A Personal Branding Expert’s Top Tips to Amplify Your Message

In today’s day and age, it is all too important to amplify your message. Whether you are trying to spread the word about a new product or service or simply strengthen your personal brand, it isn’t going to happen automatically. You need to put in the hard work and amplify your message where it is most effective. In this post, I want to take a deep dive into amplifying your message by sharing some insights from a personal branding expert. At the end, you’ll have many more ideas and actionable strategies on how you can be the signal in the Internet’s neverending noise.

An Exciting Era to Share Your Story

My colleagues and I at Dubb aren’t the only ones who view 2020 as an extremely exciting year for creators. From awesome distribution options like YouTube and LinkedIn to valuable content creation tools (like Dubb), all you need is a computer and camera to amplify your message. Instead of subscribing to nothing, you can take advantage of this new era—so long as you are willing to work for it. 

Not only can you share your own story and leave your own legacy, but you can empower others. Modern-day technology lets you show how your colleagues and clients are making the world a better place. You don’t even need to be promoting your product or service when doing so. At its core, digital technology (especially video) lets you amplify your voice or the voices of others. It lets you build strong, organic relationships with your audiences as you tell your stories. 

In all likelihood, technology is going to make it even easier to share your story. But you don’t need to wait for these new innovations. Instead, you have all the tools that you need today. By getting started and getting in the habit of sharing your story, you’ll become a better storyteller and amplify your message to your chosen audience. There is little to no downside here, so the best way to amplify your message is to simply get started.

People Are Craving a Personal Connection

To learn more about how to amplify your message amidst many other voices on the Internet, I had the pleasure of speaking with two personal branding experts. The first is Alex Minor. Alex is a video marketing strategist and the creative director of Eye AM Media. Alex is an expert in video marketing and understands what audiences want when creators are making new content. Along with Alex, I spoke with Courtney Johnson. Courtney is a digital media expert and the founder of MYSOLMAT, which creates eco-friendly yoga mats. 

As both Alex and Courtney told me in our discussion on Connection Loop, social media marketing is such a powerful force today because people are craving personal connection. They don’t want to interact with monolithic, faceless companies. Instead of that, they are looking for a connection with a real-life human. 

That said, there is a key caveat here. The level of intimacy that we have with company brands doesn’t necessarily happen at the small company level. Because of this, it is important to get even more granular. As Courtney says, “Establishing yourself as your own personal brand, whether that is to highlight your company or your own work, is so vital right now to cut through the noise.” 

Keep this idea of personal connection in mind. No matter your goal, you are going to need to build real-life, human connections with people. Along with this, your connections need to be authentic. If they aren’t, people will start to notice. They will see you as a person who is simply using them for their own professional goals rather than a person who is looking to create mutual value. By leading with authenticity and creating a personal connection with your audience members, you will be able to amplify your message and accomplish your professional goals.

The Power of Connecting with Mentors and Idols

As Alex says, personal branding has become the biggest buzzword right now. Many people are looking for a way to promote the work they are doing while connecting with others. And while some may think that personal branding is uncomfortable or even cringeworthy, the fact remains that it is an effective way of accomplishing your professional goals. 

20 years ago, a teenager or other young person couldn’t get on social networks like Twitter or Instagram and communicate directly with their idols. It can be everyone from an entrepreneur who successfully sold her business to a pop star who is dominating the charts. Social media tools completely eliminate the barriers that separated disparate groups and let us directly reach out to those who we admire.

Truthfully, people of influence love to promote others who haven’t been afraid to build their personal brands. This is because they intuitively understand that at one point, other people promoted them when they were starting out. They knew that they needed help to get to where they are. In many cases, they are willing to return the favor. 

Right now, we have such a great opportunity to express ourselves. We can share our messages with both our targeted audiences and influential people. When doing this, it is all too easy to look at the number of likes, shares, or other metrics that others have gotten for their posts. I encourage you to put those metrics to the side. The fact of the matter is that it is not about vanity metrics. It is about impact. 

Ultimately, now is the time to find your message and voice. Doing so, you can make a huge impact, whether it is getting a mentor or idol to work with you on a particular project or even inspiring your audience to invest in your product or service.

Start Cloning Yourself

One of the most powerful ways to amplify your message is to clone yourself through video. By cloning yourself, I mean that you can use tools like video to spread your message in multiple places at once. 

As Alex says, every time that you put yourself out there and create content, you are, in effect, cloning yourself. You are distributing a piece of yourself into the digital landscape and leaving it in a place where someone may stumble upon it. 

It’s simple math. If you produce and distribute 100 videos, that means that there are 100 more chances that you are giving the world at large to discover who you are. And that is just assuming that you are posting those videos in one place (say, your company blog). If you go forward and share those videos in multiple places (like your favorite social networks), you can maximize the cloning effect. You can include those videos in a Facebook ad, a Google AdWords campaign, or an Instagram ad campaign. Doing so, you are exponentially cloning yourself and putting yourself in more situations where you could be discovered. 

