Want to Be a Subject Matter Expert? Start with YOUR Brand!

Personal branding is commanding a lot of attention these days, especially from job seekers and people trying to get ahead in the workplace. The reason is simple. It’s your identity.  If what you do or what you sell doesn’t match up to your identity – if you’re not passionate about it – people take notice.

But, others also take notice when you own your personal brand, when you present yourself as and prove yourself as the subject matter expert in your field.

Branding the individual is especially relevant in the professional services, where developing thought leadership is a critical tool in an expert’s rise to prominence. I’m not talking about the self-described, “empty-suit” expert. Instead, these are serious professionals who want to increase their visibility and become recognized industry experts.

To become a true subject matter expert, you need to focus your attention in the right areas.

Top Personal Branding Tips

1. Focus your expertise

Don’t try to be an expert in too many things.  Why? Because people are not very good at associating an expert with more than one thing. Not to mention, it’s very difficult to master multiple disciplines. A few exceptionally gifted people have become experts in more than one field, but most are remembered for only one of them.

Whether or not you consider yourself the leading expert yet is unimportant. “Leading expert” is in the mind of the beholder. If you can state your expertise in clear, simple language, you’ve already taken a huge step forward.

Let’s say you’re an accountant and you say your expertise is in taxes. “Taxes” is just too broad a concept. A focus on “state and local taxes” would be better, but you may need to go even narrower to find an expertise platform you can “own.” How about “state and local taxes for online purchases”? It’s very specific, but still applies to a lot of businesses out there.

Once you get their business based on your narrow focus, you can always up-sell your other services.

2. Pick your issues carefully

One more advantage of a narrow focus is that it limits what you will write and speak about. No longer faced with a wide world of possibilities, you can work within a clearly defined range of issues.

When you zoom in on an area of specialty you’ll discover a whole new ecosystem of problems, challenges and ideas just waiting to be answered, explained and debated. In fact, it’s possible to become overwhelmed by the complexities of practically any niche.

The key is to focus on issues where you can shine. Ask yourself:

• Where do your interests lie?
• Where do your clients struggle most?
• Where can you deliver the greatest value?

At first, focus on just two or three issues. These will be issues that you write and/or speak about on a regular basis, so you should either understand them in depth already or be prepared to put in the research to get up to speed. Your goal is to become closely identified with these issues, so make sure they align well with the services you sell.

Choose issues that have legs. That means that they 1) don’t have an easy solution, and 2) aren’t likely to go away soon. 

3. Shape your personal profiles to be consistent with your expertise

Take a look at your bio on your website and the personal profiles on your social media pages. Do they present you as a highly credible professional? Do they convey a consistent message? And do they connect you to the issues you’ve chosen to write and speak about?

In addition, professional head shot is essential if you want to convey a high-end personal brand. That doesn’t mean it has to lack personality — you can take your shot in any setting. But it needs to look great. A web cam portrait or cropped dinner party shot isn’t going to put your best foot forward.

4. Write regularly on your area of expertise

Writing on the issues you care about in small, steady increments is one of the best ways to build a loyal following. And writing on a regular schedule comes with significant added benefits, too: it helps you master new material — deepening your expertise — and it forces you to think through and refine your arguments.

Where do you publish your writing? Your company’s blog or e-newsletter are cheap to produce and flexible enough for a busy schedule. You should also look outside your firm for new opportunities to share your ideas. Seek out publications and blogs that speak to your target audience. 

Many of your readers will be new or unfamiliar with the issues you cover, so it’s okay to return periodically to your most important points and apply them to different situations. Even long-time readers may appreciate looking at a familiar topic from a new angle.

The important thing is to set a schedule and stick to it. Even when you are busy. Try reserving a time on your calendar every week for writing. If you can’t find the time, or just don’t like to write, hire someone to write in your voice.  Then, all you have to do is approve the piece!

5. Embrace speaking events and webinars

Public speaking is one of the most popular — and effective — ways to become a visual expert. It’s a terrific way to demonstrate your expertise and strengthen your personal brand. If you choose your speaking events carefully, you can reach groups of people who not only are in your target audience but are very receptive to your ideas. And if you can meet members of the audience face to face after the event, you can make personal connections that are just not possible online.

