By the end of this lead generation guide, you’ll be able to grasp the ins and outs of lead generation fully, and you’ll know how to get your own high-quality leads to keep your business flourishing despite any setbacks and challenges.

What is a Lead?

So what is a lead? A lead can be defined as a “prospective customer who lands on your page or gets into your marketing funnel and provides their contact information.” Simply put, a lead is a potential buyer who leaves their contact information and agrees for you to contact them, either by phone or email.

A site visitor can turn into a lead when they either register for an event on your site, call you, or contact you via live chat. If you have an upcoming webinar or a useful eBook, you can “gate” these assets and request for the email/phone number of your site visitors. Those who want to access these assets need to leave their name and contact information, turning them into a lead.

A site visitor who turns into a lead is eager to learn more about your products, services, or to find out valuable information that can help them. Even if most leads do not buy right from the start, as they are either in the awareness or the consideration stages, your chances of converting them into sales can grow considerably if you manage to “re-heat” your leads. I will detail the entire process later on.

The Importance of Generating Leads Today

According to a report by Nurture HQ, generating sales-ready, high-quality leads is one of the top priorities for modern digital marketers.

Smart marketers have understood that they need to employ the most innovative marketing techniques in order to turn today’s information-savvy users into leads.

Generating leads has become a must because of the digitization of our economy.

Almost all types of transactions are moving online. Banks are turning to digital onboarding, B2B companies are selling their services and products via their websites, and even realtors are using 3D mockups to sell houses and properties via the internet.

With more and more shoppers using the internet to purchase products and services, you need to have a strong presence online if you want to grow your business and outsmart your competitors.

Because most people tend to buy after multiple interactions, you need to have a proper attribution model in place. This means that you need to be aware of how much a particular technique in your funnel has contributed to the conversion.

Staying on top of the data you receive from every step in your funnel is vital to optimizing and scaling winning strategies.

What is a Good Quality Lead?

There are two types of leads – good quality leads, and poor quality leads. A poor quality lead is a person that will never buy from you or is not interested at all in what you have to offer. A good quality lead is someone who engages with you and has a real potential to turn into a customer.

Usually, most good quality leads are not necessarily ready to buy in the beginning. They need to realize that they have a desire and are the best person who can fulfill that desire.

As a rule of thumb, a good quality lead has the following traits:

They are pre-qualified: You have made an offer that only potential buyers of your product or service would be interested in, and they opted in to learn more. You need to send multiple emails and “feed” your leads various details, helping them to know, like, and trust you. This will help show them that they need you and should try your product/services.

They were quick to convert: A good lead that converts after just a few interactions is definitely a good-quality lead. So, even if they start to run dormant and don’t engage if you have a great product or service and delivering top quality, eventually, they could end up using your services again.

They are measurable: After the lead has made a purchase, you should be able to track that lead and discover more about there interest. For example, in the past, they have made repeat buys of a skincare product you sell but have recently liked one of your social media posts on skincare tips. This data is priceless and can be used to send special offers on skincare products to help re-heat a previous customer.

The Lead Generation Process

The lead generation process is pretty simple and straightforward. Let’s break it down below:

Step 1: A prospect discovers your brand through a marketing channel or tactic, such as paid ads, organic, email marketing, video marketing, or social media.

Step 2: The prospect clicks on a call-to-action, or CTA, which can be a button, message, video, or photo, which takes them to a landing page to learn more.

Step 3: On the landing page, the prospect finds an asset that they want to download, or wishes to talk to you via chat. They fill out a form in exchange for an offer.

Step 4: You are sending your leads emails to nurture them and to encourage them to choose you as their vendor or provider ultimately.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps:

1. Discovery

The first and most crucial step in this process is the discovery phase. You can use a wide variety of channels to promote your landing page and to showcase your brand’s strengths. You can choose anything from content syndication, blog posts, social media posts, emails, ads, retargeting campaigns, product trials, referral marketing, affiliate marketing, or even search engine optimization (SEO) for organic traffic.

