What's the Point of A Personal Brand?
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful interview, Bill Dolan, an Emmy-nominated creative director with over 30 years of experience, discusses the importance of personal branding in today's job market. He emphasizes the significance of building trust and authenticity through personal branding, which is crucial for engaging in meaningful relationships, whether in employment or business. Dolan also shares strategies for job seekers to effectively tell their story online, highlighting the importance of understanding one's target audience and tailoring communication to match their media behaviors and buying journey.
Takeaways
- 😀 Personal branding is crucial as it helps establish trust and familiarity, which are essential for business relationships.
- 🔍 It's important to understand who you are as an individual and what your passions, skills, and experiences are to effectively communicate your personal brand.
- 🏢 Personal branding is not just about creating a logo or a name; it's a process of self-discovery and sharing that discovery to build meaningful relationships.
- 📈 LinkedIn is a professional platform where job seekers can share their values, stories, and personal brand, but it's not the only option.
- 🎯 Recognize that you can't be everywhere online; focus on the platforms where your target audience is most likely to be found.
- 🤔 Understand who you are uniquely positioned to serve and what motivates them, which will guide where and how you should present your personal brand.
- 📊 The buying journey of your target audience should inform your media strategy to ensure your message reaches them effectively.
- 📝 Bill Dolan's book 'The Seven Disciplines of Relationship Marketing' offers a deeper understanding of creating personas and targeting specific audiences.
- 🔑 The 'Winoff' formula (Wants, Interests, Needs, Objectives, Fears, and Frustrations) helps in understanding the audience to serve them better.
- 📚 Creating awareness, learning, understanding, and engagement are key steps in the buying journey that should align with your sales process.
- 🐱 In his free time, Bill enjoys family, CrossFit, redefining cookie recipes, and writing with his office buddy, Marcela the tabby cat.
Q & A
What is the significance of personal branding in today's job market?
-Personal branding is crucial as it helps individuals establish trust and rapport with potential employers or clients. It allows job seekers to present themselves in a way that is meaningful and engaging, moving beyond just an introduction to a deeper level of relationship building.
Why is trust so important in personal branding?
-Trust is the foundation for any business or professional relationship. People are more likely to engage with someone they know, like, and trust. In the context of personal branding, trust can be further deepened to know, love, and trust, which opens doors to more significant and meaningful engagements.
What does Bill Dolan mean by 'the best version of myself' in personal branding?
-Referring to 'the best version of myself' in personal branding means understanding and articulating one's deepest passions, skills, experiences, and life compass. It's about discovering who you are and how you can authentically represent that in your professional and personal interactions.
How does Bill Dolan define the process of personal branding?
-Personal branding, as defined by Bill Dolan, is a dual process of self-discovery and sharing. It involves understanding who you are at your core and then effectively communicating that to others in a way that fosters relationships.
What platforms does Bill Dolan suggest for sharing one's personal brand?
-Bill Dolan suggests LinkedIn as a professional platform for sharing values, stories, and personal identity. However, he also emphasizes the importance of understanding the unique audience one serves and choosing the appropriate platform that aligns with their media behaviors.
Why is it important to understand the audience when building a personal brand?
-Understanding the audience is vital because it allows for targeted and effective communication. Knowing who you serve helps in choosing the right platforms, messaging, and approach to resonate with them and build a meaningful connection.
What is the significance of the 'buying journey' in relation to personal branding?
-The 'buying journey' is significant because it helps in aligning the personal branding strategy with the audience's decision-making process. It's about understanding how potential employers or clients make decisions and tailoring the approach to meet them where they are.
Can you explain the 'Winoff' formula mentioned by Bill Dolan?
-The 'Winoff' formula is a method to understand the audience's wants, interests, needs, objectives, fears, and frustrations. This helps in creating a personal brand that addresses these aspects and serves the audience more effectively.
How does Bill Dolan connect personal branding with the concept of a 'love letter'?
-Bill Dolan uses the 'love letter' analogy to illustrate the intimacy and personalization required in communication. A well-crafted personal brand should be as focused and meaningful as a love letter, speaking directly to the unique characteristics and needs of the intended audience.
What role does the '10-digit human address' play in understanding the audience for personal branding?
-The '10-digit human address' is a formula that helps in identifying and understanding the specific characteristics of the target audience. It's a metaphor for creating detailed personas that can guide personal branding efforts to be more targeted and effective.
How does Bill Dolan's background in television and entertainment influence his approach to personal branding?
