417-SYB-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:
What do you need for a transformational personal brand? That’s what we’re talking about on today’s 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 TV 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 and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox. Today we’re diving into what makes a transformational personal brand and the three key elements that go into it. First, if you haven’t yet listened to last week’s episode, I talked with Ashley Harvey all about your brand voice, especially when it comes to your writing. So it’s social media, email newsletters, your website, sales copy and so on. Definitely go back and listen to that episode after you listen to that one, if you haven’t already. Now, if you think about your personal brand, it’s not the same as your company brand. Now. They could be very much intertwined and align with each other. Like my personal brand is very much intertwined with speaking your brand, because speaking your brand is a very small business, and because I am the face and voice of the company.
Carol Cox:
But your personal brand is not quite the same thing as your company brand because your company brand could change. For example, I’ve had different iterations of my career over the past 20 years. I had two different technology businesses and then started speaking your brand about nine years ago, and I’ll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment. So your personal brand will evolve as you evolve and even as your career or your businesses change. So your personal brand, you can think about it as the collection of experiences, knowledge, expertise, values, points of view, your personality, all of that, that make up who you are and how you deliver your work or your message. It’s also about how you show up because everywhere that your personal brand can be seen, heard, experienced and talked about is you showing up whether you’re there or not, because you want people to be talking about you even when you’re not in the room, even when you’re not around, you want them to mention you and also to refer you, whether it’s for prospective clients or for speaking opportunities. I intentionally included the word transformational in front of personal brand, because I really feel like the work that you do when you think about who you want to work with, the message you want to share, how you are the messenger for your audience, you’re really transforming yourself as much as you’re transforming the audiences that are hearing you or reading your content.
Carol Cox:
If you think about what a transformation is, it’s learning more about yourself and then making a change, or learning more about an industry or a community or society as a whole, and wanting to have a positive impact to make some type of change. So you’re doing that yourself, and you’re also helping your audience do that. So you’re advancing the mission that you have along with growing your business or advancing in your career. I mentioned that before I started speaking your brand as a company in 2015. I had had technology businesses, so in the early 2000, during the.com boom, I got into software development and built large technology systems for fortune 500 companies. That was one aspect of our technology business. I also had another aspect where we built software for political organizations and candidates. So voter files, fundraising, volunteer management websites and so on. I’ve had some recent experiences just in the past couple of weeks that have reminded me how powerful a really clear and consistent personal brand can be. So I mentioned that there’s three key elements that I wanted to share with you for what makes up a transformational personal brand. So this is what I have come up with. The first key element is that you want your personal brand to be remembered. Again, you want people to talk about you, to refer you, to mention you when something comes up that’s related to what you do, that’s related to either what you do in your business or your career, or that’s related to the overall mission that you have or those values that you share.
Carol Cox:
So I want you to think about right now, who is someone’s personal brand that is memorable to you, that you really like or that you follow? And why is it? What is it about them? What is it about the kind of content that they create or their personality, or how they show up that makes them memorable and makes them even aspirational to you? A couple of weeks ago, I attended a political fundraiser that was held on behalf of four women who are running for office in the Central Florida area where I live. I’m always a big advocate of donating to women who are running for office, because women tend not to get as many donations as men running for office, and they tend also not to get institutional support. I always say, if you find find women in your local area to support whether they’re running for Congress or school board or county commission and so on, and help them out, whether it’s a donation of $50 or $100 or more, it really does help. I was at this. I was at this fundraiser, and I was talking to some of the candidates and some of the other people who were there, and one of the candidates went over and introduced me to two men who were standing on the side.
Carol Cox:
And so I had my name tag on, and I introduced myself, and one of the guys said, oh, Carol Cox, I know you. You did our website for when I was the chairperson of one of the Democratic parties in a neighboring county. And I was like, wow. And he said his name. And as soon as he said his name, I recognized his name. I just didn’t recognize him because this was probably 14 years ago, maybe 12 years ago, that I had last had an interaction with him when he was a client of that prior business that I have. And the reason he remembered me is not just because my company had built the website for the county party that he was running at the time, because I was such a fierce advocate not only to support the candidates who were running for office, but to make sure that they had the technology and the tools to make them competitive. The second key element to think about for your transformational personal brand is to stay relevant. As trends change, you want to make sure that whatever you’re talking about, whatever your personal brand represents and stands for, whatever your mission is, is also reflecting these trends. Because I have this background in technology, and also because I want to make sure that we have more women of influence and leadership in tech and business, politics and so on.
