Personal Branding

The Biggest Content Marketing Secret

July 18, 2017 By Peter Leave a Comment

And Ladies and Gentlemen…. The Biggest Content Marketing Secret

Ready, set, go. Shh… Here is the big content marketing secret to delivering brilliant insights, mucho content and a simple way of making you look real smart.

Creating relevant content every week is a bitch for small and medium sized advertising, digital, PR and whateva agencies. The hard part isn’t ‘relevant’, the hard part is doing it consistently.

The Secret

Interview the right, smart, eloquent people that can riff on tight subjets for 15 to 60 minutes. OK, 60 is too much cause you’ll have to edit it.

Do the interview on the telephone, via text-based questions or on Skype (or other Internet conversation platforms). Record the calls. Then, head over to Rev and have them transcribe the audio – overnight.

Easy, right? Yup!

I’ve done dozens of interviews for this blog, for my book (see above) and in guest posts.

Google loves SEO optimized content. Interviews rock.

Then… Amplify It

Every insight / AHA! blog or whatever post must be amplified via one or more of the following (I amplify everything.) I use the Rule of Five – amplify everything at least five ways. Here are some ideas.:

On your site in a very simple resources page or blog
To your current and past clients
To your lists as part of your email newsletter
In white papers
On LinkedIn to your ‘growing’ Followers
To your Facebook Followers
On Twitter (yes, it still works and can be used for targeting your competitor’s followers)
SlideShare (an underused platform)
Commenting (presence on LinkedIn Groups and big blogs)
Guest posting (seriously borrowed reach)
Your zine
And, on…

Need content (and who doesn’t?) Go forth and interview people.

Oh, I get interviewed too.

Here from Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels Of Separation (a master interview website /podcast):

SPOS #569 – The Relevance Of Marketing Agencies With Peter Levitan

Photographs Vs. Brilliant Business Development Insights

June 27, 2017 By Peter Leave a Comment

No Brilliant Business Development Insights Today

Too busy to pontificate (or bore you) – I am moving homes in Mexico. Going from my one-year rental to my newly built house in the Guadalupe Colonia in San Miguel de Allende. Guadalupe is known for its murals and tranquil vibe.

So to pass the time, here are some photographs from my growing La GENTE photography series. Here is what I say about the project on my photography website:

La GENTE — The PEOPLE is an extensive photographic project that seeks to celebrate the greatness of the people of San Miguel de Allende. My goal is to have more than 400 portraits of young and old from San Miguel de Allende that will be shown through a public art event in 2018. This will be a personal + visusal feast for the city.

La GENTE is my personal ode to my town San Miguel de Allende and its beautiful people. I go out into the streets using a portable white background to make my portraits. My goal is to have over 400 photographs of young and older Sanmiguelense that will be shown via a public art event in 2018. I hope this will be more of a party than a traditional photography show. The whole town will be invited.

Here are some shots.

Personal Update

June 6, 2017 By Peter Leave a Comment

Yes, It’s Personal

First

I was interviewed recently by Mitch Joel of WPP’s Mirum agency and its Six Pixels of Separation podcast. It’s the second time that we’ve discussed the “art” of business development and the state of today’s advertising business. While I recommend listening to ME!, I want to make sure that you add Mitch’s podcast to your podcast list. I think that Six Pixels is the best and most informative advertising podcast. It’s way deep too at 569 episodes. Search through it and you’ll find many industry leaders.

Second

Some of you know that I moved to San Miguel de Allende Mexico about one year ago. My wife and I are building a house here that should be ready for move in June (fingers crossed.) Very exciting. If you haven’t read my well-read blog post on moving to Mexico, here it is.

Third

After years of dabbling with my photography (I started life as a commercial photographer in San Francisco – then fled back to NY advertising), I am doing a serious project in San Miguel. My goal is to have an event, not a photo “show”, that will celebrate the people of San Miguel. I am well on my way to getting over 400 portraits against my portable white background. One is on the left.

More can be seen on my photography website…. HERE. The project is also on Facebook at @lagentemexicana – join my over 2,200 Followers.

The Art Of Personal Branding

March 22, 2017 By Peter Leave a Comment

A How To – Personal Branding Is A Fine Art

Warning, it will take you close to 500 words to actually get to my main point about the art of personal branding and a great example of How To. So, if you want, skip ahead. However, if you need a bit of branding history, don’t scroll yet.

A Definition

Today, everyone (well, OK, not everyone, but it sure seems like everyone) from high school students developing their college resumes to job seekers to ad agency owners like you to consultants like me, use personal branding to create their very own brand. What is a personal brand? A definition from our friends at Wikipedia…

Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands While previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal-branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging. The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters.

Do you know Tom Peters? I bet many of you don’t. Back in the 90’s Tom was a major marketing influencer and as you can see from this 1997 Fast Company article, “The Brand Called You. Big companies understand the importance of brands. Today, in the Age of the Individual, you have to be your own brand. Here’s what it takes to be the CEO of Me Inc.”, he laid it all out. FYI: 1997 was twenty years ago. Side note, I kinda laughed when I read how Tom boldly referred to himself at the close of the article…

“Tom Peters (TJPET@aol.com) is the world’s leading brand when it comes to writing, speaking, or thinking about the new economy. He has just released a CD-ROM, “Tom Peters’ Career Survival Guide.”

Tom states (Tom!)…. “Tom Peters (TJPET@aol.com) is the world’s leading brand…” Cool. You know, most people don’t really have time to figure you out so go ahead and tell them that you are the guru. It works. Here is what I say (I say!) on my (as in this) website: “I Am The Most Experienced Business Development Consultant.” It works (and it is true.) There…. I just personal branded. Back in the day, I studied Tom peters, read his books and watched his presentations. Look him up, you’ll see what I mean.