Of course, another option you have here is to buy leads, but that’s not the ideal scenario for numerous reasons.

First, the leads you’ve purchased do not know you and have not found you online. If someone receives an email from a company that they never encountered online or spoken with, they will more than likely neglect your messages.

Second, you might be flagged as a spammer, and your account might suffer from that.

Third, you might buy a faulty list that has very few good potential leads. You would have done much better by investing in content syndication, native advertising, or remarketing.

To be safe, always try to generate leads organically.

2. CTA

The CTA is a key component of your lead generation process. Once your business is discovered on the targeted digital channels, you want to ensure that your CTA sparks the interest of your prospects and that they click on it. If your CTAs fail to capture the attention of your audience, then all your efforts, time, and money spent would have amounted to nothing.

To create a killer CTA, here are some advanced rules you can use:

Always use a strong command verb at the beginning: verbs like “shop,” “order,” “discover,” “find out how,” or similar ones will help boost your engagement rate quite a lot.
Make use of words that provoke enthusiasm and spark emotion: examples include “plan your dream vacation right now” or “buy it now and get a whopping 80% off”.
Offer your audience a compelling reason to act: think of your audience when creating the CTA. What’s in it for them if they click and land on your page? Tie the reason with your unique selling proposition (USP).
Leverage FOMO: also known as the Fear of Missing Out, this is a motivating factor that can dramatically increase engagement rates on your CTA. The best way to capitalize on FOMO is to mention a limited promotion. For instance, you can say something like this: “Limited offer! Sale ends today!” or “Download the eBook until it expires.”
Get creative: a killer CTA is always the result of creativity. For example, instead of a bland message that everyone uses like: “Call us today for more information,” use “Don’t miss out! We’re just a phone away!”. Also, the standard “Check out today’s deals” could be transformed into “Tons of amazing deals at your fingertips” for improved conversion rates.

Never get married to what you like or think your audience will like. You have to pay attention to the data. You may have to test several variations of your CTA to find the one that converts the best.

3. Landing Page

Once a user clicks the CTA in an ad or organic message and lands on your page, it is time to start the education process. While your final goal should be to convince your site visitors to leave their details or to contact you for a personalized deal, you must also focus on providing useful information to your users.

Educating your visitors before trying to convert them is key to gain more good quality leads. For example, if a user enters your page after he saw an ad about the new GDPR regulations, he will want to find out more about this and about how GDPR can impact his Europe-based store or clients.

After offering helpful information, you can provide them with an offer to leave their contact information in order to gain access to an outstanding GDPR-information eBook that can solve their problem. Anyone interested will leave their details, and you’ll have a new lead in your funnel to begin the nurturing process.

Your page and your lead capture forms should be eye-catchy and should entice your site visitors to interact with them.

4. Offer

In exchange for their personal information, you can give your site visitors an exceptional piece of content. This can be a whitepaper, case study, infographic, webinar, how-to video, interview, template, data visualization, free trial, a demo video, spec sheet, coupon, or quote.

How do you Generate Quality Leads?

When it comes to lead generation, it is crucial that you generate high-quality leads. Failure to do so can result in over 67% loss in sales, according to Steven Tulman.

To generate quality leads, you need to look at several aspects.

First, try to find out if your prospects have a specific need that they want to solve.

Second, provide a unique solution that caters to their needs and is easy to implement.

Next, do some brainstorming and research to discover if your target audience has enough money to spend on your solution.

The fourth step of the process involves taking into account the level of influence your prospects have in making a decision. If they are not the final decision-makers, you should probably get more targeted and focus on bringing only decision-makers on your site.

Lastly, think of how soon your prospects need to implement a solution.

To generate good quality leads, you need to add value through everything you do. You want to establish yourself as an expert in your niche who knows how to solve specific problems your customers might have. Your content should also be focused on addressing your customers’ pain points.

