Simple Ways to Build Your Brand and Expand Your Influence
I hate the term “Personal Brand.” The term itself connotes something less than authentic. A carefully curated presentation of self that more often than not feels hollow and manufactured.
But I am a passionate advocate for the concept behind it and its importance in your career, business, and life. In my view, your personal brand is your reputation, your influence, your impact. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. It’s how people remember you.
The famous Maya Angelou quote often comes to mind:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Your personal brand is how you make people feel. And when you invest in intentionally cultivating a personal brand, you empower yourself to make more people feel your energy and your impact.
Your personal brand can make or break a career. There are few other investments you can make in your career that can have such a big impact. But there’s something about this nebulous term, personal brand, that makes many of us a little uneasy and rather lost when deciding how to proceed.
Note: Want help building your personal brand and expand your influence? We can help you craft a killer strategy or just go ahead and do it for you (and your team). Let’s talk.
As a result, I find many people whose work deeply inspires me toil away in relative obscurity because they feel reluctant to tout their own success.
As a friend recently said on the subject, “it just feels so awkward to brag about how great I am.”
And this is the trouble. Far too many of us believe building a personal brand is all about bragging, boasting about our wins, and seeking praise from the adoring masses.
Nope.
The foundation of any strong personal brand is adding value, helping others. Not talking about how great you are.
Here are a few simple ways you can expand your influence and become just a bit better known for the work you do.
4 simple ways to build your personal brand and expand your influence
(that don’t involve Social Media and don’t cost anything)
1. Answer questions on Quora
Quora is an intensely popular online forum where people can ask questions about pretty much anything. No matter what you specialize in, or what you just plain find interesting, there is a community on Quora asking questions about it.
Create a profile with information about you, links to your social and/or website, and ways to get in touch for more information.
Answer a question a day. In no time at all, you’ll earn tons of views and grow your influence in your industry.
2. Write a blog post a week
Whether it’s on Medium, LinkedIn Pulse, or your own blog, start getting more content out there. I know it can feel really intimidating to commit to this frequency of content production, but if you commit to writing for 10-15 minutes every day, you’ll easily have a blog post per week.
If you’re not sure what to write about, pull out a journal and jot down some ideas.
What questions do you wind up answering all the time?
Write down something new you learn every single week.
What lessons do you wish you’d learned earlier? How can you share those lessons with others?
What is something you wish more people understood about your role, your life, your industry, etc.?
3. Teach a class or lead a workshop
Sometimes the best way to remind yourself of all that you have to share with others is to get in front of a group of hungry students. We often think we don’t know enough about whatever our area of expertise is, but it turns out, compared to a novice, we know a lot!
Find a local meetup, a college or high school, a startup accelerator, or some other local organization that might be interested to learn more about the work you do and how you do it. Send their organizer an email and offer your services. Most of the time these organizers are on the hunt for people to share their insight and knowledge and your offer will be welcomed.
Keep in mind, the way you maximize the value out of this experience is by following up with people attending the session, sharing your experience through a blog post or even a video, and finding ways to keep the conversation going. Let this experience be the beginning of your time sharing knowledge and teaching others.
4. Get interviewed by a podcast
One of the easiest ways you can share your expertise is by joining an industry podcast for an open discussion about the work you do. It can be a fun way to connect with other thought leaders in your field, while also allowing you to test your messaging and build some confidence in getting out there.
So how do you get these interviews?
A rather well-known business podcast host recently told me 50% of his interviewees emailed to pitch him on why he should interview them. And the vast majority of the time they were a great fit and he brought them on.
He also shared that women and people of color almost never did this. Clearly that should change.
Spend some time googling the podcasts in your industry, make a spreadsheet with all the relevant info. Then commit to sending 5 emails a week, asking to join their podcast. You’ll be amazed at how many respond with an enthusiastic “Yes!”
These ideas will each take some time to execute. They may be simple, but that doesn’t make them easy. And the work is worth the reward. Building a personal brand, putting intention into how you want to make people feel, and finding ways to expand that influence and grow that impact will pay dividends in ways you can’t imagine.
Try some of these out. And if you want help, let us know. We do this work for clients all the time, helping them have the influence that years of work have earned them.
Ready to own your story, build your personal brand and become the leader you were born to be? If so, click below and access my absolutely FREE guide to build your personal brand today.