Strategic Principles of Personal Branding Before we shift to the 3 STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES of PERSONAL BRANDING… let’s review the most common mistake that people make in terms of their PERSONAL BRAND. Do you remember what it is? COPYING OTHERS Instead of copying others, I urge you to focus on your unique traits and qualities – … Read More
STRATEGIC PERSONAL BRANDING CONFIDENCE is still the #1 most common communication-skills-related topic that I get asked about from listeners and clients. PERSONAL BRANDING is a close second. Interestingly, when we take the time to define and communicate our PERSONAL BRAND, our CONFIDENCE is elevated. So focusing on your personal brand is like a double-whammy! image: unsplash … Read More
Strategic Principles of PERSONAL BRANDING: Before you start promoting your Personal Brand, you need to articulate what it is! Learn the 3 strategic principles of Personal Branding, plus the most common mistake that people make when crafting their Personal Brand. PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL BRANDING RESOURCES Podcast Episodes #77 PERSONAL BRANDING: Reinforcing your Personal Brand … Read More
IMPLICIT COMMUNICATION & YOUR PERSONAL BRAND We can think of communicating our PERSONAL BRAND both EXPLICITLY and IMPLICITLY: EXPLICIT as in the words. Overt, direct, unambiguous messages. This includes your resume and how you introduce yourself. IMPLICIT as in signalling or sending queues. This is less direct, but critically important communication, as in your body language, your style, and lots more… … Read More
Personal branding is more than just the words we say about ourselves. Learn to reinforce your personal brand through consistent implicit communication, ranging from your personal style, possessions, affiliations, how you show up for meetings, and more. RESOURCES Dr. Andrea Wojnicki Email – Andrea@TalkAboutTalk.com Book Andrea for a free 20min “communication skills training” consult Andrea on … Read More
Strong communication skills can elevate your leadership effectiveness and your career. CEO Jill Nykoliation shares her general career advice, what she keeps in her 2 notebooks, the most common career pitfalls, and more. Listen to learn how to communicate like a boss! This is the 2nd half of a 2-part interview. Please see episode #75 … Read More
Effective leaders communicate like a boss! Compassion, precision, and frequency of communication are just a few of the values that CEO Jill Nykoliation exemplifies and that she encourages others to embrace. This is part 1 of a 2-part interview. The 2nd episode (#76) includes a summary of both episodes. RESOURCES Jill Nykoliation LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillnykoliation/ … Read More
On the tension of PERSONAL BRANDS: There’s a real tension here: Do you bring your whole self to work? How can we be authentic without sharing TMI (too much information)? How can we be transparent without appearing unprofessional? image: Unsplash @ loicleray Read on to learn: why navigating this authenticity-TMI tension might be easier for … Read More
How can we be authentic without sharing TMI (too much information)? How can we be transparent, bring our “whole selves” to work, without appearing unprofessional? Copywriter and messaging strategist Tom Megginson encourages us to be authentic, but focus on our audience. Code-switching and filtering are two ways to maintain authenticity without compromising professionalism. RESOURCES … Read More
Actionable advice on how to communicate your personal brand online, including 3 KEY PRINCIPLES of personal branding, plus instructions for how to UPDATE, PARTICIPATE and MONITOR your personal brand online. REFERENCES & LINKS Resources “How to Optimize your LinkedIn Profile” podcast episode – https://talkabouttalk.com/62-optimize-linkedin/ Updating your email signature – https://talkabouttalk.com/email-communication-blog/ Talk About Talk “Communication … Read More
Let’s Develop Your Personal Brand! It’s time to develop your personal brand. PERSONAL BRANDING, or proactively managing our identity, is important. But it can also be overwhelming. Let’s take it one step at a time! Last week I wrote and podcasted about HOW TO COMMUNICATE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND ONLINE. This is a great place to … Read More
On COMMUNICATING Your ONLINE Personal Brand – QUESTION: Do YOU have a “Personal Brand”? ANSWER: Of course you have a personal brand. We all do! The real question is: how actively are you managing it? PERSONAL BRANDING is reputation management or impression management. Ideally, your personal brand transcends both personal and professional contexts. Managing your personal … Read More
This week we’re talking CORPORATE CULTURE. “Culture” is relevant for all kinds of leaders, whether you manage a project team, you coach a sports team, or you’re a c-suite executive. Now might be the ideal time to build a strong culture – yes, even with physical distancing limitations and WFH. This is an opportunity that’s being handed to you “on … Read More
“Any leader who doesn’t genuinely step into culture as a business imperative, five years from now will look back at this as one of the greatest missed opportunities of their time in leadership. Your culture can unleash all sorts of creativity that you can’t begin to imagine. And if you’re a leader and you don’t … Read More
OPTIMIZE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE – Top to Bottom! Recently I interviewed my friend, social media guru Andrew Jenkins about how to optimize our LinkedIn profiles. Immediately after the interview, I opened my laptop and started making some changes! I hope this newsletter has the same effect for YOU! Read on to learn: now more than … Read More
