335-SYB-Amplifying_Your_Personal_Brand.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
This is the final episode in our series we’ve been doing on personal branding. Today it’s all about amplifying your personal brand and how public speaking can help you do that. On this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a political analyst, entrepreneur and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Hi there. Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox, joined once again by our lead speaking coach, Diane Diaz. Hi, Diane. Hi there. We are wrapping up this series that we’ve been doing all month long on personal branding. Last week, Diane talked with image stylist and our client concierge, Selita Roberts. All around styling your personal brand. If you haven’t listened to that episode, definitely go back after today’s episode and listen to that because that is chock full of not only strategies, but just I love Selina’s perspective on how we show up as women, regardless of whatever room or stage that we’re on.
Carol Cox:
And then the week before that and then, well, the first two episodes of this series, Diane and I talked about defining your personal brand and then building your personal brand. So you don’t want to go back to listen to those episodes as well. Today we’re going to talk about amplifying your personal brand. So once you start defining it and building it, how can you use public speaking to really amplify your personal brand? So we’re going to dig into strategies you can use, including how to find the types of speaking engagements that you want to go to, how to develop your public speaking skills, how to use public speaking opportunities to build, boost your personal brand and more If you’re new to speaking your brand. Welcome. We’re so glad that you’re here as speaking your brand. We empower women entrepreneurs and professionals to confidently and effectively communicate their unique brand message and story to a wider audience. We do this through our Thought Leader Academy and our other coaching and training programs. It’s because we believe that by amplifying the voices of women and increasing their visibility, we work towards disrupting the status quo and driving positive change in the world. And that’s why we are here and that’s why we are such big proponents of public speaking and thought leadership for women, because study after study has shown that when they look at conferences and events, still the vast, vast majority of speakers on stages and in panels are men.
Carol Cox:
And we need more women in these positions of visibility so that we are sharing our messages and stories and making sure that our ideas and our perspectives are taken into consideration and are just as valued. And public speaking really conveys so much authority and credibility to you as as a person, as a personal brand, and for your business and for your career as well. So, Diane, I wanted to chat a little bit about and the episode that we did two weeks ago, we talked about how we started our businesses. For me, it was speaking your brand for you as the brand teacher. This was back in 2015, 2016, and I think we kind of like instinctually knew that public speaking was one of the best ways for us to get our message out there and for people to learn more about what we did. How did that happen for you or why do you think you gravitated towards that?
Diane Diaz:
For me, it was actually kind of accidental for me. However, it’s kind of an interesting story. I was involved in this women’s group and the woman that ran this group, which was a group advising like a woman owned company on different things, and I was sort of the representative for marketing and branding, but she wanted me to come speak to one of the women’s companies about personal branding, which I did. I spoke to her team about their personal brands and then when she heard how happy they were with it, she said, You know, I think you need to come speak to this other women’s group that I’m in and do a lunch and learn talk on this topic. And so because I’m an introvert ordinarily and I never really enjoyed public speaking, but I didn’t say no because I knew that if I wanted to be known for this and I had kind of almost you know, I was thinking about starting a consulting thing on the side of my full time job. So I thought, well, if I want to do that, this is the perfect way to get that message out there quickly to a group of many people, you know, like one to many, and to sort of position myself immediately as the person who talks about personal branding and who does that type of work.
Diane Diaz:
So I knew that that I knew I had to say yes to it, even though public speaking wasn’t at the top of the list of things I was clamoring to do at the time. But I knew that I had to. And and I will say that, you know, part of what helped me do that is was, you know, it was a warm group. I already knew some people in it. So it wasn’t like it was just out of the out of the, you know, a cold group that had no idea who I was. But it also gave me the confidence to know that, like when I saw how my talk resonated and that they did see me as the brand teacher, then I had the confidence to say, okay, yes, now I’ve sort of begun to establish what I stand for and this is my personal brand and I could build on it from there. So it was. Really public speaking was a great way to get big impact very quickly with my message.
