The POWER of Personal Brands: How Much is Too Much when SELLING Your Agency, with Jason Barnard | Ep #698

Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

Are you debating the value of building your brand? Perhaps you're wary of the effort needed to establish your identity, only to feel confined to your business once you become the face of the agency. Our guest today specializes in helping clients effectively brand themselves and elevate their agencies.

He understands the common fears and reservations surrounding personal branding and offers valuable insights into its benefits. Above all, he wants entrepreneurs to understand that personal brands should evolve continually, ensuring that they don't limit your growth. Tune in for expert advice on cultivating trust and credibility in the industry through consistent branding efforts.

Jason Barnard is an entrepreneur, writer, and CEO of Kalicube, a digital marketing agency that makes your online brand representation irresistible to potential customers. Jason loves to solve the puzzle of how algorithms work and figure out how clients can use them in their favor. In this conversation, both Jasons emphasize the significance of branding yourself to elevate your agency to the next level in the digital marketing space.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• Why a personal brand won’t tie you to the business.

• How to build and pivot your brand.

• Communicating your evolving value.

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The Relatable Factor: Using Personal Branding to Connect with Clients

Building a strong brand requires consistency above all else. Without it, your company risks fading into obscurity. As long as you provide value, consistency will help you gain your audience’s trust over time. For Jason, it’s also very much about believing in the value you bring and being proactive. It’s a journey that never ends, Jason says, and a game you lose unless you devote enough time to building that brand over time.

Most agency owners believe they need to choose between building the agency’s brand or their personal brand. Commonly, a personal brand is seen as something that will tie you to the business forever, turning you into the face of the company. However, you need to be the face of your agency, especially in the beginning, and this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never be able to walk away.

Being the face of the agency simply means that you are the relatable figure that people associate with the business. People prefer to interact with individuals rather than faceless entities, and having a recognizable figure can significantly enhance their connection to your agency.

According to Jason, we all have a personal brand, whether we like it or not. As soon as you step into the digital landscape you’re leaving a footprint and, even if you try to stay in the background, people will seek you out to figure out who’s behind the agency.

Furthermore, agency owners should consider their career trajectory beyond the agency. Whether that means transitioning to roles like investor or author, having an established brand can make this pivot much smoother than starting from scratch.

Building and Pivoting Your Brand on Your Own Terms

For many people, one of the scariest parts of building a brand is thinking they’ll have to be very active on social media. To this, Jason says: not necessarily. To build your brand, you need to do things that make sense to you. This might be appearances on podcasts, writing articles, or social media. It all depends on your talent set, how you want to be presented, and how your audience is going to consume the information you provide.

If, instead, you’re looking to pivot an existing brand, Jason recommends auditing and updating all existing content about yourself to ensure it accurately reflects your current brand identity. This may involve revisiting old blog posts, social media profiles, podcast interviews, and other online assets to make necessary changes and corrections. It’s what he did when he decided to become a digital marketer after many years of being known on the internet as a cartoonist. He set out to align all his content with his current brand message to present a cohesive and compelling image to your audience.

For people looking to achieve something similar, he advises looking at what they have in their digital ecosystem, deciding what they want to communicate, and refocus everything. Once you do, Google will represent you in the way you want and your audience will see you the way you want to be seen.

Communicating Your Evolving Value in the Digital Age

One thing all entrepreneurs should keep in mind when it comes to branding is that we’re not permanently just one thing. People change and evolve; likewise, your personal brand should always evolve. If you have an active career, you’ll probably need to reposition yourself at least three times as you accomplish some goals and set out to conquer new ones.

In today's digital landscape, with the increasing influence of AI and algorithms, effectively communicating one's identity and value proposition to the target audience is paramount.

As individuals, we may struggle with defining who we are and what we stand for however as professionals, we must recognize that change is inevitable and that our personal brand should reflect this evolution. It can take time and self-reflection to truly understand our values, goals, and strengths. However, by actively engaging in this process, we can better align our personal brand with our authentic selves and create a more compelling and impactful online presence.

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