Personal Branding for Small Business: Get Out in Front from Bret Simmons on Vimeo.
If you are a small business owner, I strongly believe that you need to have a presence on the Web. Most small business owners do not even have a static webpage, and that is THE reason YOU need to be online! Do something different than your competition and you will further differentiate yourself and your business. Social media gives all small business owners the opportunity to do this for FREE!
My advice is to get out in front of your business and be personal with your customers by practicing personal branding. Use your name and your face and strongly consider operating a separate personal blog. Most small business owners I see with an online presence miss the big payoff of social media by not making personal connections and interacting with customers.
Don’t bring your tired old interruption marketing techniques to social media and think you are being effective. It’s OK to get advice on how to set all this up yourself, but you or one of your employees needs to personally operate your social media sites.
Don’t outsource this gold mine of learning. Get out in front of your business and your competitors by practicing personal branding.
Related Posts:
Personal Branding: Five Tactics for Success
Personal Branding: Document and Target Your Value
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Bret,
Even though I spend most of my business day on old, interruption marketing, I can’t agree with you more. Small businesses need to have an online brand identity…yes even the mom and pop manufacturers. And, the great thing about the internet is that you don’t have to be a small business on the internet. Depending upon the amount of effort you put into it, you can appear as big on the internet as your Fortune 500 competitor. It just takes time (and a little bit of patience.)
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
November 1st, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Appreciate your perspective, Sharon. So correct that anyone can do it. It does take patience, but if you start and stick with it the results WILL be there. Thanks! Bret
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Bret~
Thank you for sharing your perspective on the benefits of blogging. I have had writer’s block, fearing my experiences are not valuable enough. Now I choose to look at blogging as a way to be personable and connect with my on-line audience. Additionally, as you said, since many on-line businesses are not blogging, it is a way to distinguish myself from my competitors. Thanks for changing my perception from daunting task to opportunity.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Jessica, it might not come natural at first, but if you stick with it it WILL get easier and better. Keep in mind that thousands of people just like YOU are doing it – so can you! Thanks for the comment! Bret
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[...] LinkedIn, Facebook and most importantly your own blog give your business the opportunity to step out in front of your business and engage customers in conversation. Over time you can build trust, reputation, and social capital [...]