Carol Cox:
And they’re very other things that will do that in the same way. So you can write a book, but a book is a really long process and then people have to find the book and read the book, and it’s still kind of a 1 to 1 relationship, which is can be powerful in and of itself, but it’s still 1 to 1. Even with a podcast like the Speaking Your Brand podcast, I am so grateful for all of you who listen. Whether you found us relatively recently or you’ve been listening for years because of the intimate nature of it and but public speaking is a little bit different. It’s not as intimate as, say, something as a podcast, but what it does is that it provides that built in credibility and authority because you’re literally standing in front of a group of people as that person. So that’s where you get as a public speaker, which is different than LinkedIn, post, Instagram post. Even podcasts like podcasts are intimate because you feel like you’re listening in on someone’s conversation. I’m thinking, Diane, I know you and I both listened to the armchair Expert podcast and you turn me on to that. And you know, as I am more and more as I listen to them over the past few years, not that I know they’re not my friends, but, you know, you feel like it, right? It feels like, you know, you listen to their banter you get to know about. And so it’s an intimate but it’s but being and but imagine now going to see Dax Shepard and Monica Patton like as speakers on a stage somewhere. It would create a distance which not necessarily in a bad way, but it would set them up as in a different relationship than as podcast hosts.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah, no, it’s true. All the podcasters that I listen to regularly feel like they are my friends because you hear them, you know, week in and week out. And it’s and honestly, it’s really the banter that gets me really engaged because that is their personality. Yes, they do great interviews, but in the interview it’s really about the interviewee. Right. And so but when you hear the banter back and forth, that is them just being themselves. That is what hooks me in. So it’s it’s the personal brand coming through in that way, speaking public, speaking on a stage and showing people who you are and how who you are relates to the topic you’re talking about that really draws people in.
Carol Cox:
And so it’s funny, Diane, that you said that you weren’t necessarily planning on doing public speaking when you started to kind of just happen to you, but you said yes, which is important. We always tell our clients, say yes to opportunities even when they may scare you or you feel uncomfortable. So you said yes. And those speaking engagements led to other speaking engagements, led to other speaking engagements, Because all of a sudden you were a known speaker on our Orlando speaking circuit and then like it ended in you being the keynote speaker in this beautiful ballroom on a stage that 600 people.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, exactly. And it was I think it was a couple of years between when I did my first speaking engagement and that. But it was sort of a slow build. And like you said, I got speaking engagements by doing speaking engagements, somebody would hear me and say, Oh, I belong to this other group. You should come speak to them. And then they would hear and then somebody there would hear it. And then that is how I got invited to speak to this, this women’s group. And then I think that same year I spoke to a women’s group in Tampa to 300 women. So but it’s all because I had built up this personal brand of being a speaker who talked about personal branding, ironically. So. So that is what I got invited to speak about, you know, and I did change up my my talks a little bit to suit whatever the audience was, but it always had a consistent theme of what it was that I stood for as my own personal brand.
Carol Cox:
And I think this is, you know, and also a great thing for listeners to think about is that you don’t have to throw yourself onto a stage at a huge venue in front of a thousand people as your first speaking engagement. Probably not a great idea for a number of different reasons. Instead, start small, start local, start with those those luncheons and the business groups, you know, 20, 30, 40 people in them. And then work your way up to the bigger speaking engagements. Because I know, you know, public speaking can be nerve wracking. I still get nervous before speaking engagements because, of course, you want to do a good job. You know, you’re up there. You want to make sure that you remember your content and all of that, which is why having a framework which you’ve talked a lot about on this podcast can help you to remember your content so that we do have hacks related to that. But you know, again, like all these anxieties and fears people have around public speaking, I feel like it’s because they visualize themselves on these huge stages in front of thousands of people and you don’t you don’t have to start there. And really, if that’s not what you want to do, you never have to do that. You can be a really effective public speaker for yourself and your business and for your audiences if you want to. If you like the 20 to kind of 40, 50 people, if that’s your sweet spot, then you’re also you’re more than welcome to stay there.
Diane Diaz:
I would 100% agree with that because it is a little nerve wracking to get up for the first time and, you know, be speaking in front of hundreds of people. But. I would say also the groups you speak to when you’re getting started, they don’t necessarily have to have your ideal perfect client in them. I have spoken to many groups in the beginning of my speaking career that were not at all my ideal client, but I was using it as a way. Yeah, I had a message to share and they were interested in it, which I was happy to do, but it was also for me, it was not only testing my message, but building confidence in what I stood for and what I was speaking about. So, you know, look for those speaking engagements, you know, in your local community. And at first they don’t necessarily have to have your ideal client in them. If they want your message, get out there and give it to them. And then you can get an opportunity to get more comfortable with being on a stage and positioning yourself as a speaker and feeling comfortable and confident doing that.
