First of all, let’s get one thing straight, as long as you have a digital footprint – Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter – then your personal brand already exists.
Now, if cute cat pics and random Oprah quotes aren’t quite what you imagined when you envisioned your personal brand for business (don’t worry we’ve all been there) then keep reading. I’m going to explain how you can turn it around and why podcasting is your golden egg of building & growing your personal brand.
In a nutshell, when we talk about a personal brand, we’re talking about the art of being likeable, trustable and knowable. The first thing you should consider when curating your personal brand then is – you! Yes, you – your story.
If you want people to like you, trust you and be interested in you, you have to actually show up in your personal brand and that starts with telling your story. This means you need to become clear with what parts of ‘your story’ matter to you and to the people you’re targeting. Once you’ve got a handle on that it’s time to start putting it out there.
Content is King, Queen and All That’s In-Between When Building Your Personal Brand
It goes without saying, the building blocks of any good personal brand is quality content. Whilst there are several types of content you can create that establishes your brand as an authoritative entity, some are better suited to particular goals and easier to break into than others.
For instance, blogging is great for creating macro thought-leadership content that establishes you as a trusted source of information for your industry; social media is really good at retaining the memorability of your brand and gaining likeability; and vlogging has fast been soaring through the ranks, with video content estimated to make up 82% of all internet traffic by next year.
However, when it comes to building a personal connection with your target audience, there’s not a medium out there that’s more personal than the human voice. Think about it, we’ve been listening for thousands of years before we ever read or wrote – it comes effortlessly to us.
Podcasting: The Ultimate Medium for Personal Branding
"There’s not a medium more personal as the human voice."
By no means should you only be present in audio format, but here is why you should consider it as your next content move if you haven’t already.
Cost Effective: You’ve probably already got all the equipment you need to start your podcast. If you have a smartphone, a pair of earphones and a laptop for uploading then you could even start right now. You’ll need a small enough room that’s furnished for acoustics, preferably where you feel comfortable enough to relax in, but this can even be a parked car on a quiet road. Of course, there’s more techy equipment out there that you might want to invest in like a good mic, but there are also podcast studio’s that come fully equipped and are hireable by the hour. However, the absence of which should not stop you from giving it a go and testing the waters.
Easy to Consume: Unlike lengthy articles or video’s, podcasts can be consumed on the move. You could be doing the washing up, picking the kids up from school, taking the dog for a walk or sweating it out in the gym and still make it through to the end of a good podcast episode. This is probably one of the reasons why podcasts are currently booming – we’re all busy, we’ve all got stuff to do and this way we can do it and still hear what you have to say.
- Expands Your Reach: As a business owner this is always your goal and building your personal brand is ultimately no different. When you use a popular podcast directory like Stitcher or Apple Podcasts, you gain access to a huge audience. It also allows you to reach your niche audience more directly through their filters and categories – making it a great search engine for anyone looking to know more about your topic.
- Builds Intimacy: You know when you get really invested in a good TV series and it runs for several seasons to the point where you actually feel like you know the characters better than you do your own partner? Podcasting can have the same effect. Your voice enters their homes, accompanies them on their journeys and the more they listen the more they really get to know you; your ticks, speech inflexions, even your laugh! You don’t get much more intimate than that – ticking off those personal branding goals (likeable, knowable and trustable) in one fair swoop.
Practising What I Preach and Podcast
I first got into podcasting years ago, but at the time it just felt like my target audience wasn’t there yet and after 45 episodes, I paused ‘Where Catwalk Meets Commerce’. A few technological advancements later and here I am again with The Kelly Lundberg Podcast – a series of fireside talks that uncover the storylines of success and profitability from women who trail-blaze and cause waves in their industry.
This time I’ve had a completely different experience. In just a few short weeks The Kelly Lundberg Podcast ranked as Top 15 Podcasts in the UAE for Entrepreneurship, Top 50 in the UK, Top 40 in the KSA and All-Time Downloads in New Zealand and Ireland!
