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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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Hello, everyone, and thanks for being here. Before we start out, I kindly ask you to connect with me on social media. My Twitter Twitter/X as Jon_Michail, my LinkedIn is Jon Michail. And you can find his image Group International on Facebook. Okay, so let's get started. Today the subject of course, is the essential topic of building a brand. That of course we specialize in and we we would sites the cornerstone of any sustainable business empire. Some of the key topics today will be you know, defining a brand creating a brand strategy and maintaining brand consistency. So these are some of the practical takeaways. Okay, what is defining your brand? So what is a brand? You know, I love this quote by advertising legend, Walter Landel. And he said, a brand is a promise delivered. And if you think about that, that's why the big iconic brands specifically, you might love them, you might hate them. But as long as the promise is delivered, you are very happy with what your purchase has been a big in Amazon, McDonald's, Coca Cola, these are all specifics, you know, times, it might not have been perfect, but it was the limit. And this is very, very important such beyond logos and slogans, it's the overall perception of your business. So the key elements of creating your brand, and these are very similar, if not exactly identical to large corporations is the mission, of course, and the vision. Now, the stipends around that at times can be a little bit incongruent, because at times, there's a lot of mission and vision statements on corporate walls, and at times, they are not practice. But of course, if you're a smaller company and individual for instance, right now, it's not a bad place to start, though, it's actually a good place to start, because at least it gets you grounded. Because it also then leads into your core values that of course, we promote, what do you really stand for? What represents you? From the point of view of why why do you exist, and then, of course, your unique selling proposition, you know, what makes you unique, what's so special about your offer. And according to Forbes magazine, businesses with a strong brand identity, see a 20% increase in revenue. And because we know this, because simple, effective brand building definitely builds trust and credibility. And we know trust is the currency of business. So customers are more likely to engage with brands, they're recognized and trust, we all know that. And if you think about your favorite brands, you'll be able to relate with that specifically. So investing brand building cultivates a sense of reliability, and dependability. Now let's consider the strategy. And I'll talk about that now, I'll speak to that specifically. So before you start a strategy, you got to do research and analysis, you got to know what you're looking for, you got to know, some dots are some facts in reference to the overall market that you're hoping to enter. In this case, also, it's about understanding your target audience, understanding your target audience as best as possible. And the deeper, the better, is essential here, you know, specifically for you to attract and also get to them in the simplest and quickest and even cheapest way, without going around in circles trying to work out who they really are, and analyze and also your competitors. This is very important as well, because tonight, it's not just your competitors, once upon a time before digital might have been fairly easily to densify actually, but today, you're gonna get competitors that really would not competitors by might be competing competing with you just on algorithms, and SEO and claiming that they are very similar to you. 

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And it's like where we have these people been I've been around for a long time. And it's like the veteran, no way. So the it's not just about competing in your product and service, but you're also competing in getting found on in the digital world, especially Google. And of course, you're gonna be doing advertising, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. So you got to analyze your competitors and you got to do that in all different
angles that I just mentioned. So developing next a brand identity is also important. That means, you know, the logo, color scheme, the type of graphic, just the overall look feel, and what sense you're getting from this whole tone. This is very important, because the voice the messaging is all essential via in how you're gonna attract the type of client that you're potentially looking for. And after that, you build the brand story, a relatable narratives that connects with your audience. And of course, gets them to ask more and more and more to get to see the brand's story is essential. We know that and we know that story is everything, because people really connect with that. And the ultimate, of course, is then covering, you know what, how you're going to maintain this brand consistency across channels. And this is even more more important for smaller firms and individuals. Because if you're gonna have an omni presence approach, then you need to have the systems in place to deal with that. And Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon says Your brand is what people say about you what other people said about you when you're not in the room, you know, and this is a great exercise to do, even as a personal brand to ask people, or get somebody else to ask about your brand. When you're actually there. It's really interesting, because people at times will say different things behind your back, then I will obviously, in front of you. So we know that it's a good exercise to do, especially if you're interested in growing. So the importance of a cohesive brand experience online and offline, we know is paramount. Some of the tools for maintaining consistency are brand guidelines, you'll have a style guide, if you don't do that, what you'll get is colors, fonts. And of course, from a style perspective all over the place, the tone will be all over the place. And you don't want that. So you want to get a bit professional, you want that professional element to go right across all channels. The next one is engaging your audience building a community around your brand. We've covered different podcasts on this in the past, but this is a big one this is every brand will have this as a challenge how to build the community, and a community of course, that ultimately becomes clients of some description, and consistent brand presentation, of course, across all platforms, when done well. And this is the key here increases revenue by up to 33%, according to lucid press, from a research perspective, so but if you're gonna do this across many, many different platforms, you've got to do this really properly in the systemized approach. So we know that a brand's reputation is its most valuable asset. But how do we measure it? 

