All Marketing is Personal
Or at least it should be. It isn't enough to just shove your logo in front of your audience repeatedly. In order to effectively engage new customers you must make a personal connection.
The best way to make a personal connection is by connecting on an individual level - person to person. Humans are social creatures who are constantly judging and approving, of one another. The need to connect and empathize is ingrained in our genes.
Here are some simple ways to remake your business marketing into personal marketing, and a brand that is worthy of empathy, adoration, and sales.
Your Face Your Business
Unfortunately there exists thousands (if not millions) of fly-by-night businesses looking to swindle people out of their hard earned cash. One thing these businesses have in common is that it is difficult to trace who the people behind the businesses are. This is by design because the unethical businesses owners don't want to be found and brought to justice for their illicit deeds.
Be different. Be transparent. Put your face, contact info, and bio on your website. Also, put your staff photos and contact info on there while you're at it.
Hire a professional photographer to take a headshot photo of you, then use that photo on your business card, email footer, and social media profile photos. Become recognizable to your potential customers at a glance.
The simple act of using your face in conjunction with your business brand will distance your from illicit facade businesses and thereby establish trust. Furthermore, the consistency of using the same photo across all of your business marketing channels will create consistent recognizability, which also breeds trust. Trust makes sales.
Online vs Offline
In today's hyper social media dominated world It's vitally important to be authentic and genuine. The best way to accomplish that is to work diligently to be transparent with your personality both online and offline. That means doing the often uncomfortable work of revealing your true self, warts and all.
Put yourself out there. Put yourself in one of the ever-ready social spotlights even if you are worried a particular person or group could potentially misinterpret your messaging. It's better to produce content and be noticed than to be a perfectionist and produce nothing. People respect individuals who are true to themselves, even if they aren't always in agreement with values being expressed.
Contrast this rough-around-the-edges transparency method with one of over-perfected yet limited content. People don't trust others who always say what they want to hear. A slimy salesman goes out of his way to say the perfect thing at all times. Don't be a slimy salesman. Be yourself. Put your true self out there and you will find others clamoring to follow you and buy from you.
Selfie Photos
Every meeting you have with a customer or coworker is an opportunity to enhance your personal brand. The fastest and easiest way to capitalize on this opportunity is the good old selfie. It may feel awkward or cliche to request a photo with your customer during a lunch meeting, but it's worth it! If you think about it you are actually paying them a compliment by requesting to capture that moment in time. Taking a selfie is an act that says "I like you and I want the world to know we're working together!"
Make sure to request consent before posting the photo or video because some people may not realize your intentions with the image unless it's made expressly clear, and not everyone will have the same commitment to transparency that you do. Them post it everywhere!
Automate Your Content Delivery
Obscurity is your biggest hurdle. With that in mind there's no good reason to focus on just one social network when it only takes just a few additional minutes to post to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and more. But maybe posting to multiple sites is your bottle neck or you want to set your posts to go out at a specific time. In that case you can use SocialChamp, Buffer. or Hootsuite to load up your content for auto delivery. This way you will always have content in an automated queue. The goal is to eliminate roadblocks and push out content freely and abundantly. Eliminate personal branding obscurity and get your message seen.
Summary
Your customers are naturally curious about your business. Pull back the curtain and reveal yourself as the face that is the brand. Shine an authentic spotlight on your business and make your customers adore you.
