As soon as my local Supermarket puts the Halloween chocolates and candy out on display in October, I immediately know Halloween is coming up and it’s time to buy supplies for the children who come knocking at my door on the evening of 31 October. Do I usually go looking for chocolates at the Supermarket? No. I try to avoid them as much as possible, but when it’s in plain sight and in a location that I can’t miss, I throw some in my trolly. Then a week later, I buy more, as I’ve usually raided the cupboard all week!!
If the supermarkets didn’t create their Halloween displays, chances are, most of us would not even realise that Halloween is approaching. I’m going to use this analogy with personal branding. If your ideal clients don’t see you, know you, or realise what you can do, then how do they find you and engage you to work with them, or by something from you?
What is so scary about ‘putting yourself out there’? What is so scary about being the ‘face of your business’? What is so scary about sharing something about yourself and why you do what you do?
Some people are very private, some people don’t feel they are good enough, or they don’t look a certain way, or feel they don’t have the credibility, qualifications, skills etc. to showcase their expertise.
But the thing is, with so much competition in a global market – how do you stand out? There could be hundreds of others out there in your industry who provide products or services like yours.
How do you rise above your competitors?
How do you differentiate in your marketplace?
How can you let people know about your expertise and thought leadership?
How can you position yourself as an authority in your area of expertise and be the ‘go-to’ person?
Back to the Halloween chocolates. Unless I put Halloween decorations out on my front gate, to alert families to the fact that I’m open for sharing treats, no-one would come trick or treating! Not quite business-related, but by sharing treats and being friendly and open to engaging with neighbours, it lets them know who we are, that we are friendly people, happy to engage with dogs and children, and are supportive to our local area.
Back to business (shaking off the sugar hit from all that chocolate). One of the simplest and most effective ways of ‘getting yourself out there’ to build your personal brand is by promoting your professional, personal brand online through LinkedIn, in a way that focusses on growing business opportunities (aka Social Selling). From a professional business standpoint, showcasing your profile on LinkedIn is simple, builds your credibility and enables you to engage with your ideal your audience through the content you share. Your online network will get to know, like and trust you through the content you share and the ways you engage with theirs.
Your content that inspires, educates and engages your network showcases your expertise and thought leadership and
allows them to truly get to know what you’re capable of.
LinkedIn is also THE place where you can network with other likeminded people and share ideas and keep up to date with industry knowledge and create opportunities to grow your business.
Earlier this year, a friend of mine told me a story about a particular situation she had a couple of years ago, when a potential client contacted her via LinkedIn. She was invited her to meet with the senior leadership team to discuss a Project they were working on.
Essentially, she felt that she was being invited to pitch for the contract to run the Project. She also assumed that there would be competitors in the mix, and she needed to prepare a proposal. But at the end of that meeting, she said to the potential client, ‘What would you like the next steps to be? Would you like me to submit a proposal?’ The client’s response was ‘No, no, that’s fine. We’d like you to start the Project in two weeks. We’ve been following you for some time and have seen the work you do and the outcomes you create for your clients.
I guess you could say that the client had been stalking her! Yes, they had been stalking her in a way that led them to reach out and contact her for business. That’s exactly what can happen from sharing yourself online in a professional way and by showcasing the value that your client gets from working with you.
My friend said, that at the end of the day, she didn’t have to do any pitching. She explained that the selling was positioned in the authentic way she was sharing her expertise on LinkedIn and by the way she was serving her potential market through her content, and thought leadership in a way that educates and inspires action.
So if you’ve been reluctant to ‘put yourself out there’ and scared to promote your personal brand on LinkedIn, I would simply encourage you to take the plunge and build a rockin’ profile on LinkedIn, then reach out to your ideal clients to connect and build your network.
Let me know if you’d like my help with how to leverage LinkedIn, or how to build that rockin’ profile.