Your personal branding strategy – how will you stand out?

You’re in business and you want to grow it, right? Or, you’re an employee and you want a better job as you want to climb the corporate ladder.

How are you standing out in your market so you get ‘seen’ or, more importantly, are recognised as the expert or authority in your niche?

Sadly, in business there’s so much ‘sameness’ or, dare I say it, blandness!

At networking events, often one accountant looks and sounds like the next. Same for lawyers, same for coaches! For electricians, IT professionals, events managers…. just about anyone…

That goes for LinkedIn and other social marketing platforms too.

So many people are commoditised in the way in which they present themselves in business

How can we fix that and stand out?

We must take control of how we present ourselves – our personal brand – in all the places we are seen.

Check out what appears when you’re Googled. Happy with what you see?

I know many of us think that personal branding is only for celebrities, sports people and ‘big-wigs’, and once upon a time, you’d have been right.

That’s not how business works now!

To achieve extraordinary success in business we must stand out

That doesn’t mean we have to aim for global domination. No. Personal branding is about YOU – and connecting you to the niche market you want to attract. It’s about connecting you to that market in a way that’s memorable and desirable, so that if they ever need your product or service, they’ll hopefully buy from you.

If you’re being interviewed for a job, or tendering for a piece of work/project, how will you stand out to get noticed – to win the job or project?

If you’re a florist in your town, how are you standing out from other florists in your town?

If you’re an internet marketer, how do you distinguish yourself from others who are teaching people to achieve success online?

If you’re an economist in a bank, and you want a promotion or new job, how do you differentiate yourself from other candidates?

Create your own personal branding strategy

I’ve developed a tool to assist with this – it’s the Personal Brand Star System™. It will help you to think about you and your personal brand in the market you want to attract.

The Personal Brand Star System™ will help you create your personal branding strategy and, once implemented, you’ll have greater success in standing out in your market.

The Personal Brand System™ refers to my 7+1 Ps of personal branding.

Passion
Positioning
Personalisation
Platforms
Products
Partnerships
Profitability

+1… Performance.

If you’d like to develop your own personal branding strategy to help you achieve the business success you’re seeking in 2016, then please click here for the free e-book I’ve written.

Extraordinary success – what does that mean for you?

Personally, I think we all want to be successful… it’s just the quantum of success that differs. What does success or extraordinary success in business mean for you?

How big will your business be?
How much will you pay yourself?
How high will you get on the corporate ladder?

Stand out as the expert or authority in your market and you can achieve anything and everything you desire in business and life.

Now, that sounds great to me.

I’m leading by example as I’m in the process of evolving my personal brand… keep watching to see what that means… 2016 is going to be a fantastically extraordinary year in my life… partly due to the rebranding work I’m doing.

I truly hope you’ll embrace the idea of being your own personal brand and being recognised as the ‘go to’ person – the expert, the authority – in your business niche.

Here’s the link to my e-book on the Personal Brand Star System™ to help you develop your own personal branding strategy.

Let’s make 2016 rock!

QUESTION: What’s your biggest excitement or fear over the idea of developing your personal brand? Please leave a comment below as I’d love to know.

Would some guidance from me be helpful to you? If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me. Here’s my calendar to make an appointment. I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.

Personal Branding: Instagram vs Facebook

Anyone attempting to build their brand – personal or business – using Facebook fan pages as one of the online platforms to get ‘seen’ on, will know how difficult it is getting traction. Facebook doesn’t show everyone our posts, engagement with our communities is lower than it was (because Facebook isn’t showing everyone our posts), and we have to pay to grow our community.

I get that Facebook is a business and they have to make money, but for many of us who are building our brands – both online and offline – Facebook fan pages are a challenge these days.

While many people are building their communities on their personal Facebook page, Facebook doesn’t like that and may penalise them for it, so we must use Facebook’s fan pages to grow our community instead.

WOW – have I been impressed!

In early November I started using Instagram as I’d heard it’s brilliant for building brands – personal and business – and communities.

I set myself a challenge to get to 2500 followers/fans in a month – I got there in two weeks! I then had 5000 people following me, then 7500, then 10,000 and now I’m on my way to having 15,000 people following me on Instagram.

And I’ve got loads of people ‘liking’ and ‘commenting’ on my posts each day. I’m rapt with how it’s going! The best news though….. it’s free.

This is not a ‘buy fake fans’ or ‘buy fake likes’ Instagram campaign. This is ME doing the work to a system I’ve worked out… and it’s going brilliantly.

