Personal Branding is the new multi-faceted marketing.
Where traditional marketing focuses on promoting your offerings and filling your funnel, personal branding does all those things and more.
Because, frankly, it’s not just about what you post, where, or when. It’s also about how you do business, the things you stand up for and believe in, the causes you support, the moves you make and the impact you leave on your organization and your industry.
In short, it’s not just what you do, but it’s who you are.
Traditional B2B Marketing Agency Tactics & Strategies Are Getting a Makeover
It used to be that you could build trust and relationships with your clients in very traditional ways. A B2B marketing agency would create mailers, physical ads, or networking events to get your foot in the door, and then you’d take over to create tangible connections. Think: handshakes, coffee dates, business dinners… (How did we have the time!?) This is not to say that these tactics have gone away, but in our digital and increasingly crowded world (and calendars), you have to scale yourself.
You have to scale relationships. You have to scale trust. And that’s no easy feat.
Frankly, B2B partners used to be limited. As a service provider, one’s connectedness and personal relationships were often sufficient in fueling the pipeline. But just like the endless grocery store aisles of choices that make up consumer goods and services, there are just as many options in B2B partners today.
So how do you scale yourself and differentiate yourself?
The answer lies in personal branding.
Standing Out from the Crowd
Yes, it’s true. The rate of new businesses has surged in post-pandemic years, with over 5 million new businesses opening their doors in 2022 alone.
So how is YOUR individual platform going to stand out amongst your competitors? Well, in a world where the options are endless, we’re throwing it back to what’s worked in the past for a traditional B2B marketing agency: leveraging your personal connections.
Whoa—didn’t you just say that wasn’t going to suffice anymore?
Indeed. We’re taking the one-to-one relationship strategies of the past digital.
Developing a personal brand in the market is your unique entrypoint to generating leads and filling your pipeline. Digital media gives you the power to spread your unique personal touch to the masses, all with the click of a button.
It’s that simple.
Create a Beacon for your Business through Self Promotion
You’ve already done the hard work of establishing yourself as a leader. Congratulations! You’re halfway there.
Now it’s time to market yourself—without shame.
If the idea of promoting yourself gives you the ick, you wouldn’t be the first. Imposter syndrome often tells us that it’s somehow immodest to publicly share our stories, goals, and achievements. While we’ve all seen some of the nauseating self-promotional B2B marketing agency tactics out there, when done intentionally and strategically, it’s the exact opposite.
Leadership inherently requires you to sell your vision and your mission to the watchful gaze of the masses. All leaders must hone the ability to passionately communicate to the public. You might not realize it, but you’ve already committed to the act of authentically marketing yourself.
Personal branding is simply the art of defining and refining this commitment.
Millions of people scour the Internet every day looking for connections, businesses, partnership opportunities, and more. They go to the internet specifically hoping to find someone to help solve their problem.
With that in mind, what could possibly be disingenuous about putting yourself out there so that the right people can find you? What it comes down to is this:
Promoting your business online is an act of service to those already looking for you.
As soon as you come to terms with this, it makes building your brand and marketing yourself that much more, well, authentic.
So say goodbye to that little voice inside your head telling you that you couldn’t possibly self-promote. You’re not. You’re serving the people who need the value you uniquely provide.
Live Rent-Free in the Minds of your Audience
Think of every business, brand, or even B2B marketing agency you’ve ever done business with. What are the chances that you would have put them on your radar if it wasn’t for them “putting themselves out there”?
Research shows that consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase business revenue 10-20%. Not only does it help you score the big bucks, but marketing yourself helps you stay top of mind for people who are looking to (or have already) worked with you.
This is how you win.
But here’s where it gets really good.
Studies conducted by Ehrenberg-Bass show that, at any given time, 95% of businesses are not in the market to buy anything at all. This means that it’s imperative to build upon the memorability of your brand long-term.
When it’s finally time for a customer to make a purchase, you’ll be their first call.
So how do you create this top-of-mind connection? It’s not so different from what a B2B marketing agency would tell you.
Establish trust and reliability with your audience.
Consistently talk about what you do to demonstrate your value.
Actively nurture your message authentically and intentionally.
While it may feel like you’re talking about the same things over and over, there’s no shame in that. It takes a minimum of 7 marketing touchpoints for someone to remember a brand. So stay the course, and over time, the results of your efforts will come pouring in.
It’s time to play the long game.