Ultimately, producing content and cloning yourself are assets. They work for you 24/7/365. They are still hard at work even when you are sleeping. It’s a no brainer to leverage the power of cloning when you are working to amplify your message. In the end, the downside is extremely limited while the upside is sky-high.

Adopt a Consumer-First Approach

When working to amplify your message, another great rule of thumb is to adopt a consumer-first approach. It seems relatively self-explanatory, but there are plenty of entrepreneurs and creators who take a “me first” approach to messaging and marketing.

Like Alex says, you have to put yourself in the seats of your audience members. Either before or after recording your video (ideally before), you need to look at your video and ask yourself a series of questions. For instance, what questions are they looking to get answered by watching your video? What worries are they currently experiencing? What problems are they looking to eliminate from their lives? 

These are just some of the questions that you should think about when creating your content. It isn’t all of the questions that you should consider. At its core, creating video content (or any other type of content) is about being empathetic toward your viewer. Think about their wants and needs on a granular level and deliver them content that addresses those wants and needs. It is a simple idea, yet it takes some practice to get really good at it. Don’t let this deter you, however, as adopting a consumer-first approach is essentially the only way to build an audience and amplify your message. 

Grow a Movement Incrementally

At Dubb, we are like you in that we are always looking for ways to amplify our message. We have implemented all of the tips and strategies on this list to great results. Nonetheless, we recognize that growing a movement takes time. We need to be patient. 

To put it another way, we are inspired to grow a movement incrementally. We are comfortable targeting one person at a time, knowing that putting in the hard work on an individual level will lead to more durable and longer-lasting client relationships. 

For example, if you spend an entire year trying to create content and create relationships and build something over the course of the year, you are setting yourself up for massive success down the road. Granted, the normal assumptions apply. On the flip side, if it takes you months to try to iterate something that you think is going to go viral, there’s a good chance that you’ll waste a significant amount of time. Not only is it frustrating on a deeply personal level, but you will be spending your company’s cash on an opportunity that simply won’t work out.  

Because of this, I highly encourage you to take the time to find your voice. There are plenty of ways to do this. Better yet, you can do them without spending a lot of cash. For instance, you can start a podcast or YouTube channel and create valuable, consistent content. You can even go more basic than that and send messages to prospects or targets using Twitter or Facebook. At its core, you should use the channels and platforms that you have and get your voice out there. Amplify your message by explaining who you are, what you do, and how your product or service can help your target’s life. 

Give Yourself Opportunities to be Found

Much of this discussion about amplifying your message focuses on creating your own content. And yes, this is arguably the best way to spread the word about your product, service, business, or cause. You are in full control of your personal brand and can create content that highlights the skills or attributes that you want to highlight.

Nonetheless, there is another way to amplify your message. It is collaborating with others or appearing in other creators’ content. It can be everything from appearing on a friend’s podcast or vlog to getting interviewed by a small or large publication in your hometown. Even if you aren’t certain who the audience is, there is likely a good number of people who are going to consume this type of content and be intrigued by your story. Even better, they may Google your name or company to learn more about you. 

One of the beauties of the Internet is serendipity. It’s impossible to anticipate every single person who consumes your content and what opportunities may result from that. Because of this, it’s in your best interest to continue putting content out there—wherever it is. 

Every time that you appear on a podcast or answer that reporter’s call, you are tilting the odds in your favor. You are giving people another chance to discover you, your company, your cause, or whatever else that you’re trying to amplify. It is extremely exciting—especially if you like surprises. 

When Does the ROI Happen?

So throughout this discussion, I have mentioned how valuable it is to create content to amplify your message. Moreover, I have also talked about why it is important to be patient. The natural question from this, however, is when the ROI actually happens. 

The good news is that consistency is your friend. There are over 600 million users on LinkedIn, for example, and only 2 percent of those users post about once per week. If you put out content only once per week on LinkedIn, you are going to already rank in the top 2 percent. And that’s without any discussion of the content format, your message, or even your targeted audience. 

Ultimately, it’s critical to get on these platforms now before the competition starts to increase. It’s a simple numbers game. Don’t be afraid to amplify your message on even “non-traditional” platforms like TikTok. While it is impossible to say exactly when you will see a satisfactory ROI, it will eventually happen if you keep creating valuable content for your audience. 

Get Out There and Amplify Your Message

Now is the perfect time to get out there and amplify your message—whatever it is. Whether you are trying to find a new opportunity in your professional career or promote your company’s latest product or service, you have all of the necessary tools to accomplish your goal. What is going to separate you from others is your work ethic, consistency, and a keen focus on who your audience is and what they want. Doing this, I’m certain that others will hear your message loud and clear.

Finally, if you are looking for help to amplify your message, don’t hesitate to check out Dubb. Dubb helps you leverage the power of video and sales marketing to accomplish your business goals—including those goals around amplifying your message. You can click here to learn more about how we can help you. You can also click here to register for a free Dubb account.