Welcome to the Influence &IMPACT email letter, and a big thanks for subscribing. I really appreciate it! Focus of this fortnightly communique is on building, in a thoughtful way, a personal brand that people recognise, respect and trust. How can we establish our public voice, build credibility for that voice, extend the reach of our voice, and finally, extract value from the recognition and reputation we build? We cover that, and a wee bit more. Onwards!
“Don’t just stand out. STOMP out.” —Hillary Weiss
Sunday, September 13, 2020 | Melbourne, Australia
G’day!
People often ask me who do I think does a solid job with their personal brand. It's a good question because, when you see a real pro who genuinely lives their message and their brand, it stands out and resonates (or repels) immediately. Some people will be instantly attracted, while for others, there will be pushback, which is fine too.
This week I had the opportunity to chat with one such person for my podcast, Reputation Revolution - New York-based creative director and messaging strategist, Hillary Weiss (pictured).
Hillary is all about 'big ideas that stomp off the screen'.
She works with business leaders and creative entrepreneurs to develop their unique statement piece - "that idea, that concept, that point of view that makes leaders and experts radically relevant to their perfect people and does the talking for them”.
I love the concept of the 'statement piece' as the basis for one's personal brand. Put another way, it's an antidote to the sea of sameness that we see every day on the internet.
During the conversation, Hillary unpacked her own brand, and explained how she came up with an idea that she could share verbally, visually and viscerally.
I loved the breakdown of this:
🤜 VERBALLY - your story and message / written as well as spoken, whether from the stage, in podcast interviews, in a boardroom presentation, LinkedIn profile or 'about me' page on your website
🤜 VISUALLY - photography, colours, fonts, web design, the way you dress etc.
🤜 VISCERALLY - the experience that you want people to have interacting with your brand - as a customer, as a reader, as a casual observer "plonking down on your site" - how do want to be coming across? A lot of that is the way you relate to your audience, says Hillary.
Check out Hillary's website and you'll see what I mean!
Grab a copy of Hillary's free STATEMENT PIECE FRAMEWORK: the ultimate idea-generating system designed to help you uncover your most magnetic opinions, philosophies, and points of view in a way that feels fun, natural, and easy to share.
---> My interview with Hillary will hit the podcast airwaves later this afternoon (4:30 pm, Sunday AEST) - check it out here on Reputation Revolution, or via your podcast app of choice. It's a ripper chat - fonts, colours, conversations and experiences, Beyoncé and Cardi B all crack a mention!
Filling the white space
At one point, early on in our careers, our professional personal brands are surrounded by a lot of ‘white space’.
But over time this white space starts getting taken over by people’s perceptions of us, rightly or wrongly.
Unless we do something proactively to influence the way people think about us, their opinion will be what counts. They got in first. They filled the white space.
How to achieve exceptional results, according to James Clear
1) Quantity: You take lots of shots.
2) Quality: You take thoughtful shots.
3) Consistency: You keep shooting for a long time.
4) Feedback. You take better shots over time.
5) Luck: You get a few favorable bounces."
James has written a million-selling book called Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. It's worth checking out.
I love Stanley Johnson's tweets
There are heaps of brilliant people I follow on Twitter. Sometimes they make me chuckle, other times they challenge my thinking with an incisive 280-character insight or remark, and often they share stuff that stops me in my tracks and makes me go "wow".
In terms of 'tweetage' (that's a technical term!) that's of a consistently high standard, Stanley Johnson (aka @BrandDNA, ex-weights & measures inspector turned advertising creative director) is right up there.
Here's a recent example.
@BrandDNA: I think there's something for all of us in this thought from Nick Cave's latest Red Hand Letter.
Stanley proclaims on his Twitter bio that he has been "proudly pricking the pretensions of the internet since forever."
Keep pricking Stan ... we love you for it!
Tool/app of the fortnight
Do you have a WordPress blog? If so, this little gem might be of interest.
It's called Bingewith - it's a cool little tool that turns your articles and blog posts into audio and keeps your audience listening.
Check out this recent article on my PR Warrior blog - The battle for brand visibility: why exposure = leverage
At the top of the post you'll see a small audio player --->
Hit 'play' and an AI-generated voice will read the article to you. The voice is pretty impressive, and the diction is spot-on.
It took me all of five minutes to get this player embedded on the hundreds of PR Warrior posts using the Bingewith WordPress plugin.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of AI, the advancement in bot technology in such endeavours as writing and communication continues to impress - exhibit A your honour, this article from The Guardian: A robot wrote this entire article. Are you scared yet, human?
This quote caught my attention
“Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a fucking sharp knife to it.”
― Banksy, Wall and Piece
Hit “reply”
I'm excited to be writing to you in this format. Let’s keep it personal! I encourage you to hit “reply” and let me know what’s on your mind:
- Got any thoughts regarding the content I’ve just sent you? Let me hear it!
- Have a question? Ping it through!
- Got a recommendation for an article, podcast, video or person-to-follow that you’d like to share, bring it on :)
Thanks for reading! Until next time ...