Are you a good storyteller? Do you have a personal brand story? Effective storytellers involve the audience, they impart emotions and they create stories that are memorable. Read on to learn: Why being a good storyteller is a superpower (according to an influencer with over 1/2 million twitter followers!) How to create your personal brand … Read More
Storytelling is a superpower. Influencer and speaker Bobby Umar shares how storytelling can elevate your personal brand and your identity as a thought leader. For marketers, storytelling is a powerful tool to facilitate consumers’ resonance with brands. REFERENCES Bobby Umar Twitter:https://twitter.com/raehanbobby Facebook Business:https://www.facebook.com/raehanbobby/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyumar/ LinkedIn Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bobbyumar/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/raehanbobby/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/BobbyUmar Speaker Profile:https://www.nsb.com/speakers/bobby-umar/ Recommendations: Gary Vaynerchuk … Read More
On BRAND NAMES and How to choose a brand name. How do you choose a brand name? How important is a brand name? The brands we display and consume say a lot about us! (image Unsplash @ slidebean) Read on to learn: The TOP BRANDS in the world Step-by-step instructions on HOW TO CHOOSE a brand … Read More
Learn how to choose a brand name. Are you naming a new product? A start-up? A new podcast? Dr. Andrea Wojnicki takes you through the 5 steps, from strategy to name generation, to evaluation, to searching availability and trademarking, to launching the brand! See the shownotes for a useful printable summary. RESOURCES Brand Naming … Read More
This week we focus on another aspect of our personal and professional IDENTITY: our NAME! Over the past month we’ve covered ARCHETYPES 101, ARCHETYPES & FEMALE POP STARS, and PERSONALITY. Are you getting the theme here? It’s all about IDENTITY. What does YOUR NAME say about you? Read on to learn: What your name means How our names affect us … Read More
On ARCHETYPES & THE MUSIC INDUSTRY – What does the Music Industry have to do with Archetypes? Let me back up… Thank you for all the emails you sent telling me which ARCHETYPE you are! I LOL’d at a cheeky email I received from “Heidi,” who replied, “I’m a SINNER” As in Steve Miller’s ? “I’m a Joker, … Read More
Female pop stars: there’s the good girl, the temptress, the diva, the hot mess, the survivor… Professor Kristin Lieb shares her research on how pop stars influence and are influenced by culture, how a female pop star’s body is her core brand asset, and how female pop stars evolve through various archetypes over their lifecycle … Read More
Let’s talk PERSONALITY. Are you a leader? A risk-taker? Funny? Charismatic? Read on to learn about: Personality Tests Can We Change Our Personality? Brand Personality This concept of personalities is closely related to ARCHETYPES. Have you listened to last week’s podcast ? on ARCHETYPES? If yes, let me know what you think! If you haven’t listened yet, think of this short (23min) ?episode as your “Archetypes 101” … Read More
What’s your ARCHETYPE? Read on to learn how an archetype can help people and brands resonate. Which archetype describes YOU? Your BRAND? You can skim this email or click on the LINKS to dig in and learn more. Let’s do this! ? THE “ARCHETYPE” PODCAST Think of this week’s podcast as your “ARCHETYPES 101″ lecture. (Note this is … Read More
ARCHETYPES are shared, universal patterns that help us understand characters and stories. We employ archetypes in both our consumption (of stories, movies, music) and our communication – of ourselves, our experiences and our brands. Learn about the stages in the hero’s journey and 12 common archetypes, one of which may describe you and/or your brand. … Read More
More on IMPROV & a Monkey Toast INVITATION… Understanding WHY We Talk How to Talk When We DISAGREE and more! You can skim this short email or click the links to learn more! Let’s do this…. ? More on IMPROV & an Invitation… Did you have a chance to listen to last week’s ?podcast: Lessons From the IMPROV Stage with improv comedians, … Read More
Hello!!! Have you had a chance to listen to the podcast on AUTHENTICITY yet? With federal elections coming up in both Canada ??and the U.S.??, a few of you told me this podcast helped you evaluate political candidates in terms of their authenticity! This week we shift gears and look to the IMPROV STAGE for some lessons on … Read More
Lessons from the Improv comedy stage can help us improve our communication skills! Comedians Sandy Marshall and Sandy Jobin-Bevans share their expertise – and a few laughs – including playing the scene you’re in, the beauty of mistakes, knowing your audience, testing your audience, “YES-AND,” burning a suggestion, and more! Whether you’re pitching for business, … Read More
This week we focus on “AUTHENTICITY” (a.k.a. “the real deal,” or “not putting on airs”). Authenticity is critical for effective communication, whether we’re talking PERSONALLY or PROFESSIONALLY, managing a brand. You can skim this short email or click the links to learn more! Let’s do this…. ?PODCAST EPISODE #33: COMMUNICATING AUTHENTICITY AUTHENTICITY. It seems like a … Read More
Authenticity is important for both people and for brands. But what does it really mean to “be authentic”? Ana Serrano (CFC chief digital officer) shares her expertise on authenticity, including how the digital realm has amplified the performative nature of authenticity and how inauthentic “green-washing,” “art-washing” and “social impact washing” on behalf of brands can backfire. References & … Read More
