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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.
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Hi, everybody, and thank you for being here. Before we started chat today, akoni asked you to connect with me on social media. My Twitter is John underlined why go on LinkedIn is John my goal. And you can find me as image Group International on Facebook. And of course, connect with me wherever you can. So let's get started. today's podcast is called unlock new opportunities with digital marketing and social media strategies. So first and foremost, for some of you, you know, regular listeners, you might have experienced parts of this, but I promise you, I'm always going to be bringing you something new. So there's definitely a lot to hang around for. So first and foremost, it's important to understand that creating a digital presence really goes beyond just having a website. I think we all know that. And you know a lot of people I've got a digital presence without a website. So while having a website is crucial for many, remember, it's just the beginning. So do your digital presence shouldn't be omnipresent. And include social media accounts, search engine optimization, email, marketing, AdWord campaigns and other digital tools to help you reach and engage with your audience. Now, the interesting thing around the whole thing is, you know, digital marketing, people think most of the times it's free. Well, I'm gonna say to you that in most cases, it's not free, and very few things are free anymore. So what I mean by that is, you generally are paying to play a guy, as opposed to earn media where you are supposed to begin that obviously, without any spend. But the reality is even that doesn't happen by accident. Normally, there's somebody involved that will create that if a professional or somebody else in your team. So that means also that also has been paid somehow. So what I want to make a point there is don't get too hung up on that, because the reality is you do have to invest to grow yourself. And of course, your business brand. The sub The first thing is the importance of creating definitely a mobile friendly website, from a UX point of view that's very friendly and very user orientated where everyone feels very comfortable using it. Optimizing the content, of course, for mobile today is a no brainer, and of course, should not be overlooked. If your website today is not responsive, of course, it's very difficult for visitors to navigate and use resulting in fewer conversations, and also results in Google downgrading you from a search engine perspective. So this is important. Number two is integrating customer service, and social media channels such as Facebook Messenger or Twitter, and can be an effective way to build relationships with customers by using it this way. And of course, building brand loyalty. Number three is content marketing should be used to develop an engaged audience now, rather than just focusing solely on driving traffic, this should include creating helpful resources blogging, or creating videos to answer customer questions. But what's important in all of this content is this don't do content for content sake. Think quality, quality, quality. And if it's not quality, quality, quality, don't do it. And I can say it, you know, I put my head up on that as well at times, I've made that mistake as well just to bring out content for the sake of content. And the times it was not, I would say the best decision. And you can always pull it back, I suppose if you do that. So just be very clear about that.
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The other ideas I want to mention is in Silla, constantly just creating new content, focus on optimizing the content you already have. So if you already have some great content, you can repurpose that content and get that distributed in different ways as a repurpose contact. And of course, this will help you maximize the impact of your existing contact and help you reach more people without necessarily creating brand new content. So by creating great content is just one part of the equation but you also need to know how to promote this effectively. And as we all know your promotion becomes your distribution channel. And what's important about this to keep a really basic Can you Imagine, you know, developing a beautiful product. It could be, let's say, a beautiful fashion range, where a beautiful beauty range or some great invention. But if you have no initiative bution, no one gets to discover it. And this is where, of course platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, of course, LinkedIn can help you reach a wider audience, and build relationships with your followers that can over time be converted to a tribe that is very interested in buying your product. Okay, so it's also part of your lead generation by doing this. So by sharing your content on these platforms, you're going to attract potential customers that will become customers over time. And of course, you're also get to engage with your current ones, and keep on nurturing and cultivating the relationships. In addition to social media, there are also other digital tools and platforms that can help you reach new customers and build relationships with them. Now, for some of you listening, you might not be looking for new customers, you might be looking for new relationships, you know, you might be looking for a new job, you might be looking for new opportunities, cheat customers, also in that context as well, because customers virtually means connections again, so however you want to utilize those connections is up to you. And for example, email marketing is also a great way to keep in touch. We all know that with your audience. And of course, keep them updated on your latest offerings. And I want to remind you on that, because I've spoken about that in past programs, but the reason also, you want to have your email list is by typing your clients away from the social media company. So you can own that audience as opposed to them or owning that audience and potentially taking that audience away from you, if they choose, like they have with numerous accounts in the past. You can also use digital advertising to target that specific audience and drive traffic directly to your website. And of course, that's great as well, you just got to watch how you do that.
