Why is it so important to create and grow your personal brand? The simple answer would be that a personal brand help build better relationships with your customers, and coincidentally, will also support the growth of your business. This proves especially important since advertising tends to be limited for CBD, hemp, and the cannabis industry in general. But how do you pull this off? What do you need to know to get your personal brand started? That’s where our guest Brandon Birkmeyer comes in, an expert marketer, podcast host, and amazing karaoke singer comes in! Brandon is the founder of Brands On Brands Media, and he will be sharing his best tips to creating and growing your personal brand.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to become an authority using a simple personal branding framework
- How to leverage podcasts to build your personal brand
- How to create branded content at scale
Welcome to Cannabis Marketing Live — All Puff. No Fluff!
Working out your branding strategy can tough, especially when you’ve only just started getting yourself acquainted with this industry. Not only do we have limited tools, but often times we also have limited opportunities of creating genuine connection with our target audience. So, the best way to remedy this is by investing in building your personal brand!
Your personal brand is what will make you more approachable. It makes building an emotional connection with your customers a lot easier. Not to mention, it humanizes your brand and makes your business memorable. But hey, you don’t take my word for it! I’ve got Brandon Birkmeyer ready to share his insight on why you should consider building a personal brand, how to grow your personal brand, and so much more.
GETTING TO KNOW OUR FEATURED GUEST
http://brandsonbrands.com/coach
Brandon Birkmeyer is a seasoned marketing strategist, an up-and-coming writer, author, speaker, podcaster, and business coach who works with entrepreneurs to build expert podcasts and execute personal branding campaigns.
For over 18 years, Brandon advised and directed brand strategy for top FORTUNE 100 companies including Apple, Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Wells Fargo. In 2018, he launched Brands On Brands Media, a content marketing firm based in Los Angeles, California. He also produces and hosts a top 100 marketing podcast called “Brands On Brands On Brands“.
What does ‘personal brand’ mean to you?
When I asked Brandon on what a personal brand was for him, he shared that it is your reputation – how people perceive you. Now, the beauty of a personal brand lies in how people experience your presence. Some might remember you based on your personality, your mindset, your achievements, and whatever else… so, really, you have some freedom in how you want to shape this perception, so that people can remember you in a way that matters most to you and your business.
(Re: creating a brand for yourself) The networking opportunities are crazy. The growth and business opportunities are crazy when you actually invest in yourself. And people start to know you as whatever it is that you do!
– Brandon Birkmeyer
What can you do to start building your personal branding framework?
To build your personal brand, you need to think beyond saying that you have a great product or a brilliant solution. You need to dig deep and analyze what else you can offer besides the goods you’re offering, because to a customer businesses tend to look the same, but it’s the branding that brings helps them identify you as someone who deserves their time and attention.
You can do this by implementing the following strategies:
1. CREATE QUALITY CONTENT
Creating content is vital to building your personal branding because it helps you hone your message. Creating content, regardless of what type of content you prefer making, allows you to exercise your capability and capacity to be consistent in using your voice.
Put as much content out to tell our story, to talk about what we’re good at, and to share the experiences of our customers… As a personal brand, that’s what you do for yourself. You share your opinions, you share your history, your experience, and you try to give advice and recommendations, whatever that might be.
– Brandon Birkmeyer
What kind of content do you recommend people create when they’re just getting started?
- Start with something you know about the industry you’re in. It should be something you’re really good at!
- Build something that only you can do, but then take the next level to explore it even deeper.
- Tie it to something you passionate about or find interesting.
You can’t find your voice unless you’re using it.
– Brandon Birkmeyer
2. BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY
Supportive communities help people grow and become a better version of themselves. You can build a community around the content you create! Take your message, let people gather around to discuss it at length, and jump in the conversation. When you engage your target audience, it helps them identify you as a reliable person who can lead and move them forward.
3. FIGURE OUT WAYS TO SERVE BETTER
Problem-solvers are some of the most phenomenal people because they are driven by a strong desire to bring something to the table. They want to contribute for the greater good. It’s this desire to finding more ways to serve your community, beyond what you’re already doing, that makes your community feel valued since they can see how dedicated you are to improving their lives a step further.
At the end of the day, if you don’t want to be beaten out by price, you’ve got to do something else so that people will actually care about you.
– Brandon Birkmeyer
Ultimately, Brandon shares that he starts out with identifying and investing in three stages: message, community, and impact.
How can you use podcasting to grow your personal branding?
Podcasting is a great way, not only to discover your voice, but also to help bring your message across. For Brandon, podcasting was a no-brainer because all he needed to do was talk. He then proceeded to repurpose the content he recorded, distributed it on different platforms, and built something of an ecosystem where his audience can find him and connect with him.
How do you create branded content at scale?
Record video content, then splice it into several pieces of content and then publish them wherever your target audience are more likely to gather. Video content can be turned into short video clips for social media, a podcast episode, be used to create a blog post, can be mined for quotes to be turned into quote cards… there’s a lot you can do with just one piece of video. So, you don’t necessarily need to create content from scratch every time, you can actually breathe life into a previously used piece of content in order to make more.
More top tips from Brandon Birkmeyer:
- Try not to waste your money on social media, especially when you’re just starting out. It doesn’t make sense to pay someone $$$$ to handle a social media account that only has 2-3 digit followers. Plus, having someone who might not be all too familiar with your branding and how you want your brand to evolve in the future, might make it harder for you to create and foster a genuine relationship with your audience.
- Pay attention to how you’re spending your marketing dollars to make sure you’re growing your foundation first before you go out and expand.
- Spend money to learn something valuable from a good coach or mentor.
- Pick a project that helps you grow and invest in that (e.g. email marketing, advertising, etc.)