In the awareness stage, you should only create content that focuses solely on solving the user’s problems and needs. Next down the funnel, you should show them how your company can quickly solve their problems.

Only after they have decided to see what you have to offer, you can start promoting your services and advertising your expertise and accomplishments.

How do you Get Leads in Digital Marketing?

Today, marketers are more focused on the quality of leads than on quantity. For that, they use a mix of inbound and outbound lead generation methods. To get good quality leads you can focus your efforts on several areas:

Outbound lead generation strategies

These include content syndication, display ads, PPC ads, event marketing, and retargeting. Also known as “interruption lead generation,” these strategies are perfect for reaching out to prospects in the awareness stage who are not yet aware of your services.

The most common outbound lead generation strategy is using content syndication. This tactic involves pushing out your content on third-party sites to create awareness and spike interest. By wiring your content into specific digital contexts related to your business, you can boost your reputation and drive highly-qualified leads over to you.

Inbound lead generation strategies

Social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, and website optimization are considered inbound lead generation strategies. This is a tactic that leverages your prospects’ desire to make a purchase and showcases yourself as a true and tested solution. By offering an interesting mix of content and assets, you can spike your customers’ visitors and drive them down the funnel to the purchase stage.

A Website

Optimizing your website is key to getting more qualified leads. This is probably the most essential method of generating high-quality leads since your website acts as a portal between your brand and potential customers. Almost all customers convert after at least one interaction with your website or landing pages, so you want to ensure that your main platforms offer a superior experience to all its visitors.

Since over 96% of visitors who land on your site are not yet ready to buy from you, it becomes crucial to optimizing your website. This means you need to ensure it loads extremely quickly, it works flawlessly on mobile devices, offers streamlined navigation, and has no broken links.

A Blog

Your blog content is an excellent source of new leads, especially when it is optimized for search engines. You can use a wide range of methods to transform your blog into a lead-generation system.

For starters, you want to offer exclusive content to your readers that provides value and demonstrate your expertise.

Next, you can offer them certain perks. For example, if they read your blog on a regular basis, you can entice them to enter a contest and win a discounted product or service.

Lastly, try to capitalize on slide-in CTAs that appear on the page once readers scroll down the page. Intrusive popups still work, but I’m a fan of less intrusive options as long as they convert better, of course.

Content + SEO

Your content all across your site should be optimized for SEO. Of course, SEO is quite complicated and involves optimizing numerous aspects on your website, together with link building and social media integration. However, the most crucial part of SEO involves creating content that sparks engagement and uses the right keywords.

To generate leads through SEO, you should also start using schema markup. Schema markup enables you to rank higher in SERPs (Search engine result pages) by enabling search engines to understand your content better. This may also allow you to get featured in Position 0, which will drive up additional targeted traffic to your site.

Email marketing

An essential lead generation method that comes at a reduced cost and offers excellent results is email marketing. This is widely considered to be the least costly ways to generate high-quality leads and to re-heat cold leads. Email marketing is famous for enabling US-based businesses to enjoy up to a 4,300% increase in ROI.

To fully capitalize on the power of email marketing, you should start by designing automation campaigns and a funnel. People who land on your page from any source and complete the form should immediately receive a thank you email, plus a link to the resource they requested. After a few days, they should receive a follow-up email with a link to another asset. This funnel can have several iterations, driving people down the funnel until they are ready to purchase from you.

Social media

Leveraging the power of social media is a must if you want to get more leads. To use social media marketing for lead generation, you can start by promoting gated content on your social media accounts. Next, use giveaways and contests and drive up engagement. Lastly, set up alerts for relevant keywords or hashtags that mention your brand or your products. You can also use a tool such as Hootsuite to stay in control of your social media management.