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Okay, so some of the key performance indicators or KPIs are as follows. Certainly brand awareness, customer loyalty, and the engagement metrics. But the thing with metrics is, you got to know exactly what you're looking for. So it's not just the metrics that big media companies give us. It's about understanding also, and being critical thinking in these metrics, what is the point of having engagement, when your sales over a period of say, you've had great increase in sales, but not in customer engagement, but no sales over 12 months example, you know, three months, that there's some incongruency going on there. So you got to go a lot deeper than what the companies share with you. And this is very important, but there is some great tools for that, obviously, out there. And some of them are Google Analytics, you know, some of the Social Media Insights has many companies that offer some of that. And, of course, customer feedback surveys. And I like customer feedback surveys, is because at least I'm speaking directly to the customer. And I've got an opportunity to hear things maybe I haven't heard before. Also, when you're monitoring your data and your stats, you got an opportunity to adjust your strategy, you know, and the importance of having flexibility with this. And adaptability in branding, see, when you got your foundations, right, you can do a lot of that what happens in my experience is a lot of companies haven't got the foundation solid. And they keep on having adaptability, and branding, and all sorts of other things, you know, and they regard that as flexible, but but if the foundations are not solid, it's gonna be all over the place. That's what my experience clearly shows. So greater sales, though, and profits, you know, recognition, and ultimately, company value is what comes from great branding. And of course, the large, iconic brands are a perfect example of that. I'm going to share some of them with you right now. For instance, successful brands are known for something you know, and this is important. So Apple, for instance, is known for innovation and simplicity. When you think of Nike, just do it. It's emotional branding time. You know, they're known for obviously sport dynamic at a Deadwood straits, you know, the best in inhuman endured. So, the best, the most iconic brands on the planet definitely have an emotional connection. Because emotional connection leads to deeper, more meaningful customer relationships, and of course, greater audience participation, and great advocates for your brand. This drives, of course, long term loyalty, turning customers into brand advocates, as I've just noted. Now, let's talk about also about differentiation, since it's crucial in saturated markets. And there is no such thing today as an unsaturated market, everything is busy, everything is noisy, and you gotta find great ideas to get breakthrough, otherwise, you're gonna get left out. So a strong brand cleanly communicates your unique selling points. So what we say there is ensure your marketing efforts, highlight what sets you apart. This attracts and retains customers helping you to stand out in a crowded marketplace. And it's very important, you got to be counseling, what sets you apart, what sets you apart, and it's I cannot keep on asking that. So what are some of the lessons we learn from today's session? 

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Well, and what also can Small Business learn from the big brands wealth, on a simple level, it's this importance of defining, strategizing and maintaining a brand. Remember, start off with a foundation, if you don't start off with a foundation, it's going to be all over the place. Number two brand building is not a one off situation, it needs to be maintained, and maintained. That's the way it works. So example, no difference in you've set up your website. If you don't maintain that eventually it will be either potentially out of order from the perspective of out of fashion, a guy or also, if it's not maintained from a technology point of view could also potentially be totally non effective, or also non compliant with Google requirements, and so on. So it has to be maintained no different to your health. If you don't maintain your health, you get sick, it's the same thing with the brand. And finally, remember that a strong brand withstands market shifts and evolving consumer preferences, allowing for scalability. In my experience, right now I feel we're gonna get through any challenges in the economy or whatever, if your brand has not got solid presence in the marketplace, again, you're gonna have, you're gonna notice the challenges. And the brands that will do very well moving forward are the ones that are recognized in the marketplace, because they can evolve and also withstand all sorts of market shocks. So brand equity can extend to also new products. Okay, once you built the equity services, or markets, reducing, of course, customer acquisition costs, very, very important from an online advertising perspective. And of course, recognizing that the return on investment on marketing and sales efforts will actually be realized at a greater return. So this positions your business for sustainable growth, and very, very important that you be thinking alright, even if you're advertising right now on Google, it's how can I cut some of these costs, and but I'm not saying cut some of these costs, because they are negatives. I'm saying whatever you can cut there, then you can put in ROI areas on other forms of advertising. Okay, but you got to do that effectively. Because the greater the effect of that, the less your cost will be for the advertising from a Google perspective, just focusing on Google for that moment. So finally, I want to quote publisher and Business Builders, Steve Forbes, he said specifically that your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business. And I actually tend to agree with him. I am biased, but you know, what my experience shows that actually works. And I've proven that with you with some of the iconic brands like Apple, and of course, Nike that we've just mentioned tonight. So to conclude building a strong brand amplifies trust, credibility and reputation, the emotional connections and differentiation and market penetration will lead to sustainable growth. When done, well suffer serious business strategists. Investing in brand building is the cornerstone of long term success and resilience. If you're serious about long term business, you got to build the bread because it sets up the foundations before sales and marketing. Well, I think I've said enough today, my throats get a little bit croaky right now. So I think that's probably enough. If you enjoyed our chat, please rate us on Apple podcasts and subscribe for more valuable content. If you need our help in elevating your personal and business brands on Instagram and beyond, please contact patricia.bosa@imagegroup.com.au - until next time, I wish you a big Cheerio.

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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 personal coaching, seminars, and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.