Carol Cox:
I remember this was back in It must have been 2016, Diane and there was a local entrepreneurs group and so and they had invited me to speak and they, they, I think they had heard me speak at a different event. And so they had wanted me to come speak at their event. So I said yes. And there was a couple of months away. So what I did was I went to the next meeting that they held because this was like the same monthly meeting that they would have. So it was going to be the same location. So I got to go and sit in the location, hear the other speaker kind of get a sense of who was in the audience, what kind of members they had. So I attended that and that helped so much because then I could start preparing not only the presentation content, but myself with the expectations of what I was going to get out of that speaking engagement. I knew I wasn’t going to get clients because they weren’t it wasn’t aligned with the kind of clients that I was working with. The speaking your brand. But that was okay. I decided my goal was to practice some new material that I wanted to incorporate in in a low stakes way and also just kind of like have fun with it, try some other speaking techniques that maybe I wouldn’t have felt as comfortable doing if I felt like the stakes were higher. And then I think they invited you to speak or recommended you, and I gave you the same tips like, okay, this this is not going to be your ideal clients, but you may want to do it anyways.
Diane Diaz:
That is exactly the group is exactly what I was talking about and I was happy to have the opportunity because I was also sort of practicing my way of speaking my style, you know, how do I present this information, what lands, what doesn’t? Interestingly, even though my ideal client was not in that audience at all, I did meet a woman there who I ended up doing some collaborations with for a couple of years. So it wasn’t, you know, you never know what might come of speaking at a group. And even if all that comes of it is you gain more speaking experience, that’s fine, and you never know who you might meet that might have another place for you to speak or that you might collaborate with on something. So we did workshops together.
Carol Cox:
Yeah, you really, truly never know. And also use those feedback forms. And we talk about this and we’ve talked about this in other podcast episodes and we talk about this in the Thought Leader Academy feedback form so that the people in the audience can give you feedback on your presentation, which really is testimonials because you’re going to do a great job and they’re going to give you great testimonials for that. And then also get a testimonial from the event organizer because you can use that on the speaking page on your website as well as on LinkedIn. And then that helps to build your credibility as a speaker for other events. Absolutely. Don’t discount local groups or groups that seem small or not ideal, especially if you want to test out new content or you want to kind of develop some confidence, get those testimonials and also get some video so that you have that for your speaker reel as well. Diane Let’s talk a little bit about storytelling, which we haven’t talked much about in this series. We talked about how personal brand is really kind of the story of you, and it is like all the things you’ve done in your career, you know, all of those. There’s always a thread that ties them together. And that’s one of the things that when we work with our clients and the Thought Leader Academy on their signature talk is like finding those threads and pulling them together. And as a public speaker and for so many of the women that we talk to and that we work with is that they’re really good in their area of expertise, They’re really comfortable training.
Carol Cox:
They’ve done a lot of trainings over the years. They’re really comfortable sharing kind of an educational, tactical, all information, which definitely has value. But what they they tend not to be as comfortable with or not as practiced with is the storytelling aspect. And this is why we talk so much about storytelling on this podcast and in the work that we do, because it’s that storytelling that builds the emotional connection, builds with your audience, it builds rapport, it builds trust. It lets them know that you understand where they are. It validates their own experiences. That’s why it’s so important for women as women for us to share our stories and experience because it validates this for the other women who are in our audiences. And so make sure that when you’re when you’re doing your presentations, even if it even if your presentation is supposed to be more on the kind of educational side of things, make sure to still incorporate personal stories and storytelling into it because your audience is really going to resonate with that on a deeper level and also feel like you’re probably going to enjoy it more as a speaker when you can incorporate some of those stories and not just. The same old training content over and over again.
Diane Diaz:
Oh, my gosh, that’s such a good point because I remember in my first iteration of my talk on personal branding, I would incorporate stories about my time in triathlon and not having learned to swim until I was 37 years old. Now, you might say, Well, what the heck does that have to do with personal branding? Well, I did tie it in. I tied it into this, you know, idea of how do you see yourself? How do other people see you? Did I see myself as a triathlete? And you can make the connection. But the stories were humorous and it got the audience interested because it was something most people don’t know anything about. So they were really interested in it, and it showed a side of me that made me human to them. So definitely make sure to incorporate stories into that and don’t just keep it all business, you know, bring in your personal stories to show your personality and make a human to human connection with your audience. That that is what your personal brand is, after all. And it will make.
Carol Cox:
You more memorable for the audience. And especially if you’re speaking at conferences where there’s lots of speakers, lots of sessions, lots of tracks, There may, you know, people at a say, a 2 or 3 day conference, they may see 20, 25 different speakers over their days and and you want to make sure you’re memorable and your your educational content alone, I’m sorry to say, is not going to make you memorable. It’s going to be the personal story because they’re going to remember that story you told about your dog or they’re going remember the story you told about that not learning to swim until you were 37. Naturally, when you hear those things, what can I say, dog? Like what popped into your mind? A pitch like some picture of a dog and then thinking about swimming. What pops into your mind? You imagine yourself or someone or Diane swimming. So when you have those visual images that pop into your mind, that helps to reinforce the content and then it makes you more memorable. And then also you then go chat with someone after your speaking engagement and they’re going to say, Oh yeah, like, you know the story you told about your dog or about swimming. I also had something like that happen to me.