Webinars are another great way to expand your visibility to new audiences and build your personal brand. Like speaking events, webinars allow you to share your knowledge and express your personality. You can even field their questions at the end. And once you’ve been doing them for a while, webinars can attract hundreds of qualified and engaged prospects at a time.

Whether you choose to speak publicly or conduct webinars (or both), live events provide a unique opportunity to give your audience a taste of your personality. They can also expose you to a new set of people outside your local area who haven’t yet discovered you through your writing.

6. Network with peers and prospects

Networking can be a powerful tool with two important dimensions:

• Who you network with: You obviously should rub elbows with people who can use and buy your professional services. That’s a no brainer. But, there’s another group that might not be so obvious — experts. Network with other experts, especially those who serve an audience similar to yours but don’t directly compete with you. Their recommendations can hold a lot of clout. Associating yourself with respected authorities can place you in their league. It’s not necessarily a bad idea to network with your direct competitors, either. They can’t always handle all the work that comes their way, so they can be valuable referral sources. If you take a different angle to solving problems, it might complement their own approach.

• How you do it: The “how” is easy. While face-to-face networking has some real advantages, its reach is limited by the time you can spend on it. Social media, on the other hand, can be a faster and easier way to build your brand. To the uninitiated, social media — with its plethora of platforms and tools — can be intimidating. But most industries favor just a few. LinkedIn is the most common social platform across the professional services, and many firms use it exclusively. In higher education, Facebook is very popular. A quick review of competitors’ websites should point you to the one or two essential social media tools in your industry.

If in-person networking is working for you, by all means keep doing it. But if you haven’t yet utilized social media, it offers a lot of possibilities to increase your exposure, meet prospects and other experts, debate relevant issues and share your expertise. This is exactly how personal brands are built.

It’s Your Brand!

Establishing a true-to-you, effective personal brand will not only help you discover your true talents and passions, it will enable others to see that passion, knowledge and performance as the leader in your field. Don’t try to tackle all of the above at once.  But, the more time you can devote to building your personal brand, the faster your stock will rise.  If you are struggling with developing and promoting your brand, we can help!  www.stonekingconsulting.com   

Your Business Website(s): Two is NOT Better than One

Many business owners understandably take a hands-on approach with their online marketing and SEO tactics. But, no matter how involved they are in their marketing endeavors,  the fact remains: they are not subject matter experts in the world of marketing and web design. It should be noted that when it comes to a local business website, not everything you’ve heard are indeed best practices.

Often, SEO marketing techniques are misunderstood. One of these often misguided efforts is the practice of creating multiple websites under one business, or hoarding related domain names, which are then redirected to the main site.  We see this many times.

When business owners approach us they:

a) Already have another website, but want to have more than one.

b) They bought several additional keyword-based domain names that are set to redirect to their main site.

Although the right intentions are there, in truth, these efforts may end up hurting your online presence more than helping.

This scenario is more common than you’d expect, with many local business owners believing that more is better. “If I have more online properties, I’ll be more visible.  “If I have more assets to leverage, it will strengthen the main website and create more rankings and visibility.”

Before diving into a potential headache of what might be counterproductive online marketing tactics, let’s look at a few reasons why having multiple websites for your local business is a bad idea:

1. Time & Effort

Most business owners are already too busy running their business and don’t have all the time necessary to allocate to building and maintaining one website, let alone two or more. And more often than not, they don’t have the technical know-how or a webmaster or SEO expert on hand to help them out.

However, when it comes ranking successfully in the local SEO game, your website actually requires a good amount of unique content, quality backlinks, and both technical and non-technical SEO. Unless you’re fully prepared to carry out the maintenance, SEO, link building and more content for both sites, I wouldn’t recommend this approach. Instead, I would recommend focusing on your business first, and keeping time spent on online assets to a minimum, managing only one website, and perhaps even hiring a professional to help manage it for you.

2. Duplicate Content

In the online world duplicate content can be quite a concern. Not only for content targeting your business brand name and contact details, but also for the targeted keywords you will be optimizing your website for.

Search engines like Google will see two sites with similar or duplicate content, will pick one of the sites (more often the older more authoritative site with a history of backlinks) and pay less attention to the 2nd one.

