How Can Marketers be Bold and Build Authority for their Personal Brand?

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Welcome to today's episode.

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Our guest today is Sarah.

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She is a marketer and an author.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I'm excited to be here.

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We appreciate you making the time.

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Why don't you start off by sharing a little bit about what type of marketing that you do and how you do it?

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Sure, so I'm in a little bit of the personal branding and authority marketing space.

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So my company Favorite, daughter Media, focuses on helping people tell their own stories and become thought leaders through podcasting and speaking.

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And then I have a company called Branded that produces branded podcasts to help businesses and entrepreneurs share their story and grow their businesses through podcasts.

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Awesome, as we are here on a podcast.

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I can authoritatively say that podcasting has become even a bigger and bigger channel for businesses and marketers.

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Yes, you're on board with podcasting, for sure I'm on board with it.

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So why don't we jump right in?

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Why don't you share a story with us about some of the best marketing you've done in these areas, and personal branding and podcasting or other areas that you're proud of?

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Yeah, I think my best marketing tactics have been a little less marketing focused and really relationship focused.

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So all of the I go to probably six or 12 conferences every year and you're supposed to go to these conferences to go to sessions and learn everything that's happening and what's new in your space, but I skip those.

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Don't tell anybody.

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I speak at these conferences but I still skip the speakers.

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So I'm a little bit of a hypocrite, but I found that the best marketing quote unquote is what happens in the hallways and the people that I've met.

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So I have met some of the most amazing people just walking hallways.

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At these conferences I ended up getting myself booked on Stacking Benjamins, which was my first ever podcast, which is insane because it's one of the top podcasts in the world and I got booked on it to tell a ridiculous story about an embarrassing tattoo and that story led to me writing my book and all of these different events that fell into place.

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And in these hallways I met people that introduced me to everyone in their network and turned into some of what I consider friends that I've never met before.

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So it's really amazing just what can be accomplished when you focus on those relationships instead of how can I be marketing myself?

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Yeah, relationships matter Absolutely.

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I guess I'm interested.

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Opportunities happen in the hallway at events.

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So how did you do this networking?

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Is there a secret to how you, how you get some of these opportunities in the in-person networking, or are you just a charming person that you just walk up to people when you're brave?

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A little bit of both, because honestly, I think the secret to it is to be bold and to be really authentic.

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When I got on Stacking Benjamins, it was specifically because I stalked him for three days and then basically ambushed him in a hallway but was just so authentic and so genuine in the interaction that it led to such an ongoing professional relationship and a friendship.

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And I even saw John Lee Dumas speaking at a conference and he was talking about how to get booked on these big name podcasts like Entrepreneurs on Fire talking about how to get booked on these big name podcasts like Entrepreneurs on Fire, which is his show and I was in the front row.

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So when he finished and asked for questions, I just stood up, raised my hand and said can I be on your podcast?

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And somehow that worked.

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So I think the best thing that I've learned is that you just have to be bold.

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And every time I've done things like that at every conference, which is ridiculous to do as an adult, but I still consider myself a just grown child but I've been able to meet people and I have people come up to me and just tell me how the boldness and the authenticity of all of these interactions is like inspiring to them and makes them make these bigger choices, and that's really been the cornerstone of everything is just, they can't say no if you don't ask, so just ask.

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That's great.

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I love the being bold accepted and we want to make sure that we're staying within the rules and even if those rules are made up.

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But when you take risks and you just do the thing, that feels insane but also great.

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It leads to so many more opportunities.

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That kind of just staying within your lane never will.

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That's great.

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So tell me a little bit about what you do with personal branding.

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This is a topic that we explore often on the show.

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I think it's an important one for people to think about how they can do some self-marketing, if you will.

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So talk to me a little bit about what you've done in that area, what you do with your clients Curious.

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Yeah, my goal with personal branding has always been around authority and growing your just authority as a thought leader in your space.

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So what I've been doing since I started in this industry and even before when I was in finance I always lead with.

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So I have eBooks out on any topic that I talk about and I have eBooks on applying podcasting and all the things that I do professionally how to apply it in different industries, so that I can speak to these different industries and they can find me through my website finding those eBooks or I can present them when I'm talking to people at different events.

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And when you lead with something like that, it just proves, without you having to really do anything on the spot, that you know what you're talking about.

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So I have a whole collection of eBooks.

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I have articles that I've written.

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I now have a real book, which I never thought I would have.

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But by really digging in on the authority and positioning myself as an expert in what I do, I've been able to gain a lot of respect and a good reputation in my industry.

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So I've become a go-to when people need speakers and when people are looking for someone to connect with on podcasting or guesting.

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So it's interesting building authority.

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I would say a solid 70% of the guests that I have on the podcast have a book as part of their personal branding strategy.

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So probably a super majority strategy.

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So probably a super majority.

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And what I've heard from a lot of the people who have the book is it does give them this sort of magic authority or credibility because they took the time to write down their thoughts in a organized way and then share it with people.

