Wayne Smallman | Creating precision workflows for SMEs

10 personal branding habits of the professionals

Posted on October 5, 2009 at 12:02 pm.

One of the many keys to success is habitual professionalism. So I’m going to explore ten personal branding and brand management habits of the professionals.

As I see it, the number one goal of personal branding, brand identity building and brand management on the web is to make your name synonymous with a certain phrase, or a collection of phrases which you feel best represent you and what you do — which I alluded to in my previous article on brand building.

Personal Branding and Brand Management

If you’re serious about personal branding and brand management, here’s ten things you’ll see the professionals doing:

Comments are your calling cards. Be sure to use these as an opportunity to draw the focus of the ‘blog post towards your comments. Make sure you drop in a relevant link to an article of yours in the URL field. That way, you’re not just making a statement, you’re opening the door for bringing the dialogue to your own ‘blog article. A word of caution here: misuse of this idea is essentially comment spam. If you’re going to comment, then make sure you’re adding value to the article you’re commenting on, or don’t do it at all, OK?
Think and act like a professional. Don’t get drawn into heated debates, unless you’re sure you can do so without just throwing away your dignity and losing some serious credibility into the bargain. As I’ve discovered — much to my amusement — I’m both a contrarian and a conflict writer. Don’t be afraid of contradicting or correcting someone, but be damn sure that you’re right and you’re not going to annoy and antagonize people in the process.
Have a theme? Well stick to it! You don’t see too many truly successful general ‘blogs. Most might start that way, but as those few that stick around longer than twelve months will attest to, some trimming of the excess fat inevitably takes place. The web rewards those that carve out their own niche. Working within a niche and becoming an authority within that niche is better than being one voice amongst many in a crowded room.
Be seen, be known. Remember what I said about your comments of other people’s ‘blogs? Right, well there’s other places you ought to be hangin’ out, too. There are some notable social web venues up and down the internet superhighway, and you need to make a few well-chosen stops along the way. But choose wisely; don’t just sign up for every social network there is. Doing so will be an over-commitment on your part and you’ll be spread too thinly. Begin small, but think big and long-term, then work outwards from there.
Don’t be afraid to sing your own praise. To begin with, few people will know of you, who you are or what you do — so you need to be seen. If you’ve had some recent successes (strong linkage from a major website or ‘blog, high praise from a client or a notable mention in a publication) then talk about it. Better yet, create you own media page, like the one here on Octane. Use that one success as a driver to help you with the next one, wherever that may come from.
Be consistent with your image. Every blog post, every comment, every instant message, every email. If you feel that you’ve got a ‘house style’ then apply that style wherever you go. Some may like your style, others may loathe it, but for me, that’s where you want to be. I’d rather have a load of people hating and praising me, than have just a few think that I’m all right.
Be an opportunist. If news breaks on a story that’s very much local to your topic of choice, make a move and get your thoughts / opinions / ideas out there first. However, be sure to put the emphasis on quality and not speed. There’s no point being the first out there if all you’re doing is saying: “Hi!” Sometimes, it’s a well to be fashionably late. Over time, as your name spreads, those that know you will wait. Additionally, being bad-mouthed could be a chance to make friends and influence people. Charm the pants off them, schmooze, cajole and you might just win them over.
Get a ‘blog and get ahead! ‘Blogs routinely outrank websites on the search engines for a number of key reasons. The main reasons are that a typical ‘blog has a constant stream of ever-changing content, there are a great number of out-bound links to other sources, and there’s usually a community of people commenting on your articles. In addition to this, make sure people can do things with your articles. By that I mean make sure you have some way of syndicating your articles, either by a newsletter or from an RSS feed, sharing with friends via email or sharing on a social network.
Be seen, be known .. be available. So you’ve got your audience, you’ve got some notoriety, but you’re aloof! Someone might catch a quick comment exchange with you occasionally, but that’s usually it. Make sure people can contact you. What you’ll have noticed is that some of these suggestions are about being a shameless self-promotional whore. As bad as that might sound to you, you’re going to be competing with people who may have less moral and ethical restraints than yourself, so you need an edge.
Be yourself. To make this kind of thing work, there are a few prerequisites, which I hope I’ve covered above. But there’s one prerequisite to rule them all. It’s there when you’re commenting on ‘blogs. It’s there when you’re talking to someone and explaining yourself to them for the first time. It’s even there when things go wrong and you make that graceful recovery. That quality, that essential personal ingredient is charisma.

Success rarely comes to you, and even trying to meet it half way often isn’t enough. As for me, well, I’m still fighting the good fight, and I know what I need to be doing. Hopefully, after reading this little lot, you do too.