Diane Diaz:
Absolutely. I, I used some of my triathlon story in that event where I spoke to 600 women at a huge conference. And after I spoke, when I came down off the stage and went back to my seat, once they were done with that segment and everybody sort started to mill around, a woman came up to me and she told me a story about a time when she was doing something related to some sort of athletic event like that and her experience with it and how she learned a lot about herself. And so it does resonate with people. And yeah, maybe was she the only person in the audience that had that experience? Perhaps. But the feeling that I was conveying resonated and she felt compelled to come up and tell me that, which was so nice. And so, you know, it is touching someone. So you have to incorporate those human stories.
Carol Cox:
Yes. And that’s really what’s going to amplify your personal brand, which is the topic of the episode that we’re doing today. It’s all around amplifying your personal brand. We’ve talked about defining your brand, building it, styling it and then amplifying it is really taking it and so that more people know about it. And again, as a speaker on a stage or in front of people, you’re having that 1 to 2 mini message. You’re putting yourself out there. And then as you get speaking engagements, whether you’re speaking engagements are virtual or in person, make sure that you’re sharing about them. Share on LinkedIn Prior to the speaking engagement, you’re also helping to give that event some some exposure as well, so maybe they can get some more people to attend. So share about obviously take photos at the event of yourself and if you have someone that you can bring with you a friend or meet someone there who will take some photos of you, here’s a pro tip. Make sure to take a photo of you before you start speaking like on the stage or in front of the room, smiling because it is almost impossible for someone to take a photo of you with your mouth looking normal while you’re speaking.
Diane Diaz:
I’ve never had a good photo of me, like a still photo of me speaking like that unless I stopped and posed. Yeah.
Carol Cox:
So make sure that you have someone to take some photos of you before you get started smiling. Even if you just bring your phone, set it up on a little tripod towards the back of the room or the side of the room so that you’re at least getting some video, even that the audio is not going to be great. You still have some video clips that you can take from it if you’re doing a really big speaking engagement and a really nice venue, then you definitely should consider hiring a professional videography team. Diane and I do that when we have really big speaking engagements because we want to get that professional video to use it on LinkedIn on our speaker page, on for video clips for our speaker reel and so on. So make sure that you’re, you’re doing that. And then obviously after you’ve spoken, make sure to share that on your social media, your email newsletter, your website, because then people will find you and say, oh, of course she’s a speaker. Look, you know, she has this kind of proof, so to speak, of the speaking that she’s done. Now, even if you don’t have video clips right now, say you’re starting out or because of the pandemic, like your stuff is old or you just weren’t very good at getting video beforehand, don’t let that stop you reaching out to let event organizers know that you’re interested in speaking at their event, you can still submit speaking proposals. You can still go to events, connect with those event organizers, see if they’re interested and have you speak. You do not need to have a speaker reel to do it. Just start building that now as you’re going out and speaking.
Diane Diaz:
When you create your first speaker reel, you don’t even need actual video footage. You can use still shots and you can have a video editor edit those together with some background music and some words overlaid on the screen and that they can build a speaker reel out of content like that. Absolutely.
Carol Cox:
That’s an excellent point. Or even some. Even if I’ve done virtual presentations and webinars, you can take some of those too, and incorporate those into your speaker reel and put those on your website. All right, Diane. Well, we have wrapped up with this series on personal branding. This has been so much fun. I really enjoyed doing this. I hope you as a listener have enjoyed it as well. And if you have, share it with a friend or a colleague, share it on LinkedIn and tag us on LinkedIn. You can connect with us on LinkedIn as well. Links to our LinkedIn profiles are in the show notes, so make sure to do that there. You’re also welcome to discover more information about our Thought Leader Academy. If you want to work on your thought leadership message and story and create your signature talk, this is a powerful way to do it. We work with you very closely. One on one and in a group so you get the benefit of the one on one coaching. But also there is so much benefit from working with a group of women in the Thought Leader Academy. Right now I’m just thinking about the recent calls we’ve had and how much they have learned from each other and are supporting each other and how much as they share with they’re working on their each of them goes deeper into what they’re doing because they’re opening up more because they see the other women and what they’re doing. So like, there’s a compound effect. So you can learn more about the Thought Leader Academy as speaking your brand.com/academy. Again, that’s speaking your brand.com/academy. Diane, thank you so much for joining me for these episodes.
Diane Diaz:
Oh it was my pleasure. I love talking about personal branding.
Carol Cox:
Until next time. Thanks for listening.
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