The Personal Branding Podcast - Brands On Brands

Nicole Holland is a business owner, coach, and a top-rated podcaster on her own self-titled show, where she dispenses vital business strategy tips to her listeners. After years of working on her own show and with other podcasters, she knows the right and wrong ways to leverage the PR potential of this growing medium. In this episode, Nicole breaks down how you can make the best case for yourself as a podcast guest, reveals her biggest pet peeve when it comes to spreading awareness of your brand, and explains why it’s okay to start small. The Finer Details of This Episode: How going on other people’s podcasts taught Nicole that being a guest is an incredibly effective method for building your brand. Some of the barriers you should prepare for if you aim to guest on other shows. Nicole gives us the lowdown on her upcoming ebook that will help readers tailor the best possible pitch for their podcasts. Figuring out what other hosts want so you know what kind of value you can provide by guesting. Why you need to stop “cold-pitching” podcasts to other hosts. The reason you should start off guesting on smaller shows than go for a big one on your first try. Nicole helps you figure out which of her programs is best for your goals. Her parting advice for what you should and should NOT do when looking to grow your podcast influence. Quotes: “When you wow and impress and do good by somebody, they are gonna hand-deliver you to other people who can help you too.” “Just because you want to be on a show, doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy—but it can be done.” “Pay attention to how the host is already demonstrating that they want to receive a potential ‘great fit’ guest.” “Downloads are only one aspect.” “If we’re not getting you an ROI, I don’t want your money.” “If you aren’t getting the ‘yes’ from the host, then something’s wrong.” “Prove your process, prove your thesis, then come back and take the course.” Guest Links: Nicole’s homepage - https://thenicoleholland.com/ Enrol in Nicole’s FREE Get That Yes program - http://brandonbrands.com/nicoleholland  Visit Brandon’s website at www.BrandsOnBrandsOnBrands.com Join the Brand Growth Community on Facebook at www.brandonbrands.com/community And please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

It's our 80th episode and this week we talk about surviving entrepreneurship. There are a lot of challenges when you go out on your own and try to build your own business. This dives into some of the keys to getting through all the mental hurdles you have to jump in your first year of business. We highlight some of thoughts from Travis Chappell from a previous show (episode #005) about keeping the promises we make to ourselves, trusting the process, investing in your ideas, and pushing through the hard times, even when you are the only one who cares about your idea. There's true freedom in commitment. Only when you release yourself to the process and push through the hard times, can you reap the rewards of your hard work. www.brandsonbrandsonbrands.com

Marking a milestone, this episode of Brands on Brands on Brands is the first to be recorded from a Facebook livestream! Our guest for this special occasion is Paddy McGill, head of partner and affiliate marketing at Thinkific, a software platform that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and small business owners to design and distribute online courses. Paddy’s years in online marketing have taught him there’s really no limit to what kind of course you can put out into the world—the secret is finding your niche and catering to its needs. In this episode, Paddy discusses the essential ingredients of a successful video course, explains the vital relationship between courses and their communities, and breaks down the balancing act of submitting tactical instructional videos. The Finer Details of This Episode: How Paddy thinks the spread of online courses will have an impact on the future of college and university programs. What’s the difference between the online courses Paddy specializes in and the ones offered by colleges? Paddy lays out his ingredients for a successful online course. Do courses grow out of communities or vice versa? How to optimize your courses to ensure people are getting the results they need. Really figure out who you’re trying to reach with these courses and cater to them—don’t be afraid to seek a niche! How Paddy and his colleagues go about determining if a course has value or not. On the benefits of testing the waters before you actually launch your course. What are the most offbeat and unique courses Paddy has seen in his time? Quotes: “It’s been just a whirlwind of learning.” “The end game, always, is to deliver a transformation for that user.” “Competition is actually a really good sign that there is market demand for what you do.” “Your story is an important part of your course.” “The course marketplace is a great way to generate leads for your premium product.” Guest Links:Thinkific - https://www.thinkific.com/ Check out the free 1-month trial of Thinkific Pro & Growth at https://learn.thinkific.com/try30/ Paddy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/partnerpreneur/ Visit Brandon’s website at www.BrandsOnBrandsOnBrands.com Join the Brand Growth Community on Facebook at www.brandonbrands.com/community And please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

