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- How to build a strong personal brand in 2020.
This is not gonna be the typical advice
you get on personal branding,
I'm gonna give you seven tips
that are gonna help you build a strong personal brand,
both online and offline.
Because remember, your personal brand is your reputation
and your body of work.
And to pretend that personal branding doesn't exist
or that it's gross is to pretend that Google
and social media don't exist.
Let's get into the video.
Hey, everybody, this is Roberto Blake,
helping you create something awesome today.
Welcome back to the channel.
So for the new people here, first of all, welcome.
My name is Roberto Blake, I'm a creative entrepreneur.
I'm a public speaker, and I really help people build
their brands and businesses online.
That's what I really love to do, and I'm passionate about.
So if you're into that kind of thing,
make sure you Like the video
and Subscribe with notifications to get more.
Let's talk about building your personal brand.
The first tip that I want to give you is to really think
about what it is you want to be known for.
What do you want your reputation to be?
What is something that would allow you to stand out?
What is it about your story that is unique
and compelling and powerful?
This is something that I think a lot more people
should be focused on.
There's a lot that goes into the idea of niching down.
But when we talk about niching down,
we're really just talking about creating a focus
and a way to be more authoritative.
And it is something that I think is valuable.
But I want to reframe that for you.
I want you to really think about what it is
you want to be known for.
And I want you to think about how relevant
that is to a particular type of individual,
somebody that you want to build a relationship with.
Let's face it, when we hear things like personal branding,
we hear curate yourself, productize yourself.
And there are a lot of people that find that repelling,
or gross and I understand where they're coming from.
But we are a curated version of ourself
and most of our human interactions.
And that's not the same thing as being inauthentic.
The same people who are judging personal branding
in that way, are the same people that probably would,
you know, not give you the job opportunity
that you apply for if you didn't cure rate yourself
to understanding their brand, their business,
their whims and their taste, and you decided to go 100%.
Alright, so again, I'm not telling people to be inauthentic
in how they present themselves,
I'm telling you that context matters.
And that in reality,
you are thoughtful at least if you want to be successful,
in how you communicate, in how you present yourself
and what you want to be known for when you're trying to
attract certain people or opportunities for you.
So what you put out there does result in what you get back.
My second tip when it comes to personal branding,
and building a powerful, building a strong personal brand,
is to really think about the quality of your work
and what it says about you.
Your reputation is based in your relationships,
but a lot of times your relationships
and how people feel and speak about you
has to do with whether or not you were able to deliver
for them, and also what their experience of your work
has been over a period of time and so you really do need to
think about the quality of your work
and what you're putting out there,
and what the experiences people have had
when they've interacted and engaged with you,
and with your ability to deliver for them?
Are you creating value for them?
Are you creating unique value, is the experience
of working with you, or buying your product or service,
a superior experience, really think about that
and how you're gonna make that work.
I'll give you a primary example.
One of the things that I do with these YouTube videos is,
it takes about a couple of hours for them to catch up.
But I provide closed captions on these videos,
because that's gonna be a better experience
for the viewer, I make sure that I've invested a lot of
money into the audio quality and the audio experience
and into the sound design in these videos,
because it's gonna make them easier to watch.
It's gonna make it more likely that people say
good things about the quality of my videos
and that they share them with other people
who they think would also enjoy them.
So when I think about the body of work that somebody has,
I think about how that quality speaks to their work ethic,
their values, their commitment to their craft,
and I think that if you want to build a
strong personal brand both online and offline.
pay very close attention to the quality of your work
and the standards that you hold.
Tip number three for building a strong personal brand
is to be accessible and discoverable.
Remember when I said to ignore personal branding
or to derive personal personal branding is to act as if
search engines and social media do not exist.
They are an access point and a discovery point
for people who don't have context on you yet.
So this is a matter of reputation management,
reputations take a lifetime to build and moment to destroy.
Okay, always remember that.
So when we want to be accessible and discoverable,
we really need to think about what happens
when people do a Google search on us,
what happens when people look us up in social media.