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Have you experienced that from both your eBooks and hopefully now with your imprint book?

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Yeah, I think publishing is almost that like instant credibility builder, and you can see it almost anywhere.

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If someone were to say to you like, oh yeah, I wrote a book about that, you don't even have to read the book, you just instantly trust them and you think that they know what they're talking about.

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So that was part of why I wrote my book.

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I don't expect to get rich off of this.

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I'm not going to be the next John Grisham.

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This is not my path to riches.

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This is just my path to really solidifying that I know what I'm doing and that is what I've always wanted to get out of it.

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And part of it is because I have major imposter syndrome and I know that's not abnormal anywhere, especially in an industry like this where you're talking publicly a lot.

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But I'm 28 and I've been doing things in the finance space since I was about 24.

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So I'm young and I look even younger than I am probably.

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So it's something that I always struggled with was like trying to fit into an industry where I didn't feel like I was like ready for.

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So for part of it it's.

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I have a book about this now, and that wasn't even just my way of proving to everybody else that I know what I'm doing, but part of it was just proving it to myself.

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What do you think the psychology is about?

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Having a book that gives that automatic authority and credibility?

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What's your thesis on that?

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Honestly, I think it's a little bit of like the Wizard of Oz, how you draw back the current and it's just the man.

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The world of publishing when you're not in it.

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It seems like this magical place.

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That it's really difficult, like people think of it, as you need to get these giant publishing contracts and you need agents and it's this whole process, but self-publishing has made it really easy at this point to have a book.

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So I think part of it honestly is still that people don't understand it.

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And I remember back when I first started speaking at conferences before I ever spoke at them, I'd be sitting in an audience thinking like this person that's on stage I've never heard of them, but they're on a stage with a microphone.

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They have to be world-renowned.

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Everyone respects them, they are the best at what they do, they must be completely experts.

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And then a year later I'm on that same stage and it's hard to put that into your mind that you are in the same space as these people that you really respected.

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But it changes the way that you look at it and once you're in that world it pulls back that curtain.

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Do you think that there is a trifecta for authority around being an author and doing public speaking and being on podcasts?

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I think they definitely go hand in hand and I always tell people to choose the one that you're good at, and if you're best at writing, then write.

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If you're a great speaker, then speak or do podcasts.

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Don't try to force yourself into a role that you don't necessarily want to be in, but when you do all of them together, you're hitting all these different audiences and you're able to use the authority that you gain from one and use it for another.

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I know there's a lot of stages that it's a lot easier to get on once you have a book, and it's easier to get on stages once you have a podcast, or it's easier to get on podcasts once you have a book.

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So a lot of these really do go hand in hand and open up different avenues of opportunities for each other, almost.

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So, once you have some of this authority, what has been the impact on your career and on your business?

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been honestly amazing.

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I have grown my company I just launched in 2022 and I've grown it to the point where I am seen as an authority.

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I've grown it to the point that when someone knows somebody that wants something in this space, they send them to me and I'm able to have built this giant network of people that we just send opportunities to each other and we respect each other.

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And it's like an alternate way of growing a business, I would say, because it's not set in sales and I think that sales takes the focus a lot of the time, but when, instead, you're focusing on that relationship that you build with all of these different people, the sales will come, and they'll come in a way that's more genuine, because I don't want someone to work with me just because I offer a service and they need it and they just found me.

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I want someone to work with me because they trust me and they've seen what I've done and they've seen what I know and how I've proven it and the work that I've done, so that they don't want to just work with someone who does what I do.

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I want them to want to work with me and that has happened.

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It's been a really amazing experience, and all of my clients I look at as my friends, because it's just such a comfortable relationship that we have, because it's built on that respect and that sense of personal relationship, because even before they knew me they felt like they knew me.

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That's great.

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Relationships that drive referrals is a level up on sales, for sure.

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I think that's awesome, yeah.

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So final thoughts on personal branding, building authority into our podcasting, anything you'd like to share with marketers who want to level up in those areas.

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Yeah, I think that some people are hesitant to go the authority marketing way and to try to position themselves as experts, and I think part of that is because we don't want to say that we're an expert and that almost feels like dirty, it feels almost like too vain.

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But I think we need to relook at what an expert really is, and for me, I think that an expert is just someone who is just endlessly curious about what it is that they're talking about, and using these different opportunities to teach what we know is also an opportunity to learn more and to get asked questions that we don't know the answer to yet and use that as an opportunity to learn more and find those answers.

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So I think, if you can look at, I am an expert just because I want to know everything about it, not necessarily because I know it it makes it a lot more fun to go after that title of expert.

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I love that sentiment of being endlessly curious.

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It sounds like something that all marketers should be striving for, so thank you very much for sharing your story, for sharing these insights.

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We appreciate it.

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Encourage everyone to share this episode with your friends.

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I'm going to link to your website in the show notes so if people want to learn more about this, they can reach out to you directly, and we appreciate you being with us today.

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Thank you so much for having me.