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For instance, on LinkedIn, if you do that, you can overdo that specifically by leading traffic away from the site unless you know how to position that right. Otherwise, what you'll do is you can do it by the way, but your ratio will be will be very low, because LinkedIn will penalize you without even telling you. So I want to also share a few more ideas in reference to how to promote your content. So another one is to leverage influencer marketing. And that means reaching out to influencers, your industry or related industries, to promote your content and build relationships with their followers. So that works best when you're operating, obviously, with non competitors. But certainly these influencers, hopefully, they're not competitors in your industry, because if it's competitors, it can get a little bit pitchy in my experience. So you want to go somewhere with the energies more free flowing, and people don't have to worry about all promoting competition or potential competition. And the last one, or before I get to the last couple of follow this is you know how to leverage podcasts. Now, you can use podcasts also to share your content with a broader audience and drive traffic to your website. Podcasts are fantastic. And trade podcasts really, as long as it's a quality podcast. From the point of view, you got a good interviewer. And it's nothing that looks too cheap and tacky. Certainly it's great for leverage opportunities, and it's great practice as well for you in becoming more savvy, speaking to a wider audience. So by creating a digital presence, remember, it's it isn't just about marketing, it's also adapting innovative technologies and processes that can help you operate more efficiently. Now, this also includes automation software that really takes a lot of the hands on work away from you. And of course, cloud computing, and virtual collaboration tools. So when racing these technologies, you can streamline your operations and focus what really matters. And what really matters in this case, is growing your business, for some of you listening that are not looking at growing your business. And this is also is related to growing your career, you know, growing your position, et cetera, a guy again, the principles are virtually the same.
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Now finally, remember, in all of this, that take advantage of local and global opportunities to expand your reach. I've spoken about this a lot, a lot, a lot a lot because there's a lot of changes happening on the planet. And you want to be thinking how to basically get rich outside of your normal markets. You know, and if you have a look again, international markets, especially the US then utilize to Knology to expand in brands worldwide, I can tell you been a coach for a long, long time, there weren't any American coaches in the past coming into the Australian market like we see today, or consultants or advisors, etc. So if, for instance, the Americans can do that come into your market with any other nationality for that matter, you can do the same thing by going into their markets as well. Okay, but the opportunity exists that you got to do this properly, because otherwise you risk brand damage, and personal reputation risk as well comes into play with it. Now, the other aspect I want to mention to you is whether you're entrepreneur, freelancer, or simply looking to establish yourself as an expert, or an authority on in your field, having a strong digital presence can help you achieve your goals. Now, anyone that says, I'm not interested in this anymore, I'm very happy just doing what I'm doing. And being out of the limelight, or in this case, being outside of the digital world, all I'm going to say to you on that is good luck with that, because there's more benefits you can gain by definitely creating a presence than smartly as opposed to fighting under a rock. But I do know some people that just are so afraid about that. And of course, everyone can make their own choices. Just at least know that I've been talking about this for a long time. And I can't tell you how many clients I've had come back to me 235 years later and saying to me, what's that personal brand thing you were talking about? Because I can see now it's gaining traction, especially if they've lost their jobs, if there has been big career shakeups in their industry. And of course, it might be you know, even a personal or business crisis that brings them to start questioning things. So I was suggesting, be proactive on this, be proactive. And of course, I'm reminding you always look after your mind, body and spirit first. Well, that's all we have a filter I and I encourage you to keep are listening, I hope you found these insights really helpful today. And you know, hopefully, they inspire you also to bigger and greater things. Remember, creating a digital presence is all about being proactive. It's a mindset adapting to change and embracing innovation. And if you need help with that, this is you're talking to somebody that's been doing that for over 34 years, originally was a Creator as a designer, so it's not something that's foreign in my world. And of course, contact myself or our team and take advantage of that lived experience, you know, as helping executives, entrepreneurs, and of course changemakers, build, grow and monetize their personal brands. With our help, we can create a powerful digital presence that showcases your expertise, you know, build trust with the audience and of course, ultimately drives your successes. I want to thank everybody for listening today. I wish you a great week and look forward to next one. Cheers.
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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.