This article was first published on Octane’s sister blog, Blah, Blah! Technology, in an article entitled: “10 Personal Branding habits of the pros“

Manage personal brand like a porn star

Posted on October 1, 2009 at 4:33 pm.

Written by Wayne Smallman

There’s a lot being said about personal branding, and brand management. Turning your name and your message into a brand and an identity are key to recognition, respect, status and possibly even fame, and dare I say it, the path to fortune? And those kings & queens of personal branding would be?

Well porn stars, of course! But before we get all personal, we need to get, well .. personal, actually.

We’ve all heard people describe themselves as “rock stars”, “experts” and “pros”. But the fact of the matter is, they don’t get to ascribe such notable attributes — we do, assuming those people even deserve such epithets.

Details aside, the goal is to make your name synonymous with what you do. It’s about finding the right person. It’s about the ‘S’ word. We’re talkin’ specificity, baby!

So if you were looking for Wayne Smallman, then the chances are, I’d be at the top of that list. Or at least I hope so, anyway.

Personal Branding & Brand Management by ‘blogging

The goal of personal branding and brand management is to make your name synonymous with a certain phrase, usually the very thing you think you’re good at, or what you do.

For a porn star, that’s easy. If you’re Jenna Jameson, or some other sex star .. not that I know all that many (ahem!) then she’s going to be pretty happy if she gets Joe Blogs (no pun intended) finding her website on Google with the phrase: “nekkid female pornstar” or something similar.

For thee & me, the correlation needs to be similar to that, though for topics much more mundane, but maybe not any less colourful.

For me specifically, it might be a little more intangible, since I have an angle; over on the Blah, Blah! Technology blog, I take an irreverent sideways glance at technology. I rarely concern myself with the minutia of the technology, because there’s usually a ton of people out there doing that.

Wayne Smallman is all about technology trends and technology news. I look for the story behind the news. I look for the human angle to the technology. Or, I prognosticate with oft contrived predications about where technology is leading us.

While here on the Octane blog, I impart practical business advice in the guise of a story or an allegory.

If you’re a ‘blogger and you’re keen to build your own personal brand, then you’re going in the right direction, and Darren Rowse has some ideas on personal branding from a ‘blog:

“My own philosophy on personal branding is that it needs to be approached on two fronts – a big picture and a little picture one. On a big picture front one needs to think about the larger ‘picture’ that you’re wanting to paint of yourself. You might do this by thinking about the words that you want associated with your name for example. So someone like Guy Kawasaki you might associate the word ‘entrepreneur’ or Michael Arrington it might be ‘Web 2.0’”

That’s the bigger picture, which links in nicely with what I was harpin’ on about. But then it’s the smaller scale where the wheels can come off:

“On a smaller picture / micro level I think bloggers need to consider that every action that they take has the ability to add to or subtract from their personal brand: Every Blog Post, Every Comment, Every Instant Message, Every Email…”

Which could easily read: every indiscretion, every moment of weakness, every angry tirade, every snipe, criticism and moment of pretense.

So this is a question of managing your personal brand, which is about manipulating people’s perceptions of you, nudging their ideas of you towards something akin to your own view and opinion of yourself.

You’re basically looking to create your very own Reality Distortion Field, just like Mr. Steven P. Jobs.

Always remember that the search engines don’t lie, or at least not knowingly. So those indiscretions, moments of weakness and angry tirades will be squirreled away somewhere in the dark, dank, cold recesses of some cache store, waiting to be discovered.

Sometimes, the perception people have of you is so shot through, it’s just too tempting to walk away and leave well alone. Start afresh, maybe?

Even in times such as these, it’s a chance to attack the negativity surrounding your personal brand head-on and turn that sudden infamous notoriety into an opportunity, which Neil Patel over at QuickSpout explains:

“When people start slandering your name your gut reaction is probably to ignore it and hope it dies down. The problem with this approach is that it can lead to people that don’t even know you looking at you in a negative way. Instead of just ignoring the problem you should respond to them in an apologetic fashion and let them know you are listening to them and trying to fix the problem or issue that they have brought up. By doing this you are letting people know that you are listening which might start changing their perception.

If you have had people slandering your name in the past and you ignored it, go back and respond. It is never too late to try and fix your name.”

You cannot control what people think of you, but you can influence the variables a little, influencing their perception. Be hands-on and tweak, so to speak.

Want to build brand? Give them something to remember you by!

The porn stars are usually a generous lot .. again, not speaking from any personal experience. This is all accumulated knowledge gleaned from my more broadly-travelled nephews. No, honest!

