7 Personal Branding Tools with the Greatest Impact - CareerMetis.com

7 Personal Branding Tools with the Greatest Impact Why do only certain people in your field rise to national prominence?In every professional field and industry, there are certain individuals who enjoy local and national prominence as experts. They’re the ones who attract all the media attention, are asked to deliver keynotes at major conferences, and seem to win the best clients. What is their secret sauce?evalHinge conducted a research project to understand these industry stars 1. Writing a book is an effective platform for demonstrating your expertise and building visibility. Chances are high that among the highest profile experts in your field, most have authored at least one book.2. Public speaking has a huge impact. The best-known experts speak often to prospective clients and industry peers, especially by addressing large groups at conferences and other industry events.eval3. Websites â€" both those of the individual’s firm and their own personal sites â€" rank high for impact. Not every Visible Expert has a personal websi te, though experts with the highest levels of visibility often do.4. Visible Experts tend to write often, producing blog posts, monthly columns, and articles.5. Because they publish educational â€" not promotional â€" content with consistency and frequency, they are able to derive a good amount of ROI from two techniques that are particularly challenging for many: email marketing and SEO.The Most Essential Personal Branding ToolsHere are the 7 most impactful tools you need as part of your personal branding strategy:1. Writing a bookevalWhether written by yourself or a ghostwriter, a book addressing your area of expertise is a critical credibility builder. The book can be published traditionally, and can deliver instant credibility.For more flexibility, you could choose to self-publish your book â€" meaning that you either set the price, or give it away for free.In either case, you also need to promote the book, since even name-brand publishers expect their authors to do the majority of the marketing.Writing a book can be a heavy lift, however, so don’t feel as if it needs to be at the top of your to-do list.2. Public speakingTalking about your area of expertise is another important platform for enhancing your reputation and personal brand. Listeners are predisposed to trust anyone addressing them from a podium, so just getting in front of them is half the battle.3. Being visible on a websiteIf you are member of a firm, your first area of focus should be your own bio page. It should present include enough credentials to convince visitors that you truly know your stuff. Here are a few possible elements you might include:Detailed personal bioPast and current speaking eventsSample speaking videosAreas of expertise and speaking topicsLinks to published thought leadershipEducation, Certifications, Affiliations4. Using a blog platformIf you want to be seen as an expert, you should be blogging. It’s one of the easiest ways to share your wisdom quickly and widely â €" and begin attracting a loyal following.For even greater impact, follow some basic search engine optimization Where your blog works by introducing you to hordes of new people, email marketing works by turning many of those first-time readers into loyal followers â€" and hopefully, raving fans.Include offers for valuable educational content In any case, SEO is your connection to people who are intensely interested in problems that you happen to solve … almost none of whom you would have meet otherwise.7. Having a media kitExperts are constantly asked for bios, credentials and photos, so you should always have a media kit ready for them. Even better, include the materials up on your website bio page, where interested parties can find them at any time. Then, whenever a last-minute request comes in, you’ll be ready with a response.Of course, this list is just the beginning. There are actually dozens of personal branding tools that can help you engage with your audience. For exampl e, webinars (which are just an alternate platform for public speaking), video and web analytics, and SlideShare, to name a few.When you see your personal branding strategy beginning to have an impact, you might want to try out some additional tools and techniques.Achieving the status of your industry’s go-to expert is not the result of chance or a lucky break â€" rather, it’s the result of systematic, focused marketing.I encourage you to begin using the strategies and tools described here … and good look on your ascent!