And to that end, you also need to think about
how accessible you are in terms of the ability
to reach out to you, to communicate with you.
How many hoops do people have to jump through in order to
reach you because that's gonna be part of the experience
that they have and the way that they think
and feel about you and the way that they communicate
that to other people, so that's gonna impact reputation.
The other thing is, again, that discoverability factor,
being able to dictate your own narrative to be able to speak
to your reputation, and in many cases to be able to defend
your reputation when necessary.
The reality is that you live in the world
that you live in right now,
I'm not gonna say much more about that.
And so I really think that understanding
the value of reputation management
and the role that social media and search engines play
in that and how to best leverage that is something
that is gonna be a bigger conversation
over the next few years
than it is right now,
but it already should be a very important
conversation and you should be taking it seriously.
Tip number four on personal branding, you know,
speaking of social media, and these platforms,
a lot of people tell me, Roberto, I don't have time to be
in every social media platform.
I totally understand that
especially when you're just getting started.
And while this our advice is a little controversial,
I tell people to really focus on
two to three platforms.
Two to three already sounds like a lot, Roberto,
why wouldn't you just focus on one,
what you focus on is what you grow.
You say that all the time.
The reason that I think you should focus on two to three is
because I think that you should think about one platform
that allows you to be a content platform.
And to put that first, whether you're doing a podcast,
a YouTube channel, you're doing a blog,
I want you to think about that as your core central content.
And I need to think about what platform
that should go on,
what platform is best suited to that medium,
and also to that audience and plays to your strengths.
So that's your primary platform, okay.
But your two secondary platforms should theoretically
be a platform that you can take micro content
to help promote and supplement that to introduce people
into your larger form content you so you should have
basically a macro platform and a micro platform,
but then you should have a communication
and networking platform that allows you to focus on
relationship building and also could be distribution
for this content.
So you see that the three of those things
are gonna be working together.
We have macro, which is the big platform,
we have micro, which is the smaller platform.
And then we have a distribution outlet.
A real example of this would be YouTube, Instagram,
and then Twitter, or it could be YouTube, LinkedIn,
and Instagram.
Instagram is a very powerful communications platform
for cultivating an audience.
But LinkedIn is a powerful platform
for building a professional network.
So you have to really decide what your personal brand
falls under and which platforms are appropriate
for your goals, but also play to your strengths
and give you this balance.
And just remember that some platforms
you're gonna be putting content on once a week.
Others you're gonna be putting on several times a week,
and then others might be multiple times a day,
Twitter would be a multiple times a day platform.
Instagram would probably be multiple times a week.
YouTube could be multiple times a week
or even multiple times a month.
It does not need to be daily.
So saying that you don't have the time, I understand.
I challenge you to audit that.
And really think about where you can effectively use that
time and what platforms make sense.
If you're actually trying to choose the best social media
platform for your brand and business, I actually have
a dedicated video on that topic.
I also have another video you should watch
if you want to dominate social media in 2020.
So make sure you're watching those videos.
And again, Subscribe and hit notifications
if you're enjoying the content so far.
Tip number five for building
a strong personal brand is consistency.
One of the most valuable characteristics
of a person is consistency, then being reliable.
And consistency isn't just about, you know,
consistently posting content or doing anything like that,
again, this happens online and offline as well.
being consistent in your messaging,
being consistent in your character,
being consistent in the way that you present.
Being consistent in your values.
These are things that are important and that people use
to kind of evaluate you or judge you, and you know,
I think it's perfectly reasonable to want to see if someone
has a consistent standard that they hold themselves to,
in the way that they deliver,
especially if you're gonna have
a working relationship with them.
Now, from a visual branding and aesthetic standpoint,
I'm a big fan of consistency when it comes to aesthetics.
Because of my background in photography, and graphic design.
I really focus on this a lot.
There's a lot of psychological principles that go into that.
But the reality is that we like things that are familiar
and we like things that feel congruent.
So if you can, aesthetically,
make sure that you're consistent
across your social media platforms,
your headshots and things like that.
