Brands are typically associated with companies and their products. Companies use their brands to establish their market identities and shape their prospects’ and customers’ perceptions of them.
Brands, though, aren’t limited to just companies and products. Individual people have brands as well.
Some obvious examples of people with brands are the Kardashians, Peyton Manning, and Michael Jordan. Each of them has carefully shaped their public personas – their brands – to endorse products and produce revenue. Another example of how individuals are leveraging their personal brands is college athletes who are now able to control and monetize their NIL (Name, Image & Likeness).
Most of us will probably never be able to reach a point where our brand can be used to make commercials and create million-dollar revenue streams. However, as business professionals, our brands still have the power to influence. Our professional brands can impact the way employers, employees, peers, customers, and prospects view us.
What is your professional brand? Do you have one?
Is it the brand you want it to be or would you like to change it? Changing and building your professional brand can’t be done overnight, but it can be done. And just like brand marketing for a business, it requires a strategy and disciplined execution.
Most professional brands are built around our areas of expertise. People are always seeking out subject matter experts.
Just about everyone we deal with – our employer, our employees, our peers, our customers, and our prospects takes comfort in the fact that you have specific expertise that you’re bringing to the table.
What is your subject matter expertise? What knowledge, skills, and experience do you have that others are seeking?
The second step in building or changing your personal brand is promotion – crafting communication that positions yourself as a thought leader.
Being a thought leader simply means that you’re willing to share your subject matter expertise and experience with the world. People like John Maxwell, Seth Godin, and Marcus Lemonis share their insights via bestselling books, keynote speaking engagements, and TV appearances.
While that may be a great goal, it’s not likely your professional brand will receive that kind of exposure today. The good news, though, is that there are some simple things you can do today to impact your professional brand. Here are a few ideas.
This doesn’t mean you have to write a New York Times best-seller. Start by contributing to your company blog.
Many blog and content managers are starved for content. They're always looking for topic ideas and new contributors. You have something no one else in the world has – the combination of your expertise and your unique experience. Don’t be afraid to share it with the world. You don’t have to be self-promoting. Instead, be instructive and educational.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are ideal for sharing your expertise, positioning yourself as a thought leader, and building your professional brand.
When you publish a blog article, write a short post and share a link to it. Even if you haven’t written an article, you can still write a brief post about a particular topic that gives insight into your point of view.
Further, it can be very effective to share other people’s articles and posts with your social media network. Your brand can be enhanced if you write a short synopsis or your opinion of the article you’re sharing.
The algorithms for each social media platform are very complex and there's no magic number to the frequency of your posting activity. Your objective then should be relevance and consistency. Share insights that your network cares about and carve out a few minutes each day or a few times per week to actively post, re-post and engage on LinkedIn.
The objective of sharing posts and insights on social media is to drive engagement – you want people to “like”, comment on, or re-share your content. The key for that to happen is quality content. The content that drives the highest engagement is content that educates and informs your audience.
Mix what you post about up a bit. Posts can include photos, videos, documents, celebrations, profiles, polls, hiring opportunities, or simply your thoughts about a current event.
Sales professionals should take advantage of another channel for sharing insights they have at their disposal. Embed links to your articles and posts in your one-to-one communications with prospects and customers.
Finding and sharing articles that help answer questions and address objections can be a great way to share your subject matter expertise and position yourself as a thought leader. Tools like HubSpot Sales Pro make it easy to store, embed and send these types of communications.
Continually, be looking for ways to grow your audience and expand your reach. Actively, invite your associates, customers, and prospects to follow or connect with you on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Make it easy for them by embedding links to your social media platforms in your email signature and on your company website.
The benefits of thought leadership content are clear. If you want to support your brand's messaging and boost your exposure by creating genuine relationships and impacting decisions, then you need to know how to create effective thought leadership content, and also where to share it.
Below are some of our top-performing articles on thought leadership:
Dean Moothart : June 28, 2021
As a professional employer organization, you know that your services are essential and effective. Your team is highly trained and experienced at...
Emily Hartzell : March 28, 2022
Did you know that 88% of decision-makersin the United States think that thought leadership is useful for improving the perception of a business? You...
Maryanne McWhirter : October 13, 2021
Who wouldn’t want to be a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in their field? If you're an SME, are you automatically a ‘thought leader’ too? ...
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Dean Moothart