Oh, just in case you don’t remember 1997, note in the statment that Tom had an AOL email address and created CD-ROM’s.

Back To Personal Branding – Actually, The Art Of Personal Branding

I will not get too deep into the concept of how to do the nuts & bolts of personal branding because there is a very good chance that you do that and Google will return 11 million results on the subject. Plus, you probably already use one or more of the following tools to get your brand out there. Or, should.

A blog (if you know how to use keywords, have something to add to the conversation and write decent English)
LinkedIn (your profile, groups, and publishing)
Facebook (your profile and advertising)
Instagram (image marketing)
Twitter (yes, it still works)
Snapchat (people won’t remember your inanity)
Pinterest (amazing what people search on)
Medium (borrowed reach)
Slideshare (an underused platform)
Commenting (presence)
Guest posting (seriously borrowed reach)
Recommendations and referrals (ask for them)
Awards (third party endorsement)
Buffer (efficiency)
Buzzsumo (more efficiency)
Word of mouth (yup, that old thing works too)

Margo: The Art Of Her Branding Is In The Execution – Not Just The Tools

All of these tools are nice. But, as is always the case, the devil is in the details. Here are the details of a personal brand I found (actually it found me) yesterday.

I have some bad habits. Instead of waking up and immediately studying Spanish (I now live in Mexico), I turn on my iPad and read my business email. So there I am in my bed (too much info?) with my iPad and I see an email from Medium that points me to… “How The Best Marketers Read Minds. How to hear the unspoken stories your customers tell themselves.” I read it. It’s an excellent take on marketing and messaging. It is very current. You should read it.

I then go, “Huh, who wrote this?” I click on Margo Aaron’s byline, I see this: “I write about the dubious underbelly of marketing and other lighthearted topics at www.thatseemsimportant.com.” I like the name of the website. I like the idea of reading about the “dubious underbelly.” I like Margo’s attitude.

I then go to Margo’s That Seems Important website. I find the following:

She points out that she is a ginger and is cute (my interpretation.) Just to be clear, I would have also thought that if it had been a cute guy like Domhnall Gleeson.

She has a sense of humor: The top of the home page visual says, “They say if I have a photo here it will increase my conversion rates.” Take that SEO / SEM folks.

She asks me to join her email list via this, “Please join this list so it’s not just my mom.” More humor.

I go to the About page and read her bio. Nice track.

Then I take her up on this… “If you’d like to “pick my brain” you can do so here.” Of course, I go. “Pick my brain” kinda reminds me of my Corleone Offer.

I arrive at a Clarity page where I can buy her time for $4.17 / minute. I see a couple of reviews like this…

Margo is a rock star. I gained more insights from a one-hour conversation with her than I would have in weeks of fumbling around with the marketing for my coaching service.

She has a rare acumen for asking the right questions to understand you and your offer and then translating that into a captivating marketing strategy.

The value I received from the call far exceeds her rate. If she’s amenable to helping you, don’t hesitate to work with her.

I think, sure I’ll call her.

My Point? Margo Seriously Branded Herself.

How?

Marketing – Margo introduced me to her via a broad reach vehicle – Medium. Somehow she got Medium to get her into my email.

Persona – Her branding delivered a smart, funny persona. Not a me-to list of attributes. She is likeable.

Smart – She writes very well on subject that should be of interest to you.

Sales funnel – She funneled me to her bio.

Sold – She further funneled me to her advice site.

Margot did all of this in a way I call – Unignorable.

You?

You can do this too. This is particularly important if you run an ad agency. Here’s an example…

Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary has done a masterful job of self-branding. I am sure you know his story. From wine shop to YouTube star to building the fastest growing ad agency in the universe (Gary’s ~~words~~ thought.)

His secret… He used marketing; a unique compelling persona; he’s smart and makes damn sure you know it; he funnels you into his books and speeches and if you are a client, into his agency. He is not timid. He has sold you. His brand sold you.

Does your brand sell your agency?

Podcast: 7 Tips for Ad Agency Professionals

February 24, 2017 By Peter Leave a Comment

A Podcast Interview: My 7 Marketing Tips For Ad Agency Professionals

I’ve discussed the great value of guest posting in earlier blog posts. The primary advantage is that you get your post and thinking out to a much larger audience than you would get by just posting on your company website.

Another way to get your message out there is to be interviewed by a company that is interested in what you have to say. In a recent case, I was interviewed by Paul Wicker of the super-smart ad tech company ADSTAGE. Here is how they describe their marketing platform. Cross-channel campaign creation and performance in seconds

Identical Workflows for Cross-Network Campaign Creation

Create campaigns faster with a simplified and seamless flow across Google, Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Ads. We support the most popular ad formats on each network so you can make most sense for your online ad campaigns.

Bottomline is that they can help you to better manage your multi-platform campaigns…. and isn’t that a very nice thing.

My PPC Show Interview

You can listen to the PPC Show interview and see the synopsis right here on ADSTAGE’s website. Below are a couple of the more (if I do say so myself) salient points… If you have been reading my blog, you know that these are two of my major business development recommendations.

“We’re in a world where specialization wins.” If you’re looking to start your own agency, know that clients are looking for specialists. We’re no longer in the grand old days where agencies were either television, print, or radio. Know your specialty and make sure clients know it, too.
“Your website HAS to be a sales tool.” So many agencies fall into the trap of turning their websites into fun, creative projects or brochures. While that’s all well and good, if your website is not set up to make a sale, then it’s not doing much for you. Sales is a 24-7 game now and your website is doing a lot of that work for you. Make sure it’s set up that way.

I hope you enjoy the interview. And, don’t forget to take a look at ADSTAGE’s ad tech tools and dashboard. I love dashboards…