Expanding the Audience and Influence of Your Personal Brand

Transcript

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Welcome to today's episode.

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We have a great topic today.

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Today, we are talking about how to increase the audience for your personal brand and how do you increase your influence.

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We have the perfect guest to help us talk through this today Becky.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thanks, eric, it's great to be with you.

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Why don't we start off by you taking just a minute or two to share a little bit about who you are and what you do?

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Sure, I'd be happy to.

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So I'm the founder and CEO of a digital marketing agency.

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My company is called Weaving Influence.

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I founded Weaving Influence in 2012.

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And we've been primarily working with authors of nonfiction to help them grow their personal and business brands, to reach more readers for their work and to share their thought leadership with the world.

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And you've helped a couple hundred authors right.

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Get out there and tell their story and build their audience.

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Yes, I think right now what we're saying is that we've launched 250 books.

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I think right now, what we're saying is that we've launched 250 books and in the course of launching those 250 books, we've also served probably like 400 or 500 authors along the way.

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So a lot, a lot of authors.

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Wow, that's amazing.

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Congratulations, Thank you.

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So we're ready to be inspired.

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Why don't you tell us a story about working with some of these clients, how you've been able to help them increase their audience and get their story out there?

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I'd be happy to.

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I oftentimes, eric, get to work with first-time authors, and one of the things that we're trying to do with those first-time authors is to help them show up in online spaces the same way that they've been showing up in their real-life lives, because most of the time, people write a book because they've had some experience, especially in the nonfiction book world.

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They've had experience in the business world that can be of value to others, and so they've been doing a lot in their careers.

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They may not have been building a personal brand, so I get to meet with folks often at the beginning of their building a personal brand and a business brand, potentially online, and get to be able to coach them into how to show up in online spaces in ways that add value for others.

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So I'm thinking right now of a couple of authors that I met early at the end of 2022.

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They had a book coming out in early 2023.

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And it has been such an extreme joy to see the way that they have listened to the guidance and advice that my team and I have given them.

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They have primarily used LinkedIn as their channel for growing their thought leadership brands, posting content of value, interacting and engaging with others, and these two authors in one year sold over 13,000 copies of their debut book.

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They've had opportunities to present the content from the book around the world.

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They're working on a follow-up workbook and just seeing the way that they consistently are showing up over time and have implemented a lot of marketing approaches that we've recommended, and they're not complicated.

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It's a matter of being able to share value, mobilize your network in support of your content and really that just consistent presence.

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That's amazing, I think.

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A lot of times I've seen authors spend a year or more putting together a great book and the marketing of it is sort of an afterthought, and they don't sell 10,000 or 20,000 copies.

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They sell a very small amount and that's just very disheartening for people to sort of have that result after investing so much of their time, sweat, effort into it.

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And so I think you know, helping authors who are trying to build credibility and build their personal brand, you know, get that audience and get people to actually read what they spent so much time creating and get their story out there is so impactful.

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Does producing a really good book, does that help people's credibility?

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Well, certainly.

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So you have to start with a great product.

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You have to start with content that's valuable and I think, eric, what's important for that, honestly, is to be able to bring your authentic voice to your work Because, let's face it, there are so many books about, say, the topic leadership.

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There are so many on Amazon already.

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So if you're coming to me and you're telling me, hey, I want to write about leadership, then I'm going to be coaching you to okay, well, what's your unique take on leadership?

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You know what's what you have to offer that no one else has offered before, and most often, that's our own individual unique experiences.

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So part of the way to have your personal brand grow is to be as authentic as possible, to be saying something that no one else is saying, and really, the only thing that we have to say that no one else has said is that those lessons that come from the core of our life experiences.

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So the more authentic and vulnerable we can be in sharing our stories as they're part of our book, the better that product will be and the better will be the content that we share in promotion of that book, if that makes sense.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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What do you think?

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When people are taking your advice, when your clients are taking your advice and they're following these?

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Book marketing, audience marketing strategies, using LinkedIn, leveraging their network what is the hardest thing about doing that?

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For authors and people trying to build their personal brand, what's the most challenging thing about it?

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There are a couple of things that are challenging, and I'll throw out a few.

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I think consistency is one.

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So, eric, you were mentioning that people put so much time and sweat and work into crafting the book and then sometimes marketing seems like an afterthought and I have observed that as well that people get caught up in, like I have to work on the editing now, I have to work on the proofreading now, and so they almost turn off their online presence.

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They're not showing up consistently with value.

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And then the same thing happens once the book comes out.

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They may get wrapped back up into that business they're trying to build and they're serving clients or doing keynote speeches or whatever.

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So that consistency of presence in online spaces is very difficult for some authors to maintain.

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So that's one challenging piece.

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I think another challenging part of this journey is the overcoming the resistance to asking others for help, and so people will say like, oh, I don't want to ask my network to share my book, or I don't want to ask my network to buy the book, I don't want to promote myself.

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A reframe that I like to offer is that book promotion is not self-promotion, it's value promotion or it's message promotion.

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So if we can kind of take ourselves out of the equation and stay connected to the fact that we wrote a book for a reason it has value to add then we're really not about promoting ourselves.

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And as it relates to overcoming the resistance to ask for help, one of the things I try to help authors remember is that your network is honored to be included in your journey.

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So I think a lot of authors get caught up but they think, oh well, everyone's writing a book.

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People are tired of getting newsletters.

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There's a thousand things we tell ourselves, but the reality is that many of the people who are in our networks or communities they're not also doing the same thing that we're doing.