On the other hand, there are particular cases where the secondary site accidentally steals the ranking spotlight and takes away visibility and value from the original site. It may be a constant tug-of-war on which website Google should rank higher.

3. Search Engine Rankings

Let’s assume you find the time and resources to build a second site, create unique non-duplicate content, implement proper SEO, and build quality backlinks.

When you have multiple websites targeting the same industry, geography, and keywords, you will essentially end up competing against yourself, especially if you have the same business name, address and contact info.

Search engines such as Google frown upon businesses having slightly different names but essentially the same service, address, and contact info. And when these similar differences start popping up throughout the internet, both the inconsistencies in business contact info as well as duplicated info on multiple business sites can and will most likely negatively impact your rankings.

Also, in terms of link building per address and local citations, most business listing websites only allow one unique business to be listed. Therefore, trying to build inbound links to multiple websites ultimately ends up limiting you to listing one website or another, strengthening one, while weakening another.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to point all links to one site and receive 100% ‘link juice’, as opposed to only getting 50%, 25% each?

4. Customer Confusion

Having multiple websites under one business may confuse visitors as they are not sure which of the many websites is the “official” website. This can be a major factor in converting visitors to customers due to the potential loss of trust and possible business. People searching online may not have a high level of patience for making this determination.

5. Are there any Exceptions?

When it comes to local businesses you generally don’t want to have more than one website, but there are a few exceptions to this rule:

– The business services are so different that service segmentation makes sense.
– It is an international business where it might makes sense to have both a .com version as well as a .ca in order to better cater to each demographic.
– You actually do have two separate businesses, each with a unique name, address, and contact details.

A Better Approach

First off, don’t buy industry/geography related domains for the sake of creating multiple sites or redirecting the domains to your main site.

If you’ve already purchased these additional domain names, then sure, you could use domain redirection (‘301 redirects’) to the main site. However, this won’t provide much SEO value unless the site has a previous history with preexisting external links pointed to your site. And in most cases, your domain is relatively new, so this tactic will be providing no SEO value.

Instead of building multiple sites, and all the work that goes into it, focus your energy, time and resources into a single online entity. Build one main website and build it great. If you don’t know how to build one, it’s best to hire an expert.  If you need an easy-to-navigate website that sets you apart from your competition, flows in a way to best turn visitors into customers, and maximizes your SEO, SK Consulting can help!

Summary

When you start trying to optimize and leverage more than one entity you begin to spread your efforts too thin. Instead of spending a ton of time, energy, and resources to build a few mediocre websites that have a bit of authority – why not use that same effort to build one high-quality and highly-authoritative website that will have a much better chance at ranking than the smaller counterparts?

If you are not a web designer or developer, spend your time, efforts and energy on doing what you do best.  Hiring an expert to combine your websites and build one, comprehensive site will save you the time, stress and headaches you would inevitably incur.  What’s your time worth to you?  What is gaining the business you are currently losing worth to you?

Having one concise website, designed by an expert will give your business a better chance of success.  Need help?  Contact us today! 

Better Your Business By Blogging

If you run a small business, chances are you are wondering if blogging is worth the time and effort. The short answer is a resounding YES! Blogging on a frequent basis is a relatively easy, inexpensive way to enhance your inbound marketing efforts, drive traffic to your site, and attract more perspective customers.

Once you attract them, it’s important to engage with your consumers online.  Consumers are learning about services and products through social media and search. Your online marketing and brand strategy cannot rest on logo and trademark alone. Regular blogging about relevant issues in your field will increase your visibility. Once someone relates to a blog you have written, it can go viral increasing your audience and potential consumers.

Blogging also allows you to put forth a more authentic voice behind your logo, trademark or website. In a blog you can provide analysis on the specific benefits of your products. Also, including the latest research or cutting-edge matters in your field will distinguish you from your competition and will build your credibility as an expert.

Still Not Convinced?

Here are some of the most important benefits of having a blog for your business (multi-level marketers and agents within a business too):

1. Boost Search Engine Optimization-Search engines love fresh content. What better way to provide frequent content than with blog posts. By blogging consistently, you give Google and other search engines new content to index and you create opportunities to plug in those all-important keywords to increase your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPS).
   
