Executive brands can be one of the most difficult professional groups to gather. It takes trust and loyalty to be able to depend on another individual for your or your business’ overall success long-term.
Building an executive brand is much like draft players into the NFL or the NBA. It is an art, it is a science. Your executive brand encompasses all of your skills and showcases your talents, achievements, and goals to the world.
Anyone can boast and promote their brand online, however, when it comes to building a sustainable executive brand it becomes more of a science. Traditional marketing practices included spending ungodly amounts of money on advertising.
However, if you decide to take the more creative and reliable route by establishing an executive brand you will have a surplus of connections and opportunities waiting for you without spending a dime on marketing.
What exactly is an executive brand, and why should you bother with it? Well, the answer is maybe simpler than you might expect. An executive brand is a brand that all the signs of a large network of potential customers at their disposal.
These are brands with already paying clients, partners and even endorsements waiting to be upsold on something new. An executive brand personifies an organization’s intentions, vision, culture, and purpose ten-fold.
Purpose of Your Executive Brand
Before it is possible to start cultivating a personal or professional brand, you need to have a crystal clear picture of the identity you wish to create. Make sure you produce goals that are realistic within your industry and field.
“Focus on building the best possible business. If you are great, people will notice and opportunities will appear.” – Mark Cuban
Look to other influential executives and leaders in your business and get an idea about what it takes to be respected in your field. This will help give you a better idea of what skills, traits, and accomplishments you should be focused on accomplishing.
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Networking Grows Executive Brands
You may be surprised by how many professional events are happening in your local area. One of the most effective ways of getting your business/brand recognized is by putting it out in the open! What a better place than a networking or industry-related event.
By attending these events your executive brand has the potential to quickly skyrocket as you start creating “buzz” around who you are and what you do. By placing yourself in the open, you are seen as confident as your personal reputation will intensify. The more events you attend, the more you will appear as an expert in your field or be endorsed as a knowledgable expert.
Whenever you can position yourself as an expert (regardless of the industry) take it and run. It will help solidify your reputational standing as now you become the person everyone turns to for answers.
Establish a Positive Online Reputation
Social media is a great outlet for showcasing your products, services and business ideas. Apart from attending social gatherings and networking events, you can increase the notoriety of your executive brand through various methods online.
If you are an SMB or larger the odds are you have a designated website (typically WordPress) where you post company products, services and possibly even a bulletin/forum. It is important to remember that times are changing and in order to connect with every generation nowadays you MUST have a social media presence aside from the root domain you conduct business from.
For executive brands, a positive online reputation is typically generated throughout several months (if not years) depending on their existing reputation score. On average, the efforts to improve one’s reputation can be from the methods below:
- Press release distribution
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Social media promotion
- New unique content published daily/weekly
- Engage with your followers online (even the disgruntled ones)
- Generating positive reviews from customers
Executive Brand Spokesperson
When it comes to the media, never turn down an opportunity to vocalize who you are and what your executive brands stand for. Of course, make sure beforehand that you are able to speak on behalf of the entire brand.
Acting as a knowledgable and trustworthy source will assist you while you build your reputation. With trust, comes the perception that you are indeed an expert. If used efficiently, you can grow your clientele base and potential customers.
Giving Value to Executive Brand
You can’t be completely self-serving while establishing your executive brand. You must bring value to the business. The more valuable you become, the harder it is for them to let you go.
Create Executive Brand Content
When it comes to expressing your brand online there are countless options. While creating and publishing new content regarding your executive brand be sure to capture your expertise and thoughts. Whether your distribution channel is a blog, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or some other platform, make sure that you devise high-engaging and shareable content.
For a professional executive brand, this could be as simple as condensing a blog into a Slideshare video that you publish onto your social channels. From the opposite viewpoint, you can make blogs and turn them into heartfelt speeches where you can film yourself directly. Adding a personal touch to your content will gain you additional respect amongst your target audience.
Whatever method you decide to focus on to grow the executive brand you want to generate some type of original content. This not only boosts your business trust score but your professional reputation as well.
High Social Media Engagement
Part of constructing an executive brand means you must interact with your network and target audience. For the most part, this can be accomplished without even leaving the office. That’s right, you can turn to social media to interact with your customers nowadays and it has never been easier.
Set aside an hour or so each day to really sit down to have a dialogue with your audience. Respond to reviews, comments, conduct polls of Facebook. Consumers love it when businesses really show how much they care for those who shop with them.
Plus, the more engagement you get the more popular your social accounts may become. For that reason, make sure you always comment within the first 1-2 hours after posting your new content. This shows platforms such as Facebook that your post receives high levels of interaction.
Meaning it deserves to be seen by more people. If done correctly, over time, your organic reach will increase dramatically. More organic reach means there will be less money spent on advertising and more time dealing directly with your potential customers.
At the end of the day, if you are passionate about a particular industry it is a great idea to start brainstorming about what your executive brand would represent. Who would be apart of your executive brand?
If you are a small business owner or someone who is aspiring to start a business one day please complete the form below. NetReputation is the world leader in online reputation by Newsweek.com. We will put your company on the map, ensure you receive the reviews you deserve as well as monitoring your web presence 24/7 365.
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by Net Reputation