Carol Cox:
When ChatGPT came out two years ago now, I was all over it. I want to make sure that women are at the decision making table and in leadership positions. When we think about how AI is going to affect all of us, from our work to our education and so on. So that is a trend I that I am infusing not only into the work we do at speaking your brand, but also into my personal brand. It could be AI for you, it could be other trends that are going on, such as sustainability and environmentalism related to climate change. It could be about workplace culture and say multiple generations that are in the workplace now could be about wellbeing. So there are trends that kind of ebb and flow. For example, obviously when the pandemic happened, it was very much about remote work and then it became about hybrid work. So you want to make sure that whatever you’re talking about, not just in your business, but also your personal brand, so you’re speaking engagements and so on are relevant. Connect to trends, connect to things that people are interested in. Recently, I was asked to be on a panel on AI, and the reason is because the person who had asked me to be on a panel saw me do a virtual presentation, an online presentation on AI.
Carol Cox:
So this is another tip is to make sure to say yes and to show up whether it’s for virtual engagements or in-person engagements. The more that you say yes and show up, the more and more people will see what you’re doing, and then you’ll get asked for other speaking opportunities, other panels, media opportunities, and so on. So I went to the event where I was going to be on this panel, and I saw there someone who I have known for the past 20 years, but I haven’t seen in person, or maybe at least ten years ago. Back 20 years ago, he owned a video production company, and I was one of his first clients for some videos and commercials that we made at the time. And so not only did he remember me, and I remember him because he also has a personal brand that’s very memorable as well, but he is staying relevant with I, which is why he was asked to serve on this panel. And I also am staying relevant with AI, which is why I was being asked to serve on this panel. So that’s the second key element is make sure that your personal brand is relevant. The third key element for your transformational personal brand is relational. Make sure that you’re building your network, not just online.
Carol Cox:
I know it’s easy to just be on LinkedIn and just to post things and connect with people, but really build your network offline as well. Show up at meetings, at groups. Go to conferences, whether the local conferences or industry conferences. The more that you show up, the more that you’re building your network. You’re building those relationships. Relationships that I’ve had now for 20 years, as long as I’ve been in this community here. And I see now people that I’ve known for so long and they remember me because of this strong personal brand that I have, because my mission has always been so clear and because I’ve always shown up so consistently. For example, on election night, which is just a day after this episode airs, I will be back on the TV news commenting on the election. This will be the fifth presidential election that I’ve done this for, starting in 2008, all the way through now into 2024. And the reason that I’m invited back on the TV news is because of the relationships that I built, relationships that I built with the news directors and the reporters at different stations, but also with my fellow political commentators who also recommend me, and I recommend them as well. So the three key elements for your transformational personal brand is that you want to be remembered, relevant and relational. Okay. So now I’m going to give you some very tactical, practical things that you do.
Carol Cox:
I’ve created a free workbook that goes along with this episode with some of the things that I’m about to share with you now, so that you can actually work on them, and you can get that free workbook at speaking your brand.com/personal brand. So altogether speaking your brand.com/personal brand, the link is also in the show notes. So here’s how to actually think about doing this to make sure that your personal brand is remembered, relevant and relational. The first thing is that you want to map out the spokes of your personal brand. You are a multi-dimensional. I’m sure you have different interests. Maybe you’ve had very different things that you’ve done in your career like I have, and your personal brand is not just about your expertise or about what you do in your business or your career. It’s also about the things that interest you, the conversations that you want to be a part of. For example, the spokes of my personal brand include things like speaking and marketing. They also include history, feminism, politics and tech and AI. So at first glance, you may think, okay, well, I kind of get how marketing speaking going together and I get how history and feminism go together. But what about politics? That seems like an outlier in tech, and I definitely seems like an outlier. But this is what makes me multi-dimensional.