It goes a long way toward people feeling
like you're reliable and that you pay attention to details
and those are valuable qualities in someone that we want to
build any type of relationship with.
The framework that I think for consistency is be consistent
in your purpose.
Be consistent in your presentation
and be consistent in your priorities,
if you can remember that,
then I think you'll do well.
Personal Branding tip number six is
that your vibe attracts your tribe,
I believe in the law of attraction.
I believe that you attract people to you with the content
that you put out.
I believe that you attract people to you with the body
of work that you build,
and the experiences that you create for people.
And so while a lot of people are skeptical about this,
I really do believe that this is the case.
And I think that even when my own experiences
with building this channel that have attracted
like-minded people, to me with the topics
and subject matter that I cover, my delivery, style
and presentation, and also the standards that I hold myself
to really kind of reflect the way that people communicate
with me in the comments section.
People in this community that we've built tend to be
respectful, they tend to be older people,
they tend to have some sense of maturity,
but they also aren't sticks in the mud.
They actually know how to have fun
and they like to be authentic and I'm my authentic,
goofy self.
I'm not afraid to like I don't sit here and I don't try to
act professional, I just am professional in terms of
the standards that I hold.
But the reality is I am a Star Wars nerd,
I'm not gonna hide that from you guys.
I do prefer to wear athletic gear and things like that.
I mean, and in my own videos,
I wear my own merchandise and I don't mind doing those
things compared to trying to impress people with a suit
and tie because that's not really authentic to me,
I've never been comfortable in a suit and tie.
And it's important to be comfortable on camera
in order to deliver effectively and authentically
for you guys, and my channel has grown in proportion
to my own confidence in myself.
So I do believe that your vibe does attract your tribe,
your community, your relationships.
And I also think that in any business
that you're building beyond your personal brand
in your business, you should be trying to cultivate
and attract people that hold your same standards
and your same values.
And that should be the people that you want to network with
and build relationship with.
So that's just kind of like my advice when it comes to that.
And then finally, tip number seven
when it comes to building a strong personal brand
is that everything we do is going to add up
to the reputation that we have.
And so you should act in a thoughtful manner,
in everything that you do, everything that you put out,
everything that you communicate, it represents you.
And while this may not be like the sum total
of the experiences that you've created,
and everything that you've done, for some people,
it will be the first and only experience they have of you
one way or another.
So you really need to think about that and make that count.
And so whether that is the experience you have with someone
at a networking event, the experience they have with you
in a business transaction, the experience that they have
when they are watching or listening to or consuming
your content, you really need to remember
that that might be the first and only impression
you get to make with somebody
and so you should make it count
and you should be thoughtful,
not everyone's gonna be in on the joke.
So when people say things like well make content
for your audience, I think that you should make content
for your intended audience,
not just the people that you've already won over,
but the people that you're hoping to reach.
And if you can avoid alienating them,
I'm not telling you to pander,
I'm not telling you to be inauthentic.
I'm telling you that if you want to build relationships,
you need to be willing to meet people halfway,
because that's what relationships are.
So there you go, those are my seven tips
when it comes to building a strong personal brand.
I really hope you guys enjoyed this.
In fact, if you want, I do have a free ebook
that you can get on personal branding
that gets into a little bit more detail
on this kind of thing.
I also will be sending out some more emails
that can help you if you're trying to cultivate
your personal brand.
And so yeah, if you want to sign up for the newsletter,
there's a link in the description for you.
I also have a lot of advice here for businesses
and entrepreneurs or anybody who's also trying to build
their brand in social media.
So if you're into that kind of content,
you can check out the other videos there in the description
and in the playlist that I'm gonna link up here specifically
and I really just hope that you guys got value
out of today's video.
Question of the day.
What are you doing to build your reputation?
What are you doing to build a strong personal brand?
And also what are your other questions
about personal branding and social media?
Let me know in the comments section.
Like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to Subscribe,
check out the other awesome content here on the channel.
As always, you guys thanks so very much for watching
and don't forget, go out there
and create something awesome today.
Take care.
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