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And to be included in your efforts to share a book with the world feels really wonderful, like a gift to be involved.

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Yeah, I think that's great advice.

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What is the number one thing you tell clients who want to build their personal brand?

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What's the secret, what's the hack that they have to do in order to win?

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Well.

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So I don't know that there's a secret nor a hack, but one of the ideas that I try to fuel with authors is that there are four commitments that can influence how we can grow our reach in the world, and I define reach as expanding audience plus lasting impact.

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So, for anyone who wants to expand their audience and make a lasting difference in the world, there's four commitments that we have to make.

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The first one is to show up with value, and value is not only about the content that we're creating, but it's also about the connections that we're making, and it's that genuine connection that we make, one connection after the other, that will help to grow our audience.

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We need to show up with value consistently.

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So the second commitment is to consistency.

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The third commitment is longevity.

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It takes a long time.

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I listened to your episode with Peg Fitzpatrick and she mentioned that she's been online since what did she say?

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2007.

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?

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And she mentioned that she's been online since what did she say?

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2007.

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I've been in online spaces since about 2009.

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And I think quite often people expect that, oh well, I'm writing a book and I'm going to set up some social accounts and then I'm going to launch my book the following month.

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It doesn't work that way.

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You really want to be building an online presence far in advance of having something to launch yourself.

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The final commitment that I like to fuel in terms of what it takes to grow your reach is generosity, and what I have found is, the more we can be generous with our kindness to others, our encouragement, our promotion of others, giving our content away it's that unexpected factor that can help us grow an audience faster if we give of ourselves and give of our insights to others.

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So those are the four commitments that I think it takes, and none of them are, but they're about intentionally adding value and showing up over time.

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I love that.

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Success doesn't come overnight, and being generous in particular is one of my other favorites and helping other people, so I think that that is really great, and you have a book on this topic of your own.

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You want to talk a little bit about that?

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Sure, I'd be happy to.

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So my book came out in May of 2022.

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And, in a way, I'm demonstrating.

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You know what I talk about in the book.

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One of the things I always heard about book marketing as a book marketer was it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

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When I launched my own book, eric, what I gathered or learned is that it's none of those, because I've run marathons before.

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I've run 13 of them.

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The thing about a marathon is there is a finish line and when you're an author who has value to share with the world in the form of a book, hopefully you've written a book that has some evergreen value to the world.

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There is no finish line.

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Here I am two and a half years in.

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I'm not done.

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My book continues to add value for people and I continue to show up to share that value.

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So I believe very, very, very, very strongly that books are seeds and for people, and I continue to show up to share that value.

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So I believe very, very, very, very strongly that books are seeds and for people who may feel like their audience is limited.

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If you have the ability to give your book away, whether as an ebook or a print book, I always recommend just give away as many books as you can.

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They are seeds.

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You're sending them out into the world, hopefully to do what you want them to do.

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So with that in mind, if you are listening to this episode, eric's going to put a link in the show notes where, if you give me your name and address and you live in the United States, I will sign and send you a copy of my book for free.

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And if you happen to be outside the US, you can also feel free to shoot me an email.

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I have a PDF copy of my book I can get to you.

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Amazing.

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Thank you very much for that offer.

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I encourage everyone to dig in, get the book read about these strategies for growing the audience for your personal brand.

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Lots of really great insights Anything else in closing that I didn't ask that you'd like to share on this topic today.

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Sure, eric.

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So one of the things I think about as it relates to building a personal brand or growing an audience, or growing a community you can call it all sorts of different things when we think about the motivation for doing that, I can tell already, eric, that your motivation is similar to mine.

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We want to make a difference in the world through what we know and what we share, and I have a favorite story about this and I'll just share it briefly as we wrap up our time together.

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So I live in rural Michigan on a five-acre kind of plot of land that my house sits on, and 30-some years ago, when the people built this house, it was kind of an interesting dynamic.

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You could see the road we're on kind of like a busy country road, but we're set back, and the people who originally built the house had this vision of creating a peaceful retreat and, unfortunately, because they could see the road, they knew they needed to do something to make it more peaceful, and so the owner of the house bought 500 trees.

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Now, eric, I don't know if you've ever seen this before, but when trees are tiny, you can fit 500 of them into a wheelbarrow.

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So Michael, who owned the house, planted these 500 trees around the property, cultivated them so that 30 years later, I can't see the road.

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There are huge trees that have formed a barrier so that I have this really peaceful environment that I live in.

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And, as it relates to growing a community or sharing content online, if we have the mindset of being someone who would plant trees and wait for them to grow, then we can more accurately assess what it really takes to make a difference in the world.

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And sometimes it means planting and fueling ideas and goodness, and you may never see the results in your lifetime.

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You may never see the results at all, but by generously giving of yourself and your ideas, you can make a difference that others might enjoy in the future.

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So I would just encourage those who are listening today to think about whether they might be someone who could plant trees and wait for them to grow.

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Love that story and I like to say that about personal branding is the best time to start building your personal brand was probably 20 years ago, but the second best time is today.

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So in case you didn't plant some of those trees a while ago, you can still start today and start getting it in motion.

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So thank you very much for sharing your stories and these insights on how to build your audience for your personal brand.

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I'm going to link to your website and your generous book offer in the show notes.

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Thank you very much for being with us today.

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We appreciate it.

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Thank you Thanks for having me, Eric.

Expanding the Audience and Influence of Your Personal Brand

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