Vishal Bhatia's 7 Step Formula to creating your own brand and crushing your competition.
If you run a business that uses your name as your brand, such as a doctor, public speaker, or any kind of life coach, it is important for you to dominate the first page of search engines for your name.
Chances are, as unique as you may be, you are not the only person on the planet with your name. That being said, unless the other people with the same name as you have been locked in a dungeon, and have never done anything online, you probably have some competition for your name out there. You want to eliminate the competition, if you plan to commercialize your name for business.
There are several ways to go about this and I suggest you pick at least a few of these to get a good start.
The first thing you want to do is establish an online presence.
Here is what you need to do immediately to establish your visibility online.
1) The number one thing you want to do is start a blog.
Creating a blog is as simple as purchasing the domain for your name, such as www.johnsmith.com, hosting the domain, installing a wordpress theme, and customizing it with your style and personality. If you are not tech savvy, don’t worry, I will show you how to do this in a separate post.
2) Next, set up some social media sites with your name.
You want to use your name as the title of your profiles, such as John Smith’s Facebook Fan Page, The John Smith channel on YouTube etc. Stay consistent with the style of your blog across all social media sites. Sticking with a consistent style gives your followers a sense of who you are, and lets them know that you do indeed have a style. It also allows them to recognize you immediately upon landing on a new site. Start connecting with people on these sites and get some followers and fans.
Ok, now that you have a foundation for your personal branding, you want to build on that foundation.
Here are some ways to get out there and get noticed.
1) Create Videos for your YouTube Channel
With YouTube being the third most popular site on the planet, creating high quality videos that show people your expertise is a great way to get seen, and get fans. Make sure to promote your videos across all of your social media sites. That way, whenever you create a new video, you are giving all of your fans access to new information, and giving them the opportunity spread the word on your behalf.
If you have clients that have already had a good experience with you, ask if they will record a video testimonial about their experience (read the post on creating testimonials).
You can then post those videos on YouTube and on your blog or website.
2) Write valuable articles
Write at least one new article a week and post it to some article directory sites like Ezine Articles, or an article directory that is specific to your niche. Ideally you want to write a blog post initially, then repurpose that post into a shorter (500 words or less) article. Post the article and link it back to your blog, then your blog will link to your social sites and the domination process has begun.
3) Create Press Releases About Yourself
A press release tells people that there is something worth knowing about you. If you are branding yourself, chances are you have done something worth talking about. Let’s say you just created a new product, or have discovered a brand new way to conquer fear, and you want to get the word out. A press release is a perfect way to do this. You are essentially writing a story about you in the third person, letting everyone know that you are an expert in your field, and noting some of your latest accomplishments. I know this may sound a little vain, and if you feel weird about it, then just hire someone to create one for you. Press releases go viral very fast, and with a catchy headline your news could spread like wild fire. Some of the press release sites don’t let you put links in your PR, so do your homework.
4) Write a book
This is something you can do to get some good notoriety, and position yourself as an expert. Obviously, this is going to take some time to do, but it does not have to be as hard as you may think. There are people who will ghostwrite a book for you, on whatever topic you are an expert in. Publish a digital copy of the book and make it available on Amazon for people to purchase. Spread the word about your new book through all of your social channels
5) Media Appearances
It used to be that you actually had to be famous in order to be featured on a television or radio show. Well, the tables have turned, and now you can be interviewed for tv and radio, just like you were a celebrity. This is a little more money than some people are willing to spend, but it can have a viral effect over night. I want to drive home the point that people that are seen as an authority get more business, people that are seen as a celebrity get more business than they can handle. See the difference!
This is the most powerful way to brand yourself as an expert, and it is a relatively new concept for budding entrepreneurs. If you want to explode your visibility, this method will do the job.
So to review, set up your foundation correctly, and build on your foundation, incorporating at least the first three methods of creating videos, articles, and press releases. Do this on a very consistent basis and you will soon be dominating the first page of any search engine for your name, and increasing awareness of your brand.
