In 2009 Chris Ducker was working 14 hours a day, 6 days a week. Fast forward a few years and he’s totally changed his life – and his business. He’s the author of the number 1 bestseller on Amazon, “Virtual Freedom” – and the host of the New Business Podcast. You can find him over at ChrisDucker.com.
Today on Digital Marketing Radio we discuss personal branding strategy, with topics including:
- In the future, will building a personal brand be more important than building a business brand for small businesses?
- Say someone’s a fairly successful small business owner. But they don’t have much of a personal brand. What are some of the first steps when it comes to building a personal brand?
- What about reinventing a personal brand – is that different to building a personal brand from scratch?
- If I’m describing you to someone who’s never heard of you, how would you prefer to be described?
- Do you need to have a personal brand strapline?
- Is it actually easier to establish a personal brand?
- How would Chris Ducker prefer to be described when he isn’t there?
- Is it important to try to ‘control’ the first page of Google results for your personal brand?
- If you have a business that is already branded with its own identity, should you change that to a personal brand?
Software I couldn’t live without
What software do you currently use in your business that if someone took away from you, it would significantly impact your marketing success?
Google Apps [Office suite software]
Buffer App [Social media management]
What software don’t you use, but you’ve heard good things about, and you’ve intended to try at some point in the near future?
Infusionsoft [Small business CRM]
My number 1 takeaway
What’s the single most important step from our discussion that our listeners need to take away and implement in their businesses?
Sit down and work out whether or not the personal brand is something that you really want long-term. You have got to understand that this isn’t something that you can do for a year. This is your name. This is your reputation. Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not around. It can’t just come and go. You’ve got to commit to building a personal brand. You can’t start a website and then never update it. It’s important to truly do it if it’s the right move for you right now. So I would sit down and work out – is this what I want to do? If it’s not then that’s fine as well – focus on building your business, and maybe you have a blog on your business website – whatever the case may be. A perfect example is the Virgin Group with Richard’s blog. You’ve got Richard Branson blogging on there quite regularly as the CEO. But he doesn’t do it at RichardBranson.com – he does it at Virgin.com/Richard. There’s a difference. So really figure out if this is what you want to do, and if it is, go-ahead and run with it at 180 miles-per-hour until you’ve build out your hub. And start creating the content and serving that audience. And if it’s not, then stick with what you’re already doing. That’s fine – just don’t stress yourself out too much.