   
2. Develop Relationships with Potential and Existing Customers-Blogging allows you to connect with your site visitors. This can be accomplished by asking your readers questions at the end of your posts to get the conversation going or by simply allowing comments and feedback. By reviewing and responding to readers’ comments, you can create a rapport with your audience, build trust, and gain valuable insight into what your customers are looking for.
   
   
3. Establish Your Business as an Industry Leader-No matter how small your business is, you can build trust and clout within your industry by providing valuable, expert information in your blog posts. Over time, you become a “go to” resource for helpful, informative content, which can ultimately lead to higher customer conversion rates. This is especially important for small businesses looking to gain credibility to compete with larger companies.
   
   
4. Connect People to Your Brand-Blog posting allows you to show a personal side of your business that perspective and current customers won’t see through outbound marketing techniques. Blogging gives others a sense of the corporate standards, vision, and personality of your company.
   
   
5. Create Opportunities for Sharing-Every time you blog, you create an opportunity for your audience to share your blog with others. Whether they link to your blog post, tweet it, or email it to others, it’s free marketing and it further validates you as a credible business.
   
   

From a practical standpoint, blogging just makes sense. With minimal effort and expense, you can build credibility, boost search engine rankings, increase website traffic, and foster relationships with potential and current customers. This is an opportunity no small business or individual agent should pass up.

If your writing isn’t stellar or you’re not sure where to start or what to write about, we can help!  Don’t just write to write.  Write to educate.  Write to inspire.  Write to drive business. If this is not your cup of tea – it’s okay to hire the experts!  www.stonekingconsulting.com  

Attention Millennials: What You Post Online Becomes Your Brand

We often think about branding as something done only by large corporations, but everyone has a personal brand.

Think about your friends; there are probably a handful of ways you could describe them. Those words are probably part of the individual friend’s brand for why you like him so much.

While branding used to only apply to your regular social circle, the Internet now means that everyone carries an online persona that is part of their brand. This is both good and bad. If you go on a racist rant on Twitter, that rant will become negative branding and can hold obvious consequences.

There’s a lot you can do to improve your online brand beyond obvious tips like “don’t go on racist rants.”

Here are a few small things which can help you stand out from the crowd with your online brand:

1. Know your strengths and apply them.

A brand is a fundamental reflection of your personality. If you’re not funny in person, trying to be funny online is going to look strange. You have to identify what you’re good at in personality and skills, and make it part of your brand.

Identifying your strengths is much harder than it sounds because people are far more generous, kind and intelligent in their own minds than in reality. Instead of trying to identify your strengths yourself, contact people who know you in a wide variety of settings — from professional to personal — and ask them to tell you.

Discussing your strengths with many different people can give you a better picture of what your strengths actually are.

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2. Too little is better than too much.

No one has the time to be active on every social media site out there. Pretty much everyone has a Facebook account, but what about other websites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram?

No matter the outlet, remember that your online brand relies on regular, interesting updates. Even posting about something as mundane as what exercises you did over the weekend can help elevate your brand and humanize you.

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3. Clean up your social media accounts.

If you have a successful brand, people are going to look you up. The more successful your brand is, the deeper people are going to look.

That can be a serious problem. Even if you aren’t serious about building your brand, remember that certain photos or Facebook posts can be a serious detriment to your work or relationships.

Employers look at social media accounts of potential workers and more than 80 percent of them have said they are less likely to hire someone with an unprofessional account. They are also just as willing to fire someone who they catch making unprofessional posts.

So, take a moment to clean up your Facebook. Also, Google your own name to see if anything unsavory comes up. It’s better for you to do it than your boss, or friends.

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4. Don’t talk about only yourself.

The entire point of building a brand is so that other people become interested in what you have to say. But, it’s a reciprocal relationship. If you aren’t interested in other people, why should they be interested in you?

While your brand should be about yourself and what makes you special, don’t hesitate to give shout-outs to others. If people have comments or questions, answer them.

Always look for a chance to make a friend online. More friends means more links which results in a bigger online brand.

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5. Don’t give up.

Building a brand is something we do every second of our lives, so creating a new one can be challenging.

But don’t give up. Keep tabs on the progress you’ve made, and pat yourself on the back when you’ve accomplished something. When you look back on your hard work, you can feel proud of how you managed to present yourself online.