The porn stars want your money. It’s that simple. And to get your credit card details flung over the electronic ether into their merchant bank accounts, they usually flash their white bits through the odd short video clip, or in a small selection of images. It’s the old Loss Leader trick. Very much tried & tested.

So the question is: what are your white bits? Where are they? And what is their value? Well, that’s for you to decide.

Two examples in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & SEM (Search Engine Marketing) biz immediately spring to mind, those being SEO Book and SEO Egghead. They both give away oodles of knowledge, insights and tricks of their trade on a near daily basis, as well as offering books (of the electronic and dead tree variety).

For my part, I flash my white bits in the form of my own ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media, which has enjoyed a healthy number of downloads.

Why do we do this? Because we’re building brand and then managing that brand even further by way of driving the visitor towards our books, which reinforce our attempts to build a sense of authority.

The successful guys get to stand up in front of strangers and talk, stuff like that. That too is an aspect of personal branding and self promotion. It’s actually one of the best ways to promote your brand. People get to see you and interact with you personally.

And finally, if ever there was any doubt that sex sells, let me widen your cultural orifice with a brisk exchange of social fluids, and watch the following video clip for the, err .. lowdown, so to speak.

This article was first published on Octane’s sister blog, Blah, Blah! Technology, in an article entitled: “Manage personal brand like a porn star“

Better business blogging

Posted on September 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm.

Written by Wayne Smallman

So here I am, late 2009 and we’re still talking about blogging. Many might just roll their eyes at the thought, but there are still some valuable lessons to be learned — mistakes made at the very beginning can be with you until the very end.

Wayne Smallman founder of web design, development and internet marketing consultancy Octane Interactive explains further.

So you think you’re ready to run your own business?

Posted on August 18, 2009 at 12:14 pm.

Written by Wayne Smallman

Running your own business isn’t easy. It’s a life-changing commitment that requires a great deal of your time. But the possible rewards can often vastly out-weigh the trials, troubles and tribulations you’ll encounter along the way.

Before embarking on this perilous and exciting journey, you must first perform a very honest appraisal of yourself by asking the following questions:

Are you able to work on your own?

Unless you’re in a partnership of some description, then you’re on your own. This can be hardest aspect to face for most people.

Almost every decision you make will be your own. There’s no passing the buck because the buck stops with you!

Are you stubborn and determined?

Either directly or indirectly, people are going to get in your way. They’re either competing head-on with you, or you’re dealing with people who’re making your life hard in some way.

In addition, you could be working towards fulfilling an agenda or part of a business strategy which is proving harder than you first imagined.

If you’re not both stubborn and determined, then failure is close at hand, unless you’ve got sheer blind luck on your side. But I wouldn’t put too much faith in some positive happenstance or oodles of good fortune coming your way — hope and luck aren’t anything like a plan.

There’s no substitute for getting your head down and working hard. So don’t ever plan around luck. Plan for failure but hope for the best. That way, you’ll encounter few surprises that you can’t deal with.

Do you believe you’ve got what it takes?

If you don’t believe completely in what you’re doing, how can you expect anyone else to?

You must exude desire, have an appetite for success and the will to succeed in the face of stiff and concerted opposition and competition.

Can you deal with stress?

Along the way, you’re going to have your patience tested to the limit. Be that from an awkward client, an obstructive supplier or a recalcitrant member of staff .. or even the computer in front of you when it’s on the blink!

For most, a daily diet of stress is something they simply cannot stomach, while others salivate at the prospect. Which one are you? If you’re the former, you’re going to struggle, while if you’re the latter, then you’re on the right path.

Can you remain focused?

What with stress, work pressures, company politics and sometimes out of sheer boredom, you will lose focus. How do you refocus? Can you refocus? Can you remain focused with all of those daily distractions around you?

From time to time, we all lose focus, but it’s how quickly we find that focus again and how long we hold onto it which is a key ingredient in avoiding needless and often costly business mistakes.

Are you a life learner?

Remember when you passed your driving test? Assuming that you did, that license entitles you to two things: to drive and to continue to learn to drive. As with life, your business and your role in your business is closely linked to living and learning.

To embrace success and avoid the yawning jaws of defeat, you must keep moving, and moving in a direction that distances you from your competitors. Renew your skills and maintain clear blue waters between your business competitors and yourself.

Don’t neglect your “Organic Knowledge”, which is all of your education and training, that sometimes, we just take for granted, and fail to see the true value of. Use your knowledge and experience to the full.

Are you pragmatist, optimist, pessimist or a realist?

From time to time, as your business evolves, you’ll be a bit of all four. Sometimes, you’ll be up in the air, jumping around with ideas and exploring new avenues and new business possibilities with the energy of a teenager.