Carol Cox:
This is what makes me interesting, and this is also what keeps me relevant. So how I connect these different spokes. The connecting thread that I find is that I’m always looking for the women in the stories or their absence. This is why I studied history, because I wanted to find out what women were doing, whether it was in 1850 or 1900 or 1940. I wanted to know what were they doing and why weren’t they in my history books? I also want to make sure that women have a voice in decision making, in leadership, in all of these different areas, and that I also recognize the importance of communication and advocacy in advancing gender equality. I’m a big believer that more women who have a public voice, who are speaking on stages and in the media, that that is a way to advance gender equality. So you can see now then, how all of those different spokes connect much more. Again, you can get the worksheets that I’m talking about here in that free workbook as speaking your Brand.com slash personal brand. So that’s the first thing is to define the spokes of your personal brand. The second thing is to lead with your mission and values, and you want to define what your brand voice is, because your brand voice is not just your tone and your personality. It is that. But it’s more than that.
Carol Cox:
It’s also your mission, your expertise, your methodology, and your experiences. And I have this brand voice canvas framework that I created last year. And in that workbook you can fill that out. So for example, under the Brand Voice canvas, for me under mission I have my mission is to amplify and champions women’s voices and stories to have more women influence in key positions in different industries. My expertise is public speaking, thought leadership, personal branding, my methodology. I have these different frameworks that I’ve created, whether it’s the brand voice, canvas, signature Talk canvas, Escaping the Expert Trap, and so on. And then experiences are the stories that I share. So I share about speaking successes and failures. The three stages women go through when we use our voice, and so on. So you can fill out the brand voice canvas and see my example. The third thing is to think about what your brand story is. So what is it that you stand for? What is your unique viewpoint and perspective for your industry or for the work that you do? What do you do or believe that’s different or challenges the status quo? And what are those hard won lessons that you’ve learned that you can share with others? These questions are in that workbook as speaking your brand.com slash personal brand. So I want you to think about how do you want your personal brand to be remembered, relevant and relational.
Carol Cox:
And this work can be hard to do on your own because you’re so close to your own content and to yourself because you’re in your own head. And also I often see is that we second guess ourselves. We want to put something out that’s bold or maybe counterintuitive or challenges the status quo, but then we back down. Plus, it’s really helpful to have others to be a mirror and a sounding board, and to have a coach to ask you the right questions and to help you to see the bigger picture and the connecting threads. We do this in our online program called the Thought Leader Academy. We work with you both one on one and in a small group on zoom, because this is online on zoom. You can join us at any time. You can get all of those details as speaking your Brand.com slash academy. And we have something very special coming up in the summer of 2025, we’re hosting a four day in-person retreat in London, England, that is designed to help you develop a brand that’s authentically you powerful, magnetic and transformational. You’re going to have workshops and activities. You’re going to have one on one coaching with us, feedback, practice sessions. We’re going to help you to really develop your brand, your personal brand, but also intertwine with your company brand if you do have your own business.
Carol Cox:
All around our bold framework and you’re going to leave not only with your brand and your brand voice defined, but also creating brand assets that set you apart and draw in those opportunities that you’re looking for. And of course, we’re in London, so we’re not just going to stay inside and do workshops. We’re going to go see a play at Shakespeare’s Globe, we’re going to do a women’s history walking tour and so much more. The retreat is limited to 12 women, so it’s nice and intimate. You’re going to have an incredible time not only working with me, with Diane and with Ashley Harvey, who was on the podcast last week. So go back and listen to that. But also meeting incredible women leaders just like you, who want to elevate their impact. The dates of this four day retreat are June 20th 9th to July 2nd, 2025. You can get all the details as speaking your Brand.com slash London again that’s speaking your brand.com/london. You can fill out the application and then schedule. We’re going to schedule a zoom call so we can talk. I can find out more about your goals and answer all the questions that you have. I want you to have a transformational personal brand, because I know that there are incredible things you want to do in the world, and having a brand that’s remembered, relevant and relational is a way that that’s going to happen. Until next time, thanks for listening.
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