What you post should be relevant.  What you post should be authentic.  What you post is a clear reflection of your true personal brand.  If you need help determining YOUR brand and how to set yourself apart (in a positive manner) from the crowd, contact us!  

Marketing for Introverts

In the workplace, part of having a successful career often comes down to personal branding. While stepping outside of your comfort zone can be scary, it’s important to take some risks and forge connections with others in the industry. This can be really tough for introverts who often crave alone time and tend to be shy. If you’re an introvert, you may have searched for ways to promote yourself without being annoying.

Personal branding can be really intimidating when finding yourself in a professional world where you’re forced to work alongside extroverts who are usually very sociable. The workforce does not have to be overwhelming for those who are not comfortable spending a lot of time around others building their personal brand.

Here are six tips to help introverts make their way down the path to personal-branding success:

Don’t be shy to talk about your accomplishments.

Oftentimes, introverts fail to get well-deserved recognition because they don’t promote themselves or bring attention to themselves. Many people don’t know the ways to brag about your accomplishments without coming across as arrogant. It’s not smart, though, to rely exclusively on others to talk about your accomplishments. Letting them go unnoticed may get in the way of promotions in the workplace. Take the time to decide just what you want to say about your accomplishments to make sure you receive credit where credit is due.

Work hard to forge strong relationships.

It’s typical that introverts seek a mentor to help them find success, especially because introverts may not know who, when and how to ask for referrals. Forging strong relationships with people will speak up on your behalf can be valuable when you need a person to vouch for your skills and abilities.

Share your ideas.

You don’t have to turn into Chatty Cathy, but feel free to open your mouth and talk about a new idea or opinion you have. Doing so is a way to help ensure a boss or manager will be aware of your contribution to the organization. If this is a struggle for you, mentally lay out what you plan to say prior to saying it.

Do not over-analyze your performance.

It is common that introverts are hard on themselves because they tend to become really self-conscious when in the limelight. Don’t beat yourself up over your “mistakes.” Instead, concentrate on your successes.

Rehearse before situations that make you nervous.

If you have a presentation around the corner, practice for it. Utilize a mirror or entrust in the help of a friend to make yourself more comfortable. The more times you do something, the less foreign it becomes.

Always have a plan.

If you have networking events on your calendar, take a moment to lay out a plan. Have a few conversation starters in mind, such as comments about things many people can easily discuss, like current events or movies. Small talk flows more naturally for people when you find things you have in common.

Introverts often say they feel more comfortable communicating online instead of in-person. Personal branding is important, and introverts should make sure to take advantage of the various online networks for young professionals, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, to gain more contacts in a less stress environment. The professional world can seem daunting to introverts, but any person out there can learn proper networking skills to boost their personal brand.

If you need help building your confidence or just coming out of your shell, we can help!  The more confidence you have in yourself and your brand, the more adept you will be at talking about it.

Multi-Platform Branding is Essential to Your Business Success

Creating, and maintaining, a brand across platforms can be a challenge, particularly if the idea of cross-channel marketing and multiple platforms leave you scratching your head. In fact, what do those terms even mean, and where do you start?

Branding is about so much more than a logo or recognizable imagery these days; it’s about engaging customers at every turn, establishing relationships, and encouraging loyalty. In short, branding is everything. The way you approach cross-channel marketing, and interact with each platform available defines your brand and determines the successes and failures of your business.

Branding is more than advertising; it’s used to express your company’s voice and relay its message, and to create an identity by which you’ll forever be associated. A strong brand will carry your company well above its nearest competitors, reach out to customers, and attract their loyalty. More than that, branding is essential for personal identity. In understanding, creating, and maintaining your brand you ensure that all employees, no matter their job description, comprehend where the company has come from, what its main goals are, and where it’s hell-bent on going.

The evolution of branding

While branding once revolved around a company’s image, color schemes, and logos, print and television advertising, these days there are multiple platforms on which customers can be engaged.

Cross-channel marketing, or multi-platform branding, encompasses a variety of mediums. Rather than relying upon a single method of marketing, such as print media, multi-platform branding can be adapted to embrace all kinds of platforms, including targeted pop-up adverts, social media pages, viral videos, mobile apps, and websites and e-commerce. It is essential that you realize your brand identity is just that; the ‘face’ that customers will recognize instantly, and engage with.

