Ep. 30 - Translating Your Personal Brand into Your Business Strategy

Creatives Meet Business

Hi there folks!

Creatives Meet Business is an event and podcast series based out of Austin, Texas for creatives of ALL disciplines to get from zero to one in thinking of themselves as business owners (in the creative sector).

This episode features Kaitlin Maud, Director of Strategy at T3 and independent consultant, who joined us in June during our roundtable event on Branding. As you'll soon find out, she has so much to share about branding overall, but more specifically about leveraging your personal brand for your business strategy. And, she does it in right at 15 minutes! Because there's so much magic in this episode - let's hop in and hear what Kaitlin has to say!

• 0:00 to 2:13 - Ashland Opening Remarks and Intro of Kaitlin Maud
• 2:19 to 3:30 - Introduction of Self
• 3:31 to 8:27 - Introduction of Branding (relaying for purposes of sharing the same definition)
  • Brands exist in the eyes and mind of the consumer
    • Consumers perception of your brand, is your brand
  • You can create a visual representation of a brand (i.e. Nike ads)
  • Tone of voice, product and service offering all play into the brand (i.e. Tom's, 1 to 1 giving)
  • Intangibles -brand promise and who your company associates with
  • Brands are important in the world for two reasons
    1. They help you make decisions (need to make assumptions to be able to make quick decisions)
    2. It's important for us as humans to understand our place in the world and have a sense of self in relation to other people. Brands help us accomplish this by association.
       1. Dunkin Donuts, Boston example
       2. SNL Sketch with Casey Affleck
• 8:28 to 11:28 - Personal Branding
  • Is your personal brand who you are (your authentic self) or is it a persona or an avatar of who you are that you control and put out into the world?
  • The answer is...it varies from person to person, it's a spectrum. It depends on your consumers (i.e. customers, prospective clients, hiring managers, recruiters)
    • Example with a spiritual advisor and an attorney
• 11:29 to 15:51 - Three (3) ways to take the concept of personal branding and apply it to your business strategy
  1. Use your professional experience as a story
     1. Storytelling builds trust, helps you be more memorable
     2. Find ways to take bullets off the page and into a coherent story
  2. Use your personal interests and hobbies as an approach to target customers
     1. Example with social media marketing and applying that to your interests
     2. Assess your individual interests as a way to determine who your end customer can be
  3. Use your values as a decision making process
     1. Example with she / her pronouns Kaitlin uses in user journeys
• 15:58 to 17:09 - Ashland Closing Remarks
  • Stay in touch, email us ([e-mail]) or connect with us on social (@createmeetbiz on Instagram and Twitter // Creatives Meet Business on Facebook)

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Get ready for more on Branding, stay tuned!

Thanks!

Ashland, Creatives Meet Business