-Bill Dolan's background in television and entertainment has given him a strong foundation in storytelling and messaging. He applies these skills to help individuals and companies craft compelling brand stories that resonate with their audience, both in traditional and digital media.
Outlines
🎙️ Personal Branding and Communication Insights
In this segment, the host, mAh, introduces the interview with Bill Dolan, an Emmy-nominated creative director with over 30 years of experience in media. Bill has a unique perspective on personal branding, stemming from his near-death experience and subsequent research into relationship marketing. The discussion focuses on the importance of personal branding in establishing trust and meaningful relationships, which is crucial for business and employment. Bill emphasizes that personal branding is not just about creating a logo or image but involves a deep self-exploration to understand one's passions, skills, and experiences. He suggests using platforms like LinkedIn to share one's story and values, tailored to the audience one aims to serve. The conversation also touches on the importance of understanding one's target market and their buying behaviors to effectively communicate and build relationships.
📈 Targeting the Right Audience for Personal Branding
This paragraph delves deeper into the strategy of personal branding, with Bill Dolan sharing his insights on identifying and understanding the target audience. He discusses the importance of recognizing the unique audience one can serve and tailoring the personal branding approach to match their buying journey. Bill explains that while social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram might be popular, they may not always be the best channels for reaching certain professional audiences. Instead, he suggests focusing on platforms where the target audience is most active, such as LinkedIn for senior executives. He also introduces the concept of creating 'personas' to better understand the audience's wants, interests, needs, objectives, fears, and frustrations. By understanding these aspects, one can craft a more intimate and effective communication strategy that resonates with the audience's media behaviors and preferences.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Personal Branding
💡Emy Nominated Creative Director
💡Spirit Media
💡Death Experience
💡The Seven Disciplines of Relationship Marketing
💡7DM System
💡CrossFit
💡Tabby Cat
💡Trust
💡Persona
💡Buying Journey
Highlights
Introduction of Bill Dolan, an Emmy-nominated creative director with over 30 years of experience in media production and consulting.
Bill's life-changing near-death experience in 1999 that shifted his worldview and approach to communication and marketing.
The release of Bill's book, 'The Seven Disciplines of Relationship Marketing', a culmination of years of research.
Bill's recognition as an authority and national speaker on the 7DM system, a workshop training program.
The importance of personal branding in establishing trust and meaningful business relationships.
Personal branding as a process of self-discovery and sharing one's story to build deeper connections.
The role of LinkedIn as a professional platform for sharing personal values and stories.
Understanding one's unique market and the importance of tailoring personal branding to serve specific audiences.
The concept of focusing on platforms where the target audience is most likely to be found for effective personal branding.
Bill's background in television and entertainment and its application in marketing and brand storytelling.
The importance of aligning the sales process with the buying process of the target audience.
Creating personas and understanding the '10-digit human address' for precise targeting in marketing.
The WINOFF formula for understanding the wants, interests, needs, objectives, fears, and frustrations of the audience.
Matching media vehicles to the media behaviors of the buyer for a more intimate and effective communication.
The significance of understanding demographics and psychographics in shaping a personal branding strategy.
The idea of making communication as intimate as a love letter by knowing the audience deeply and speaking to them directly.
Invitation for the audience to engage with the content by liking, sharing, and commenting on the video series.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi everyone welcome back to another
interview series my name is mAh from
Newland and laborador and today I have
the privilege to interview Bill Dolan
from Portland hi Bill how are you doing
good how are you doing good to see you
Mar here good to see you too so bill is
the Emy nominated creative director at
Spirit media for over 30 years B have
produced events for hundreds of
thousands directed broadcasts for
millions and has acted as consultant for
word class organization from startups to
Fortune 500 companies in 1999 Bill had a
death experience that change his word
view and approach to communication and
marketing which we're going to talk
about later and years of research led
him to write the book The Seven
disciplines of relationship marketing
today he has recognized Authority
National speaker and workshop trainer of
the 7dm system and in his free time he
loved family he loves family time
CrossFit redefining his cookie chip
cookies recipe which I want one of them
and writing uh with his office buddy
Marcela their tabby cat so Bill my first
question for you is in terms of personal
branding why it's important these days
and how can job Seekers tell their story
through personal
branding well let's start with why it's
important number one there's the old
classic saying that people want to do
business with those they know like and
trust and Trust I'll go so far as to say
people that they that they know love and
Trust um because once you get past the
question of who are you that is the door
that opens to say is it meaningful for
us to engage to move forward with this
relationship whether as an employee
employeer a contract contractor or or a