Rather than waiting for customers to come to you, or stumbling across your marketing material by accident, multi-platform branding allows your company to step out of its comfort zone and engage with potential customers like never before; Social media and SEO (search engine optimization) are vital when it comes to cross-channel marketing; these days it’s all about being seen.

Ensuring branding success

Understand your customers: Before you begin the task of creating a brand it is essential to get to know your customers, their spending habits, and how they’ll access your marketing material. How do they use and interact with technology? Where are they most likely to come across your brand? The age and web habits of your clients will say so much about where your brand needs to go.

Define and create: First thing’s first; while understanding the platforms you’ll be accessing is essential, it’s also important that you stay true to your brand. Don’t plan a campaign around the media, but allow it to work for you. Have an idea of what you’d like your brand to stand for, and achieve, and create something that defines your business’s story; who are you, what do you stand for, and where are you going? Your brand should be fluent, and recognizable across any platform.

Voice and communication: The tone of voice your brand uses is vital; it must be unique and specific, able to stand the test of time and the domination of the crowd. Be sure to communicate your brand clearly and honestly, making sure that it is reflective of the products and services on offer. A brand isn’t a smokescreen to trick customers in, but a means of introducing the service you deliver.

Consistency: Perhaps most important when it comes to branding is consistency; try to avoid repetition, but ensure the image that you’re delivering is the same across all platforms. It must be recognizable, regardless of how customers are choosing to engage with you. Remain focused on your brand and its message, use tools and resources wisely, and don’t waste a second of exposure. Finally, use your brand to inspire customers to feel a certain way about your business; ensure they know who you are, and what you’re able to offer.

When it comes to branding across multiple platforms there are three ‘C’s that you must remember, without which many marketing attempts prove futile. They are courage, commitment, and communication. It takes great courage to think outside of the box and to push your business further than ever before, commitment to ensure that your brand remains consistent and accessible, and communication to convey that message in the first place.

It’s also important to remember that these platforms will continue to evolve. Already we have seen so many changes to the ways in which companies market themselves and engage with customers. As a business you must be prepared to accept your growing brand as an ongoing concern, and to develop it as the times change. How you move with those times will depend entirely upon you, but be sure to listen to your customers, as they’ll be your biggest fans, or critics.

Branding. Marketing. Selling. Oh My!

Sales. Marketing. Branding. If these words all sound the same to you, you’re not alone. A lack of familiarity with the particulars of each, combined with the fact that, frankly, they are all closely related, means many companies, small businesses and individuals view the terms as interchangeable.

What’s wrong with that? Well for starters, if you don’t know where one ends, and the next one starts, you’ll struggle to determine what is (and can) driving your results, and what is just costing you money and resources without improving your bottom line.

First comes the branding.  If you don’t know who you are or what you’re selling, others won’t either. In order to be an effective salesperson or savvy marketer, you must understand the value of personal branding and how to make it a part of your work.

Things to keep in mind about branding:

» Regardless of what you sell, everything is easier when you have a great personal brand.

» If you have a widely recognized and highly respected personal brand, your voicemails and emails are more likely to be returned.

» All sales professionals should seek to become celebrities in their own spheres of interest.

» Excellence is not enough. In a competitive marketplace, talent and hard work are simply expected.

» You are not just a human being. You are an entity, a business of one, a business unto yourself.

» You are in a lifelong series of “campaigns” trying to be “elected” to whatever matters to you. Think like a politician (I said THINK, not ACT).

» Live actively and focus externally. In order to become a celebrity in your sphere of interest, you need to be seemingly “everywhere.”

» Develop an area of self-marketing expertise, something related to what you do but is fascinating to people who do not do what you do. This is what you talk about when you network.

» Don’t network just for the sake of networking. Focus on results.

» Put on a show. Don’t be someone you are not, but play up your strengths and put forth your best image possible.

» While you are portraying yourself in a positive light, keep it real. Your prospects can sense authenticity as well as a lack of it.

» Never go back on any promise made to any prospective client during a networking or potential business encounter.

If you are unclear of your personal or company brand, we can help!  Don’t start your marketing or selling strategy until you understand your brand! www.stonekingconsulting.com.