While my first goal was only to focus on how many followers I could get (I got 10K followers in 70 days), I’ve also had loads of those followers join my email community too. Bonus!! That was the strategy I was planning on embarking on after I got to 10K followers.

Impressed?

Why Instagram is important

I could reel off vast numbers of facts and figures on why Instagram is important as a social marketing tool in building our brands, but I’ll save those for another day….other than to say this:

400 million users are on Instagram each month (with 30B photos shared to date).
Your personality can shine on Instagram.
The top 10 major brands and loads of lesser known ones are using Instagram with enormous (profitable) success.
Instagram is for everyone – whether you’re promoting products, services or YOU as a brand.
Pictures paint a thousand words… we take in more information via images than we do with words.
Instagram LOVES #hashtags… and hashtags are all the rage in social marketing… so we need to embrace #hashtags too.

Here’s my Instagram as of today (22 January 2016) – currently with 12,700 ‘likes’.

Standing out from the crowd

We must stand out in business to get seen.

How are you going to stand out from the crowd?

What will people see when they Google you?

Are you represented on social media platforms? That’s expected these days, and for many of us, we don’t want to be found just on LinkedIn or via our website. We must be found elsewhere too… Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube… and Instagram.

For many of us Instagram is a fantastic platform.

Want to learn how I did it?

As a personal branding strategist and business growth coach, I’m committed to helping people find and use the ‘right’ platforms to showcase their expertise and authority in business.

If you are wondering if Instagram is a good platform for you to use, then drop me a line at success@adelemclay.com and let’s work it out.

If you’re already on Instagram in your personal capacity, take a look at people you know who are ‘branded’ and see what they’re doing on Instagram. Many successful people are there… but it’s still a new tool and so many have yet to work out its benefits.

If you know you must be on Instagram as a key online social marketing tool, then you may be interested in the short course I’ve created called ‘Get 10K Followers on Instagram in 90 Days and Grow Your Email Community too!’. It’s only USD77.00 and you’ll learn loads, including:

• Setting up on Instagram (the correct way)
• Finding the ‘right’ people who may want to join your Instagram community
• Posting on Instagram
• Growing your email community via Instagram… and much more.

Here’s the link to learn more about my short course – Get 10K Followers on Instagram in 90 Days – and Grow YOUR Email Community too!

This course is delivered via 5 videos with accompanying slides and other materials. You can complete the course from the comfort of your computer at a time that suits you. There’s about 2 hours of videos, and it’s all very easy to implement.

I’m so excited about Instagram as a key social marketing tool… as it’s still a young platform, I’m going for it before the rules change and we have to start paying to use it. After-all Instagram is owned by Facebook so the ‘game’ will change at some point.

So, here’s the link to learn more my short course – Get 10K Followers on Instagram in 90 Days – and Grow YOUR Email Community too!

I hope you’ll seriously consider Instagram as a marketing platform for you and your business.

Love
Adele xx

There’s more to life than work, work, work!

Week three of the New Year is upon us. Are you still firing on all cylinders, focusing on achieving those big goals in business this year?

I know my energy is high as I put in the hours towards achieving some big business goals in 2016.
Even though I’m really excited, work in itself is not enough for me. As the old proverb goes: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. That’s code for we get bored and we also become boring!

I don’t know about you, but I ain’t having a life like that!

So the big question is then, “what’s all the hard work for?”

I’m sure we all have a different response to that question. But I hope the essence is the same…. ‘to have a better or different lifestyle’.

But do you know what that lifestyle ‘looks like’? Do you have a vision for the way your future could be or will be?

If that vision isn’t in place, then you’ve got nothing to aim for.

David (my husband) and I have a VERY clear vision on where our life together is heading. So, when we’re toiling away at our work, making a few sacrifices in the meantime, pushing through the challenging times, we still see the ‘big picture’ and feel that we’re getting closer to achieving it.

Exciting stuff!

But what about interim goals? Aren’t they important too?

Absolutely! When I reviewed my 2015 year, I realised that I hadn’t focused on achieving personal goals – things that would give the year that real ‘feel good factor’. 2015 felt like a lot of work and very little ‘play’ for me. Grrrr!!

2016 will be different.

I’ve now set some personal goals that will give me a thrill to work on and achieve over the next 12 months. I can’t wait to tick ‘em off throughout the year.

