This week we’re talking about how to introduce your brand, your business, and yourself to other people.
We are diving into the four stages of personal branding, how to go from zero to branded. This is stage number two. We’re going to be focusing on that critical piece after you find your brand identity. How do you introduce yourself to the world?
Whether it’s in-person, online, one-on-one, and beyond, we’re going to talk about that. We’re framing everything under “your message” and “the attention you get for that message.”
HOW DO YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF?
Starting with your message, how to introduce yourself is huge. The words you use to explain who you are and what you do have an impact. They may make the difference between whether you get a client or don’t get a client.
When I was starting (and for a lot of people that I talked to who are struggling,) this is huge. At the beginning, it’s hard to be clear. It’s hard to have clarity around what it is you do, especially as a personal brand. There are so many pieces to your personality that define who you are.
In a lot of cases, you have so many talents, so many skills, and so many ways that you can help people. It’s really hard to refine that in a way that is easy for a potential client to understand. The clearer you can get with this, the easier it is for someone to recommend you to other people to work with them.
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That is something that I want to make sure you guys understand. The importance of today’s episode not only has to do with you being confident in how you explain what you do to others. It also has to do with the other people being able to understand what you do in a way that they’d want to take advantage of it.
DON’T CREATE A CONFUSING TITLE
I’ll give you an example here. I have a friend who has a lot of skills in the video creation space. He can film you with a camera, like a videographer. He can edit, produce, come up with creative ideas, and he can do photography.
When trying to explain himself to others what he does, what he would do (and a lot of people do) is come up with a title that seems more impressive but is harder to understand. I think with him it was Video Creation Strategist.
To the average business person that he would be working with, that is really difficult to understand. That doesn’t scream, “Yeah, that’s something I need!” Not everyone thinks that they need a video creation strategist.
He could have gone out there and gotten more specific. One business might need a videographer, just very straightforward. One business might need someone to create short videos to advertise their business. Someone else might need an actual producer.
All these are different positions. Coming up with those words is important and could define the difference between him getting business and not.
INTRODUCE WHAT YOU DO BROADLY
What I would say is when you get started, you have to start a little bit broader than that. You have to start a little bit more in the clouds and say, “I work with _______” and talk about who you work with. “I work with small business owners to help them make video or to help them use video in their business.”
You start very big, and when you ask more questions, you can get to the bottom of that. In your introduction, aside from really understanding the words you can use and being simple and to the point, what I want you to be able to explain is two things.
- Be able to explain the framework for how you help people. You can call it a model. You can call it a framework. Call it whatever you want. I’m going to call it a framework.
- Be able to explain the approach that you use for working with people, how you actually work with people.
INTRODUCE WHAT YOU DO AND HOW YOU DO IT
In the example, the model for our videographer friend might be put in two ways. One is, “I help people figure out what videos they need for their business.” Two is, “I help them create those videos in a way that really brings out their authentic voice, figure out how to use it, and help them actually do it.”
There are those two things. That’s their model. It’s the video ideation and the video creation. That’s their model for working with people.
Their method would be how they execute that. Imagine you’re having a consultation call with someone. “I do those two things for your business. The way we work together is a couple of pre-work calls so we understand the strategy. Then we have a couple of in-person meetings where we actually do the creating. Finally, I’ll follow up with some post edits.”
There’s step one, step two, step three. In the creation phase and the ideation phase, phase one, we have a couple of calls where we really understand what you’re trying to accomplish. We come up with a strategy. We come up with some ideas.
When you pick them, we then pick the location and how we want to shoot these videos. We show up with everything we need. We get those videos created, and then we send you footage afterward.
YOU CAN EXPLAIN MORE AFTER YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF
That’s the method. Maybe it’s a different method entirely, maybe it’s something else, but the point being, you have the model, which is what you do. Then you have the method of how you execute it.
If you can explain to someone when they are curious, “Hey, how can you help me? How would I specifically work with you?” You need to be able to explain it in those two ways while you’re introducing yourself to someone.
When I say introduction, I don’t mean the first moment you’re talking to someone and you’re shaking their hand. I mean, when you are asked, “How do you do that?” This is how you can explain to people what you actually do for them, which I’ll cover in a different episode coming up.
RELATED: Build your personal brand with the Content Marketing Starter Guide.
TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF SELLING
However, what I want you to take away from that is in your introduction, you’re going to keep it simple. You’re going to ask questions about them.
If it gets to the point of being a business conversation, what you can do is say, “What I’d love to do is talk to you more about this, but let’s schedule a call so we can dive really deep and I can understand more about your business to see if we’re a fit.”
What that does is it takes the pressure off of that “sales mindset” that gets people messed up. Right? You want to be able to really download and hear what they’re about because if this isn’t a project that suits you, you want to be able to say, “I’ll refer you to someone else,” or just, “This isn’t a fit.”