client vendor relationship and where
personal branding comes
in is it allows you to get through that
front door more efficiently so instead
of getting to the who are you you can
move into that deeper step of the
relationship and so now just for the
sake of
clarity person branding at its heart
really is not just putting a paint job
on putting up a logo on name or anything
like that it's really and it and it
probably the hardest part of it is that
everyone has to ask the tough question
who am I yeah what are my deepest
passions my my my skill sets my
experiences that really form and shape
my life compass and how can I in the for
in the process of being the best version
of myself can I bring that to my family
my friends my life my workplace my
business Place yeah and so personal
branding is both a process of discovery
and then being able to share it in a way
that becomes that gateway to
relationships so how can people share I
know that a lot of people these days go
on LinkedIn which is the professional
platform to share their values to sh
share their stories to tell who they are
is there any other way in your opinion
that job Seekers can tell their personal
brand online well yeah there there
really is and and there's there's a
couple things at stake here the first is
recognizing look we can't be everywhere
we we we can't be we pretend to be but
we can't and so part of that
understanding of personal brand part of
that includes understanding who you're
uniquely positioned to serve and who
your heart is to serve and so when you
understand um who you're uniquely
positioned to serve like for example
I'll give you my scenario here at our
creative agency Spirit media now I've
come from a background of television and
entertainment and marketing but the
people that really are the bed bread and
butter of our agency are companies that
have a deep interest in growing their
marketing presence they'll call us
because they want us to help them tell
their brain Brand Story yes we'll work
with them on their messaging we'll work
on producing that video that brand video
that really
typifies um who they are to their
Marketplace yeah uh and then also we do
experiences so we'll do sales
conferences fundraisers so we produced
all that stuff I used to do in
entertainment I do that for corporations
and nonprofits yeah now who buys that
well it's not probably going to be a
solo preneur it's not going to be an
individual most of the companies we work
for the smallest is 20 to100 million in
Revenue the average is a half a million
to four billion in Revenue you know so
when I know the people that I really can
uniquely serve it allows me to say now
what is going to be the buying journey
of that individual or group so when I
ask that buying Journey uh how will we
create awareness how we create learning
understanding how will create an
engagement where we can show up that
limits your platforms yeah so could we
be found on Facebook yeah but most of my
clients are not looking for vendors like
me on Facebook could I do it on
Instagram there's a possibility but for
most part Instagram even though a
business component is really an
entertainment platform okay um will they
go on to
LinkedIn probably M senior and SE level
Executives you're going to find on
LinkedIn and it's the SE level the chief
marketing officer uh the chief
Communications officer the chief uh
sales officer uh anywhere in that sea
level and figure out what name it is
they're probably on LinkedIn and that's
going to be the platform so if I focus
in that space it allows me to be more
effective at targeting uh
so just to
summarize the first thing that you have
to ask is who is my market yeah next is
understand who they are and what their
buying behaviors for example I I I'll go
a little bit deeper in my book I talk
about creating personas yeah and the
idea of a Persona and I give a formula I
call the 10-digit human address you know
in New Finland all around the world we
have these Z codes and numbers that
attach to the region well if you
actually follow the the formula you're
going to find a way to identify that
person and so here's I'm going to give
you I'm going to give you key elements
okay okay if you know who that audience
you're called to serve is start with
what I call First the winoff
formula and that is what are their wants
what are their interests what are their
needs what are their objectives what are
their fears and what their
frustrations so that helps you get a
sense of of who they are and the ways
that you can best address them and serve
them the other things though are going
to be buying Journey a lot of people are
busy trying to pitch their product say I
got the sales process and that look your
sales process is nothing if it doesn't
match the buying process of the person
you're called to serve so find out um
how they make decisions do they get
referrals do they read certain type of
Publications do they watch TV read
magazines and what social media
behaviors do they have so it allows you
to start matching your media vehicles to
the media behaviors of your buyer
instead of wasting time and money of
course there's other things like
understanding their demographics yeah
and and understanding uh elements about
their psychographics when you start
putting those things together that
is going to shape your formula because
your note your communication is no
longer going to be just a blast hoping
that people respond it's going to be as
intimate as a love letter focused
because you know exactly who they are
and you're going to be able to say
things that are relevant and meaningful
both through the media Behavior and the
things you say thank you for those great
tips bill so for the audience watching
or listening for the first time I'm
going to ask build a couple of questions
and I'm going to post them the whole
week kind of a journey with us kind of
an experience with us you can like all
the videos share your thoughts and if
you have any other tips leave them below
so tune in next time for other great
question with you
[Music]
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