However, there are times when you’ll sit there staring out of the window with a blank expression, wondering just what the hell you’re going to do next.

Then there’s the workman-like you. Unfazed by the heavy load, you plow on in a methodical, deliberate and efficient manner.

How you manage these phases is essential. However, each phase has a cautionary tale to tell:

Too much enthusiasm and optimism can steer you dangerously off course and force you to expend valuable energy, resources and time along the way.

Too many saturnine moments and you’ll find yourself in the Doldrums, not able to find the trade winds that are the life blood of your business.

Then having your head down, micromanaging every detail might have you running too close to shore and in danger of foundering, because you didn’t see the bigger picture coming towards you.

Strike a balance. Learn to deal with those things that perturb you and look to mix & match your tasks to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Can you manage the tasks at hand?

It’s all good and well having work coming to your door, but unless you can manage those projects, keep track of where you are with them and where other people are too, then you may find some projects withering and wasting away, maybe even forcing you to lose a customer in the process.

The solution? Get a pen, a sheet of paper and make a list! List those things To Do. You might even rank them, give them some tactile weighting so that you know how important or how urgent those tasks are. You might even want to jot down the names of the people involved in those tasks, too.

Whatever your routine, the trick is to stick to it. If others are to participate, then find some standard way of managing those lists that everyone else can understand.

There’s no value in having the most amazing way of managing your day-to-day work load if no one else can understand what on Earth you’re going on about!

Can you be relied upon and trusted?

I imagine most people think that they can be trusted and relied upon, but that’s not always the case. Even if your intentions are good, your schedule, your personal life or even your colander-like memory can step in and wreak havoc.

When working for your customers, any excuse is usually no excuse at all. Let these guys down and they’ll find another supplier. Let your staff down and you could be doing interviews all week instead of working on the next big thing.

Stay focused, make a note of your promises and damn well keep them!

When you’re down, can you pick yourself up?

You might think I’ve talked about this before, but this is quite different.

Are you precious about what it is that you do? That’s to say: if someone criticizes your work, can you deal with that criticism?

If you cannot justify yourself and your work, then you’ve not thought things through as thoroughly as you should have.

If your client can give you one good reason why they think that you’re wrong, then you have to give them five excellent reasons why you know that you are right.

This isn’t really about compromising, this is about thinking beyond your needs, your own desires and sensibilities and being objective, focused and having a clarity of vision that will pay dividends over time.

Can you be a diplomat?

Losing your cool isn’t going to do you or your business any favours. Similarly, not observing the sometimes delicate political sensibilities of clients can cause friction.

As well as being a business person, you have to be a diplomat, one who’s prepared to discuss rather than dictate.

No, this isn’t about total capitulation. It’s about planning long-term, striking a balance and keeping the right people on your side.

Are you prepared to say no?

Sometimes, saying no to a client can seem like saying goodbye. Trust me, this isn’t the case.

However, simply saying no isn’t good enough, you must provide evidence of why you think your client has either got something wrong, or not seen what you’ve seen.

Make a good case for your argument and your client will respect you and learn to trust your judgment.

Can you survive the famine after the feast?

In lean times, you’re going to have to make do. At times like this, you need to be proactive rather than reactive and delve right into business development and draw in new work.

Go through your client list, think of what you were doing for them last, maybe there’s something that needs updating. Call those clients, ask them if everything is OK.

Find something that might be in need of a change or an update, supply a quote, a plan of action and work towards a meeting with them.

Plan for the hard times, set funds aside, look for trends and seasonality in what you do and be ready.

Can you go the distance?

In business, there is no finishing line. This is the long race.

You need stamina and the capacity to move beyond the “wall”, when you’re running on empty and the goal in sight seems to be moving away from you, or the outstretched arm of a competitor seems closer than your own.

Dig deep, get your breathing right, strike a rhythm and hold the pace.

Can you be professional?

Being a professional is about combining all of the above. Much like the best and most well-loved sports stars, professionalism doesn’t end when you’re not performing.

You are your business, and professionalism doesn’t stop just because you’re not in the office, or it’s outside business hours.

Are you scared?

You should be. Failure is much closer to you than success. Running a business is a huge undertaking, even more so when there are people relying on you for their livelihoods. Feed on the fear, repurpose that emotion into the stuff that fuels you.

What’s the name of your fear? Well, that’s easy! Fear has many names, most of which are the same names as your competitors.

However, you can make success your name, but only if you try hard enough!

This article was first published on Octane’s sister blog, Blah, Blah! Technology, in an article entitled: “Are you ready to run your own business?“