The Benefits of Being Able to Say “Google Me.”
An Unexpected Benefit Of Growing Your Personal Brand
Have you ever been approached by a needy salesperson? The kind of salesperson who comes across as desperate and almost forceful, in order to try to drive you to making a purchase. Chances are, you probably decided not to buy from them. Maybe you yourself have been this person. What about the rapper who spams his music link thinking that he has an effective marketing strategy? You can’t knock the hustle, but you can definitely question the efficiency.
For the service providers out there, has somebody ever asked you, “Why should I work with you?” How did you handle that question? Did you list off a variety of services and accolades? I know for the longest time when I would get asked “Isaac, what does working with you look like?” I’d share what felt like in retrospect to be my life story. It felt forced. I was that desperate young entrepreneur who listed off what they would get in return and why I was special. I was selling features and not results. The time they got with me, versus what I could do with the time we spent. God forbid I let my dozens of testimonials show up online...
As I matured, I realized I had it all backward.
Lessons From Journalism
One of the tools I use to build my credibility is leveraging online articles and blog features. Journalists send out query requests on a particular subject, and I like, so many others send them my own experience and expertise, or my opinion. In the past, I’d tack on a paragraph or two about me. After all, this was a stranger. They wouldn’t know that I wrote a book on personal branding, or hosted a podcast for three years. They couldn’t possibly know that I built out my brand online without relying on press and ads. I had to tell them!
But did I really? Even the smallest journalist may receive hundreds of pitches every single week. They have to filter through all of these emails, looking for relevant information. This brings us to the question of, do journalists care more about who is sharing the information or about the information that is shared. If the response is of sound mind and relevant to their article, the person won’t necessarily have to be a Fortune 500 executive. As I got better at pitching myself, I concluded that I needed to let my pitch speak for me, and two, I needed to let my personal brand do the same.
You’re Convincing Yourself
In some sense, we are always subconsciously trying to sell or convince others that we are trustworthy and are who we say we are. We’re putting on our best selves in situations like I mentioned above, from the desperate salesperson to me, pitching journalists. It’s survival. What we’re actually doing is trying to convince ourselves that we are worthy of the end result. That we deserve the sale or we deserve the press placement. I recently heard that the number one mistake salespeople make, is they talk too much. I believe this transmutes into selling ourselves too.
The point of building your personal brand is to be able to have opportunities come to you and to lower the action threshold of opportunities that you already have.
Rather than trying to convince somebody to work with you, you have people lined up, begging to get a time on your calendar. To have your successes stack up and compound. Where in the past you were told no for a podcast interview, now people automatically send you the booking link and say “I would be honored to have you on my show.” It undoubtedly takes time to get to this point; but with effort, you’ll get there. You’ll need to flood the internet with information about you. Create content surrounding your profession. Write articles and be interviewed. If you’re building a company, it should have a brand and life of its own. Most importantly, build yourself into a public figure that others can turn to. The authority. The expert.
The 99% are looking for the one percent to follow.
Today when I send a pitch, I provide a link to my website in my email signature, maybe a link to my LinkedIn, and more importantly, a quick message that says “For any insights into my qualifications, a quick Google search should suffice. If not, let me know.” This isn’t said out of ego, but rather of letting my hard work and dedication represent me, just as your lawyer would in a courtroom.
The day I started this practice was the day I recognized that I could move on from trying to convince others of my results, to letting my results speak for me. To make the following statement in confidence.
“Google me. You’ll be able to find what you need.”