When you’re only worried about the sale, in-person it feels very sales-y and you don’t get the trust along the way. What I want you to worry about is in your introduction and be able to build a very brief intro. I have what I call five introduction scripts that explain how to work with people in different situations. If you guys are working with me I’ll walk you through those and also break those down in a deep dive episode for you.
QUICKLY MOVE FROM INTRODUCTIONS TO IN-DEPTH CALLS
For now, just know that in an intro, you basically start by keeping it simple. Then you can dive deeper depending on the situation. What I’d like to do is get you to say, as quickly as possible, “If you really want to know what I do and to see if we’re a fit, let’s schedule a call and dive deeper on this.”
On that call, when someone’s finally trying to understand how you work with people, You have to understand those two things. What’s your model, your framework? Then the second being how you actually execute that. What is your approach? What is your method?
WHERE TO GO TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Now let’s move on to the attention side of this. I know a lot of you really want to know and understand not just what to say, but also how to get attention to those words you’re saying.
When you are just getting started, you are in this particular section of introducing yourself to other people that I call One-to-One attention. This is after you’ve built some of the assets we talked about in the last episode, which was One-to-Zero marketing where you’re building a website and an email list.
The One-to-One is you really getting out there, shaking hands, and telling people what you do. Find as many places to go as possible that make sense. Find where your audience is and meet as many people as possible.
NETWORKING HELPS YOU INTRODUCE YOUR BRAND
That is just networking. I’m not reinventing the wheel here, but you really do have to be actively choosing the places you go and holding yourself accountable every week, every month to be going to places where your audience is.
That could be in person, that could be online. The point is that you’re actively engaging, meeting new people, and giving yourself the opportunity to build relationships in a way that even if those people aren’t your clients, they might be the person that introduces you to your next client.
This is true especially if you find a way to offer help to them and serve them in a way that they think is beneficial. Networking is the best One-to-One way to build attention when you’re getting started when you’re in this space of introducing yourself and your personal brand to people.
MAKE SURE YOUR LANDING PAGES ARE CLEAR
The second way is by making sure you’ve appropriately filled out your introduction in the places where people will go to find you. That might be your social media bios, the little biography sections, the “About Me” sections on your Facebook page, on your Instagram, on your LinkedIn, on Twitter.
All these are social places where people go to look for things. Make sure that your bio clearly states this introduction, these things about what you do, who you help, and how you do that. Make sure they know how they can get into contact with you very quickly and succinctly.
Again, I’m happy to walk you through that if we work together. That’s something I work with people on, what to put into your bio for the different social media channels because each of them has different requirements. Learn what photos to use, what to use as your usernames, handles, and all those things.
SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES ARE IMPORTANT FOR INTRODUCTIONS
The reason the social profiles are so important at this phase of One-to-One is that most people after you meet them are going to look you up.
They’re already connected to you on social media because while you were there, you got their social media information. Even better yet, if you’re there and you meet them, hint in person and say, “Hey, I’d love to connect with you right there.” At least get their Instagram or whatever you like to use and DM them right there. Say, “Cool. We’re connected.”
Or text them right there and say, “If you can do it via social media, even better.” Then they can look at your bio, read how you describe yourself and find the link to your website or to your email list, whatever it might be to get to know you better and potentially work with you in the future.
LEARN WHAT A GOOGLE SEARCH BRINGS UP ABOUT YOU
A lot of people will sometimes just Google you. If they don’t look for you on social media, sometimes those social media links are the things that pop up for you when your name is searched on Google. For a lot of people, LinkedIn might be the number one website that shows up with your name when they search your name. Check what’s showing up there when they Google you.
Is your LinkedIn profile filled out? For some people, it might be Instagram that shows up or Twitter or even their website. Then see is what’s showing up there describing accurately who you are, what you do, and how you help?
Is it bringing them into your world so that they can easily get ahold of you and start to work with you, or set up a meeting with you if that’s what you want them to do? Those are what we’re going to call your priority channels.
BACK YOURSELF UP WITH PROOF OF WHO YOU ARE
In this phase, in the introduction phase, personal branding is really figuring out how you are going to get out there, do more networking, and meet more people. Tell them what it is that you do and potentially make offers to help them. At least meet to talk later about how you can help them.
Back that up with proof online via your social media profiles, your website profiles, your “About Me” page, all of that. If you have questions about how to fill in that “About me” page, what to write, I will tell you is this: instead of writing your “About me” page as a resume of things that you are amazing at, always make sure you use that page to define the problem of the person that you help.
Let them know, “These are the common things that people struggle with. Does that sound like you? This is what I help with.” Make it in their words, the things that they struggle with, not the things that you’re amazing at. Then offer to potentially talk to them, to help them move through that to a solution.
That’s your message and attention for this stage, the introduction stage of personal branding.
MORE ADVICE AND INTERVIEWS
If you’d like more content about how to build your personal brand, check out my free Content Marketing Starter Guide.
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Talk soon!
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