There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the world of media and marketing has seen drastic changes over the past few years.

I’ve been in the media for 20 years now, starting first in mainstream media (newspapers and magazines) and now working in social and performance media, and directly with the likes of Facebook.

In today’s video, I’m sitting down with my business partner Steve Bolton to talk about digital disruption in the media and why this is an opportunity for the brands and people that we work with.

Taking you and your products, direct to your customer

The first thing to mention is that nobody likes change.

No one likes it when PR (in the traditional sense of the word) stops working.

I remember the days when you’d get a client a double page spread in a newspaper and they’d be inundated with customers for years. I had this experience myself with my previous business Talk to the Press when, soon after its launch, I appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss the business (which was seen as very innovative at the time because it was 2007 and the business was online!).

Our inboxes were swamped for weeks and I had to take on two extra members of staff the very next day to cope. I then appeared on a Channel 4 documentary and for YEARS people would say ‘Are you the woman from BBC or Channel 4’ as those two programmes had such impact.

Of course PR is still relevant and important for branding, but there is no doubt its impact in terms of ‘everyone’ seeing and talking about ‘everything’ in the mainstream media is far less and this is because people’s attention is distracted. Who seriously watches TV without also glancing at their phones?

I remember looking forward to the Sunday papers all week, dashing to get the News of the World (yes I know this doesn’t say that much about me!!!) and then being consumed by everything in it.

Now I rarely buy the papers – I get all my news and updates from Facebook and other apps on my phone.

And that is where – for both products and for personal brands – online is so important. Yet even online is changing fast and we’ve seen changes in online marketing strategies required for the products, services and people who we take direct to their customers and audiences via channels like Google, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.

Content = cash for personal brands

When it comes to personal brands, one of our new catch phrases at Bolt Digital is “content equals cash” and online success for the individuals we work with – CEOs, experts and entrepreneurs – essentially starts with creating content featuring yourself that positions you as an authority.

And I can speak directly from experience here now when I tell you that my video content is now our number one source of enquiries to Bolt Digital, and since building his personal brand online, Steve has seen over £500k of direct benefits to his businesses.

I will wield a personal brand in any marketing campaign that I can because people buy from people, and one of my favourite examples of this is with one of our clients, London’s leading fully internal air conditioning provider – Cool You.

Through weekly videos, we have turned Cool You’s chief engineer Savva into a leading personal brand in his space. Potential customers are excited to meet him when he arrives at their house to provide a quote as they have seen all his videos.

However, personal branding is easier said than done and Steve and I are also talking about the strategy, resource and production behind a personal brand if you are really going into regular content – and it is significant.

Steve has a 30 page Blueprint document for his personal brand in terms of his goals, what we are tracking, his key messages, his values and much much more, and both of us have a team working on our videography, editing, content and scheduling.

Successful online personal branding and taking control of the frequency and timing of your message requires a volume of content which takes commitment to produce. You also have to have a long term view – like any business – and go through a period where your audience is tiny and your biggest fan is your mum! (But this is just part of the journey of building influence and authority online and every single person I interviewed in both my books, The Million Dollar Blog and Stand Out Online, spoke about this).

Our first event of 2019 is Personal Branding Masterclass: How To Build A Profitable & Influential Personal Brand Online. At this event, we’ll be taking people through the practicalities of creating a powerful and influential personal brand and helping you complete your own Blueprint for your personal brand.

During the training day you will

⚡Discover how to become a recognised thought leader in your industry

⚡Understand how to go direct to consumer by building your digital personal brand

⚡Map out your unique messages and content strategy for your personal brand

⚡Complete your own blueprint for your personal brand

⚡Discover your unique positioning and create your personal brand blueprint

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, executive, expert or an employee, how you present yourself online has a huge impact on your professional reputation. We are lucky to live in a world where everyone now has the power to publish and create micro-fame by putting out content – word by word, post by post, video by video.

 

Agenda

⚡Impact filter – analysis of the value of your personal brand

⚡Audit existing audiences and networks and brand assets

⚡Vision, mission, values, content pillars and core messaging communication pyramid

⚡Your key achievements and unique abilities

⚡Your personal brand specific goals and timeline

⚡The competition and your USP

⚡Your content strategy

⚡Launching your brand

⚡Building your team

 

The day is interactive and all attendees will leave with:

✅Completed personal brand blueprint workbook

✅The knowledge and technical know how of building a personal brand

✅The practical tools and assets needed to get started

✅A complimentary copy of Stand Out Online

*** There will be post-event drinks and networking ***

Please email any questions to luke@boltdigital.media