This week we consider how we, as consumers, can exercise or amplify our consumer voices. I interviewed a market researcher who helps firms identify consumer insights by listening to consumers with some very cool technology and techniques. Can you say INCABOT? You can skim this short email or click the links to learn more! Let’s do … Read More
Learn 5 ways you can exercise or amplify your consumer voice. Market researcher Kathy Cheng of Nexxt Intelligence talks A.I. and chatbots, how firms can use augmented reality (AR), and the new market research, including why we shouldn’t call these consumer participants “respondents,” but rather partners or co-creators. References & Links Kathy Cheng & Nexxt … Read More
I hope you had a great week! Over the past few weeks, we have talked Supporting our Grieving Friends, Friendships, and Talking with our Doctor. This week, we talk and learn about TRUST – an absolutely imperative element of communication. Trust me! (You can skim this short email or dive in to the many links to learn … Read More
How do you know whether to trust someone? How do you communicate that you are trustworthy? Trust is imperative. If you don’t have trust, you have nothing. And that goes for both interpersonal relationships as well as for brands. Baron Manett, marketer and founder of Per Se Brand Experience shares his insights on the significance … Read More
I hope you had a great week! Based on last week’s blog & featured podcast (“FASHION & STYLE“) – Did you donate any clothing yet? Did you buy anything you will keep for >10years? In this week’s Talk About Talk email blog, we talk and learn about POSSESSIONS (our STUFF!). (You can skim this short email or … Read More
What do our possessions say about us? Award-winning marketing professor Russell Belk talks about how our possessions (including our clothing, cars, people, collections, gifts, social media pages,…) become part of our identity –or our extended self. Professor Belk highlights the significance of the sharing economy and de-materialization, cultural differences, and our evolving identities in relation … Read More
Based on the storytelling podcast with Jerry Zaltman: metaphors, memes vs. GIFs, and 5 fascinating facts about stories (You can skim this email or click on one of the many LINKS to learn more!) ?FIRST – THE PODCAST For this week’s podcast, I am thrilled to introduce you to one of my favourite professors of … Read More
How’s your storytelling? In this podcast, Harvard professor & author Jerry Zaltman shares his expertise on what makes for great storytelling, the power of metaphors, and how, in addition to reading, writing and talking (yes!) can also be powerful modes of discovery. References & Links Professor Gerald Zaltman Email – gzaltman@hbs.edu HBS website – … Read More
This week we Talk About BRANDS (your personal brand, brand management frameworks & the top brands!) ?FIRST – THE PODCAST For this week’s podcast, I had the privilege of interviewing CEO and team performance expert Michael Boydell. Sounds intimidating, right? But Michael is very down-to-earth and honest–AUTHENTIC. He describes several exercises that anyone can run through … Read More
Are you actively managing your professional and personal brand? Can brand management frameworks help us manage our own careers? CEO & team performance expert Michael Boydell suggests we start with a blank sheet of paper. If it feels uncomfortable, we’re on the right track! Ask yourself: Where & with whom am I most joyful? What … Read More
Social Media expert Andrew Jenkins, Mass Audiences & Your One True Love…❤️ Recently I asked my teenaged son, “Who are the popular kids at your school?” He named a few names. Then I asked, “How do you define popularity?” His answer shocked me. One word. “Followers.” (WHAT?!?) Maybe he didn’t understand. I meant IRL (In … Read More
Are you social media savvy? Do you run out of ideas for what to post? Whether you’re on social media to stay connected with friends, managing a marketing campaign, or maybe you are reluctant to participate, Andrew Jenkins provides valuable insights about how to navigate the world of online social media. References & Links Andrew … Read More
In this week’s Talk About Talk blog newsletter, we talk about online reviews, Super Bowl ads, and 3 short quotes worth TalkingAbout. First – online reviews.? I can’t imagine buying much online if it wasn’t for online ratings and reviews. Can you? However, according to some sources, up to 50% of online reviews might be … Read More
Can you spot fake online reviews? Consumers provide online ratings and reviews to share their opinions and stories about brands. This can provide us with valuable information regarding our purchase decisions. Unfortunately not all reviews are credible. In this episode we learn from Homestars CEO Nancy Peterson about how to write and interpret product ratings … Read More
This week, TalkAboutTalk is talking about P.R. or “Public Relations” and Cause Marketing I promise that once you’ve listened to this week’s TalkAboutTalk podcast episode focused on Public Relations, you will be a savvier consumer of marketplace communication. This week, I researched Public Relations and interviewed PR expert Graeme Harris. I learned so much! Graeme worked in the PR industry for … Read More
We can learn a lot from the PR industry. For example: be very careful about your declarations. It is risky and oftentimes false to declare that something has never and could never happen. PR professionals do more than crisis management and issuing press releases! They also manage investor relations, internal corporate communications, speech writing, and … Read More
WHY do people say what they say? Why do people rant about their contractor? Why do they take the time to write a restaurant review? Focusing on consumers’ word-of-mouth, Dr. Andrea shares her research and insights to help us understand the 4 main reasons why people talk. (Here’s a hint: It’s not just all about … Read More