PPC Ads represent a unique online advertising model where you can display information about your products and services. You’ll pay when a user clicks your ad and visits the page, or you can pay for 1,000 impressions. You can run PPC ads on virtually any platform, including Google Search & Display Network, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora, Twitter, and even Amazon. You can create highly targeted display options in order to reach your prospects right where they are. With this method, you can generate new leads extremely quickly. However, it is imperative to continue “heating” them on your site and email list, with targeted content.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, it is vital to strive to leverage all the tools and strategies you have at your disposal in order to drive more qualified leads.

People can quickly find any type of information they want without much effort. This can hinder your growth if you don’t have enough content or the proper lead generation methods in place.

The ever-increasing competition has made it a must to implement effective digital marketing strategies in order to compete in many industries.

If you need help integrating a new tactic that would help you drive more quality leads, do not hesitate to contact me.

What are some lead generation tactics that work well for your business or areas you’d like to improve on?

What is a Personal Brand?

Why a Founder’s Personal Brand Matters

How Personal Branding for Founders Impact Your Startup

1) It allows you to demonstrate your value

2) It builds credibility and trust

3) It attracts paying customers

4) It attracts the interest of investors

5) It encourages customers to recommend you

6) It lets you forge real connections

7) It helps you achieve your business goals

A Startup Founders Guide to Personal Branding

1) Create your branding mission statement

2) Build a personal website

3) Develop your social media strategy

4) Showcase your expertise

5) Be helpful to your audience

6) Get your team involved

7) Build a community

Start Your Personal Branding Journey Here

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What Are Common Core Values?

How To Find Your Ideal Clients Using Your Core Values

Be Consistent

Be Authentic

Tell Your Story

Don’t Rely On Being Relatable

Don’t Commodify

What Isn’t A Core Value?

Common Interests

World Views

Behaviors and desires

Developing Your Core Values

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What is a Personal Brand Statement?

Personal Brand Statement Examples

1. “Be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.” – Larry Kim

2. “Empowering ridiculously good marketing.” – Ann Handley

3. “Create less content. (It’ll be fine! I promise!)” – Brittany Berger

4. “Do you want more traffic?” – Neil Patel

5. “I build and grow SaaS companies.” – Sujan Patel

6. “Real life on a budget.” – Jessi Fearon

7. “Practical help for freelance writers” – Carol Tice

8. “I believe in you… Now you must believe in yourself.” – Dave Nelson

9. “The world needs that special gift that only you have.” – Marie Forleo

10. “Travel smarter, cheaper, longer. Where do you want to go?” – Nomadic Matt

11. “Be a blessing.” – Tony Robbins

12. “50% Marketing, 50% Geek – 100% Social Business Results” – Pam Moore

13. “It’s time to unleash your epicness.” – Felicia Hatcher

14. “Learn how to scale your influence at startup speed.” – Adam Enfroy

Bonus Statement: “Super charge your company’s brand. Grow reach. Build trust. Boost sales.” – Steven J Wilson

How to Write an Effective Personal Brand Statement

Step #1: Identify your unique proposition

Step #2: Define your audience

Step #3: Inject your personality

Step #4: Make it memorable

Power Up Your Personal Brand Statement With These Tips

Now, Start Writing Your Personal Branding Statement

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What is Personal Branding?

Why is Personal Brand Important?

Getting Started: Personal Branding Questions You Need to Answer

What are your goals for your personal brand?

What value do you offer?

Whom are you trying to help?

What sets your personal brand apart?

How will you communicate your value to others?

Where will you connect with your target audience?

What will you do to position yourself as a leader in your industry?

What are other successful people in your industry doing that you are not?

Are you connecting with like-minded professionals?

Are you moving close to your goal with your current activities?

Building a Personal Brand: 9 Actionable Steps

Step #1: Define your branding goals

Step #2: Determine your value

Step #3: Identify your audience

Step #4: Define your brand voice

Step #5: Develop your branding statement

Step #6: Build your presence online

Step #7: Create focused personal branding content

Step #8: Build relationships within your industry