Building an engaged email list is the difference between having a business and having a following. In this episode, we talk about list building and the role it plays in your marketing and branding. Everyone is excited about social media these days. And they should be excited because it's a great discovery platform. But the step that often gets missed is converting the people who are following you on social media into email subscribers. It's important because an email list is an owned point of contact that you control. Once you have someone's contact information, you can use that as you see fit to tell your story, build trust with your audience, and sell your products and services. The problem with social media is that you are not in control. You can post to your million followers, but the platform controls how many of those followers are shown the content. That content you are spending time creating, may only be shown to 2-3% of your following. Oh and they can change the algorithm and drive that lower whenever they feel like it. Not to mention that they can delete your account with zero explanation or recourse. The best way to protect against that happening is to provide value to that audience on social media in exchange for their contact information. The best way to control the future of your business to control your list. It's a simple but often overlooked concept. And if this inspires you to take action and refocus your efforts, I've done my job! www.brandsonbrandsonbrands.com

Rick Steele is the founder and chief marketing officer of Select Blinds, an online retailer specializing in the very best in window fashion. His company was one of the very first blinds retailers to go totally cordless in their designs, and within 10 years of launching they were able to grow revenue to over $65 million. Rick is also an expert on Internet traffic and conversion rates and believes that it’s essential to face adversity if you want true personal and professional growth. In this episode, Rick discusses how he went from selling Beanie Babies to selling blinds, elaborates on his decision to take a risk and invest in cordless blinds, and explains why he believes nothing good ever comes from being comfortable. The Finer Details of This Episode: What are some elements of ecommerce that we take for granted today that were much harder to pull off when Rick was starting out? The reason Rick chose to specialize in blinds rather than other retail products. Why Rick decided to sell his products and only his products through his website early on. The series of events that led to Rick appearing on Extreme Home Makeovers. The vital reason Select Blinds invested so much time and effort into creating cordless products and why Rick is okay with the growth it cost them. How Select Blinds got creative when it came down to competing with Amazon. Rick relates Select Blinds’ misadventures in outsourcing and what lessons he took away from that experience. Why Rick has an entire series of marathons lined up for the coming year. Quotes: “Everything kinda originated out of my one-bedroom house, and we’re now sixteen years into this game selling blinds.” “You have to create your own social proof.” “Truly it’s about the social proof it creates, and as marketers it’s up to us to create that.” “That’s all business is, that’s all marketing is: it’s solving a problem.” “Only outsource to automation and products that you know will make your life better.” “Everything that’s happened to me in my life has come through adversity.” Guest Links:Select Blinds homepage - https://www.selectblinds.com/ #GoCordless - https://www.selectblinds.com/gocordless.html Rick’s email - rick@selectblinds.com  Rick on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ricksteeleofficial/ Visit Brandon’s website at www.BrandsOnBrandsOnBrands.com Join the Brand Growth Community on Facebook at www.brandonbrands.com/community And please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

The key to growing your brand awareness and your business leads is your ability to leverage paid and organic media. Today we talk about the difference between the two, when to use each of them, and the advantages of each approach. For organic media, it takes a longer time to build traction. But overtime, there are massive benefits to having an owned media footprint that you control. The key to organic media is to be early to adopt fast growing new channels, to focus on engagement with your audience, and to commit to a long-term consistent presence. For paid media, it's a more cluttered environment and takes more work to stand out from the crowd. But when you invest strategically against your core audience, you can build an audience much faster than you can with organic media. The key to paid media is to be smart about how you execute and measure your performance and to focus on ROI and converting new leads into long-term customers. We dive into these topics and more in this weeks episode. If you are interested in podcast coaching you can go to www.brandonbrands.com/apply Or you can participate in the free 30 DIY Podcast challenge at www.podlifechallenge.com www.brandsonbrandsonbrands.com    