For me, it’s important to set personal goals around seven key areas, being:

Wellbeing (my personal health and fitness goals)
Achievement (my big BRAZEN personal goals that will take effort and focus to achieve)
Growth (my own personal development)
Experiences (the key things I want to do with my family)
Relationships (key people in my life and deepening our relationships)
Spirituality (nurturing my soul)
Legacy (memories I create in the lives of others)

In each of those areas, I’ve set very clear and accountable personal goals. I know what I want to achieve and by when. Bring it on!

So how about you? What are your personal goals? Not the goals that are linked to business plan.

What are the goals that nurture you as a human being?

The goals that make the hard work worthwhile?

The goals that make your heart sing and give more meaning and purpose to your life?

Here are my Experiences goals for 2016.

In July 2016, to take a helicopter ride over London with David, Gemma and Alex (our kids), Nicola (my PA), and my dad who will be visiting from New Zealand (this goal is a secret – thankfully my family don’t read my blogs :)).
To have a three week holiday in New Zealand and Australia (Melbourne and Perth) in August 2016 with David and Gemma.
While in New Zealand in August, to visit Queenstown (in the South Island) and to do a Bungy Jump (slightly mad perhaps, but I’ve always wanted to do it).

Your turn now. How about taking some time for yourself and thinking about what you’d like to achieve in the seven key areas I’ve mentioned?

Finally, to inspire me daily towards the achievement of my goals, I’ve typed them up and put them in a photo frame that sits on my desk in my office. Every day I stop and take a few minutes to visualise myself reflecting back on 2016 in December, having had a year filled with love, joy, the achievement of my personal goals….and much more.

My year will be enriched. My year will be extraordinary!

May your year be enriched with life, love and achievement outside work. May your year be extraordinary too.

ACTION: In the comments below, how about letting me know of ONE key personal goal you’ve set for yourself this year? Perhaps your goal will inspire others with theirs.

What will you achieve in business this year?

I love this time of year…..there’s an atmosphere of renewed energy, excitement and hope about what we’ll achieve in business and in our lives.

We feel unstoppable… invincible, even.

Bring on 2016, we say.

BUT…. Are we really going to achieve all that we want to in 2016?

In my experience, many businesses fail to achieve the extraordinary or even get remotely close to achieving any goals at all. Why?

Because they don’t know exactly where they’re going and how they’re going to get there.

So many business owners and entrepreneurs live from day to day or week to week in their businesses. Sadly, that’s why so many fail or constantly struggle.

Take a look at your business in 2016. Have you thought about the following?

Purpose: What are you doing for your clients and why?

Vision: What’s your longer term view of what you will achieve in your business?

Values: What values are important in your business?

Unique Value Proposition: How will you stand out from the crowd in your market? What’s your point of difference?

Market Niche: What market do you want to focus on? Dominate, even?

Company Promise: What’s your business’s promise to your customers? (NOTE: Please don’t say ‘excellent customer service’ as that’s a given for all businesses).

Strategy: What are your long-term and medium-term strategies in the areas of Marketing, Branding (company and personal), Sales, Financials, People/Team, Operations/Systems?

Key Actions: What needs to be done and when to achieve your long and medium term strategies for 2016?

Key Performance Indicators: How will you measure your performance and potential success? What KPIs (financial and other) should you be measuring in your business this year, and why?

Great work if you’ve started the year off with a hiss and a roar and have all the above written in a simple, useable and easy to read document.

Remember to review it each week and month end to ensure you are on track.

If you’re a bit stuck and not sure what to do to plan your business according to the items above, check out my great friend, Deri Llewellyn-Davies’ FREE e-book called Strategy on a Page.

Here’s your personal link to Strategy on a Page.

The world of business is changing so fast that it’s easy to get seduced by the ‘next shiny thing’ that comes along. While we all need to be nimble and evolve our business and the way in which we do business, we must still have a plan in place that directs us NOW. That’s what the items above do for you and your business. They give you goals to aim for with frameworks (strategies), tools and actions to support you in doing the work.

Yes, we may need to change our plan as time moves on… but if we don’t have a plan to start with… we’re doomed….and our business is driving us rather than us driving our business. I know which I’d prefer.

Make 2016 a big hitting year for you and your business. I’m certainly doing that in mine. But it all started with the planning. Let’s compare notes in December 2016.

ACTION: I’d love to know what ONE thing will be a game changer in your business in 2016. I’d be delighted if you left a comment below.