Developing Your Personal Brand
For years we were told to either have a personal brand or not let your work do the talking. It's important to remember today - both are right!
When your work doesn’t seem that impressive or isn’t from that big logo people recognise or have their own story with, it can be hard to cut through the noise.
Good Guru Advice? I was given some advice many years ago by a Marketing “guru”,
“Either work for big brands or build out your profile and a personal brand and stand out above the competition”.
I can’t say whether it was good or bad advice but what I can say is I tested the advice and as time has gone on it’s become hyper-competitive and the platforms know this.
There are many options for us to build our brand(s) now, from simple short-form videos (nothing fills me with more dread than creating content for TikTok) to long-form articles and even Angel investing.
Quick Disclaimer: Just because you build an external personal brand doesn’t mean it will improve your internal company brand, and in some cases, it can hinder it.
I thought I would give you a few stories and reflections from my experiences.
Speaking
Speaking At Conferences (For Public Profile) - speaking at conferences can be a great high but also to do a great job you need to invest hours on the deck, the crafting of the delivery and travel. I had a job offer that led from meeting me at an up-and-coming conference and the other side to being trolled on Twitter and then running away when I tried to discuss it...
Keynote Speaker (For Public Profile) - This is the next step up from speaking at conferences. I love the process of creating the deck not as much as the delivery of the presentation on the stage, I have had some great experiences like at Love Inbound with the community as the next moat for business and speaking in some amazing venues across the world. What can be a challenge is the time requirement, the travel and juggling the need to work while you might be at the conference.
I have also experienced mics breaking, the presentation screen breaking behind me and a power outage so I have probably experienced most bad things that could.
Conference / Webinar Panelist (For Public Profile) - arguably the easiest but now often requires pre calls and pre agreeing the topics and what is your side of the debate. I personally have met some smart people while speaking on panels but it isn't something I tend to say yes to now for in person events unless it's a topic I am actively working on or coaching on. If you are looking to build your profile and be seen as an expert in a specific field, being a panel member is a great start to your speaking career and a chance to get in front of industry peers.
Creating and curating content:
Podcasts
Host/Co-host (For Public Profile)- I have had 3 podcasts, it is incredibly hard work and proves to you how much of an audience you do or don’t have. I found hosting and co-hosting a podcast a great experience, I love the organisation, the creation and the editing process but it takes a lot of work even with brilliant tools and you often have to invest a fair amount of time and money into the format. Podcasts are a format that can genuinely show off your expertise and grow a social following with.
Guest (For Public Profile) - As a guest it is easier, I love the podcast format and have had some brilliant follow-up questions and conversations. LinkedIn is often a platform where you will see connection requests come in. I have won work by sharing clips of the podcast so if you are willing to promote and distribute your involvement you can see some wins. Shows always need expert guests who aren’t authors telling the same stories over and over…
Newsletters
(For Public Profile) - I have had many newsletters, Leaders Letters (currently on a sabbatical) and Must Reads have been running for many years. Marketing Unfiltered is something that came out of some frustration with the lack of great content by marketing leaders and the gap in the market that Harry and I wanted to explore. It’s a great platform to share experiences, knowledge and connect with other writers and contributors.
Newsletters can be extremely hard to grow as you are asking for 5-15 minutes a week/fortnight to consume your work. Newsletters are a longer form of LinkedIn and are a personal connector you mostly own vs platforms like X/Twitter, LinkedIn and co who filter your updates. If you have a blog and enjoy the process of writing or writing longer-form LinkedIn content, a newsletter hosted on Substack or Beehiiv will be an option to own and build out your audience - you can always promote it on your LinkedIn and other social platforms.
Sharing Advice & Expertise
Office Hours (For Semi-Private Profile) - I have spoken at a handful of venture capitalist events and have been invited to follow up with office hours, I find the events great and always enjoy helping their portfolio clients with problem-solving and breaking down any challenges they might be facing. I met some of the smartest startups who are or were household names and were great to continue discussions with. Office hours is a lighter workload vs others and if you are looking to expand your network or build out a consulting business, this is a good option.
Mentoring, Sponsorship & Coaching
I have been a passionate advocate of mentorship and sponsoring friends and former colleagues. It's a hugely rewarding experience, but they are all slightly different and require a strong career and a good personal brand to deliver on.
Mentorship (For Semi-Private Profile) is a great personal brand exercise and can be an exercise to help build those around you and connect with different opportunities. Often mentorship will help you as much as those around you and build out your experiences. Reverse mentorship is an excellent option to build connection with CEOs, COOs etc who feel disconnected or are looking to evolve how they see disciplines.
Sponsorship (For Semi-Private Profile) is another great service to offer and support those you truly believe in. Sponsorship requires you to put your neck on the line/some of your reputation to back others. This has led to many good relationships to grow and enabled me to recommend people, consultants and agencies that I truly trust which has assisted my brand and hopefully will allow people know to trust my recommendations and most importantly help those former colleagues to progress their careers.
Please don’t just do mentorship and sponsorship for brand development reasons…
Coaching (For Semi-Private Profile) - I believe (almost) every Marketing Leader could benefit from is coaching and exec coaching. We are rarely taught how to be a manager (many are promoted and expected to manage being a manager and doing their former role) let alone to be a leader and then to be an executive. I have had some great coaching clients that came from seeing my profile, being active in offering advice and high quality longform content and then many coaching clients come in via word of mouth.
Your personal brand will go up by delivering for your coaching clients.
Advisor / Advising (For Semi-Private Profile) - Often when you have done a great job and built a professional profile, it is a lot easier to gain inbound and be asked to advise companies and come on as an advisor. I have had a few opportunities arise from being known, having worked across marketplaces and talking to founders who have seen my work, read my insights and even blog posts.
Being a personal brand is more than just commenting or sharing on LinkedIn, it’s more than having to say, it is offering great insights through experience, it’s cutting through the noise and most often being seen as an expert who gains a positive reputation from personal recommendations.
Here’s a definitive list of opportunities for developing your own personal brand, the effort required, and the cost it may incur.
Not everything is low-cost and has a huge upside
My Recommendations For Improving Your Personal Brand Development
Have 3 areas you want to talk about, whether that's audio, video or written. 3 is easy to discuss and not information overload. Start by creating content and sharing that with friends, work colleagues and industry colleagues. When you have found your voice and brand, work out your distribution channels and share your unique take(s).
Don’t be afraid to be different, building your brand could be a voice note, it could be a visual newsletter (like Work Chronicles) on Substack, it could be a dedicated mid-form video content on YouTube or it could be an Instagram account writing the wrongs on ads or sharing your thoughts on big brand Marketing Campaigns. Something that stands the test of time and people will say to themselves “what do you think or say on that subject”. I know in the Jaguar rebrand week, I received numerous WhatsApp messages on the brand refresh.
Marketing yourself can be the hardest thing to do, especially if you want to do it organically, its an investment in yourself, your time, significant energy and in some cases money to kickstart your personal brand.A personal brand is a choice, you can go as deeply or as tentatively as you’s like. Just don’t fall into the trap of concentrating on just LinkedIn, it is over-saturated and engagement levels are small, please do use it as a distribution centre for your brand and great tips and demonstrate your expertise.
This post originally sent out on my Marketing Unfiltered newsletter with my co-creator Harry featured, please read original post here and make sure you hit subscribe