Goldie Chan is #1 creator on LinkedIn, a regular contributor to Forbes and the founder of social media strategy agency Warm Robots. Known as the “green-haired Oprah of LinkedIn,” she was one of the first people on LinkedIn Live and currently has the longest-running daily channel on LinkedIn with fully original content. Goldie believes everybody has the capacity to make engaging content—the trick is just figuring out which kind is best suited to your talents. In this episode, Goldie recalls the resistance she faced when she decided to make video content LinkedIn before any other platform, explains why innovation is a driving force in her work, and helps you figure out what style of content creation you’re best suited for. The Finer Details of This Episode: Goldie discusses her “LinkedIn-first” streaming platform and some of the other content creators she’s involved with. The reason Goldie went all in on committing to a LinkedIn platform, and what was the moment she realized how much potential it had? How she dealt with other people’s concerns that going exclusive with LinkedIn was a bad idea. Why the idea of “social media with purpose” fuels much of Goldie’s work. What Goldie does to keep her work fun and what she believes is the great irony of content creation. The reason innovation motivates Goldie more effectively than simply desiring success. Why how you played around as a kid can give you a good indication of what type of content creation you’re best suited for. One memorable moment on the job that brought self-described introvert Goldie out of her shell. Quotes: “It was just such a fun time to be an early creator on a platform.” “You can create really thoughtful, meaningful, helpful content on LinkedIn.” “I think the most fun thing to do is to help people understand better their brand, or the brand that they’re part of and trying to build.” “I really wanted new creators to feel welcome.” “I am still trying to understand fully how the last two years have radically changed my life.” Guest Links:Goldie’s website - https://www.goldiechan.com/ Goldie on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/goldie/ Goldie on Twitter - https://twitter.com/GoldieChan  Goldie on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/goldiecylon Visit Brandon’s website at www.BrandsOnBrandsOnBrands.com Join the Brand Growth Community on Facebook at www.brandonbrands.com/community And please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

What are the core ingredients in building a personal brand? Where do you start? How about with content, community, and impact. Today we talk about why those three steps are so important in developing a personal brand. We also talk about how each of these steps are interconnected and feed into each other. We also cover 3 important rules: 1. Content needs a platform 2. Community needs communication 3. Impact needs to come from solving the challenges of your community For those of you interested in the 30 day podcast challenge mentioned in the episode, go to www.podlifechallenge.com to sign up. www.brandsonbrandsonbrands.com

Ai Addyson-Zhang, Ph.D. is the creator of Classroom Without Walls, which provides entrepreneurs and digital marketers with the tools and strategies they need to get a foothold in the rapidly growing online marketplace. A former associate professor of communications studies at Stockton University, Ai realized that she could reach and educate people beyond the confines of academia. Her desire to reinvent traditional classroom teaching led to Classroom Without Walls, which she livestreams every Wednesday at 2PM PST. In this episode, Ai discusses what pushed her to trade her physical classroom for a virtual one, reveals what surprised her about modern social media usage, and has you really consider what you want out of livestreaming. The Finer Details of This Episode: Ai lays out the many ways people are utilizing livestreaming in their brands or businesses today and explains what it was like for her to go live for the first time. Why it’s worth taking the time and effort to assemble a clean and reliable streaming setup. What spurred Ai to leave her conventional teaching career and embrace a livestreaming platform? Ai explains what really surprised her about her former students’ relationship with social media. Ai’s tips for expanding your livestreaming audience and drawing guests to your show. The reason you should figure out methods of repurposing your own content. Quotes: “If I want to teach this, I cannot just be a teacher. I have to be a practitioner.” “I really think… our educational system doesn’t really encourage our teachers to become practitioners.” “Taking action gives us clarity, momentum and confidence.” “Quality is a lot, lot, lot more important than quantity.” “Treat every single person as a VIP.” Guest Links:Classroom Without Walls - https://www.classroomwithoutwalls.ai/ Ai on Twitter - https://twitter.com/aiaddysonzhang Ai on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aiaddysonzhang/ Visit Brandon’s website at www.BrandsOnBrandsOnBrands.com Join the Brand Growth Community on Facebook at www.brandonbrands.com/community And please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

What sets you apart in your industry? If you haven't started to figure that out, this is the episode for you. Today we dive into how to get started building authority and influence. Specifically, we cover the idea of finding your voice and sharing your perspective. It can be daunting if you don't know what steps to take. But you'll never have it all figured out. So the first step is... to take the first step! We talk about how to take your first step creating content in the formats that work for you to get you moving towards your goals. For those of you interested in the 30 day podcast challenge mentioned in the episode, go to www.podlifechallenge.com to sign up. www.brandsonbrandsonbrands.com