“Make floral arrangements from your deeds, products, and qualities, but make sure to place the more wilted petals alongside the most spectacular flowers. A good first impression will greatly diminish the impact of any imperfections noticed later” – SergiuVoicu.Ro
Throughout my professional journey, I’ve encountered hundreds of people with fantastic qualities, who naturally should have been famous, their notoriety bringing them money and the ability to promote any brand with ease. Unfortunately, having extraordinary qualities is not enough if the right people don’t know about them.
Through this guide, we’ve covered some important steps for building a solid personal or brand image that offers long-term benefits.
In Part 3, we’ll complete the list of the most important elements to consider when you want to make your image known and take advantage of all the opportunities offered by notoriety.
We are now developing the following themes:
- how to use your experience to educate the market
- why to create and attend events
- community involvement is healthy for both you and society
- praise and its positive effects
- the importance of emails and newsletters
- how to establish connections with journalists, bloggers, influencers
- what content to create to go viral
EDUCATE THE MARKET!
If you’re truly a professional, then why not have people come to you for information? It can be an asset to provide the most relevant and complete data in your field. Are you an expert in your field? Show it! You can organize free courses, write guides, create educational videos to post on social media. And in all, of course, you can refer to your business, without emphasizing it too much. The materials should focus on education and not give the impression of advertising.
“It’s your responsibility to make the customer like you. If they like you, they will listen to you. If they listen, they will believe. If they believe, they will buy.” – Zig Ziglar
- CREATE EVENTS!
Create events around your brand. Look for event niches that you can associate with your name.
Sporting, cultural events, and exhibitions can be a good opportunity to bring together a larger group of people who, thus, can learn more about you.
“It’s no longer enough to satisfy your customers, now you have to delight them.” – Philip Kotler
- ATTEND EVENTS!
It’s very important for people to see you and learn about you. When you go to events with people of interest to you, introduce yourself. After saying your name, also mention a few things about your company.
“Be your perfect consumer. Live like your consumer.” – Milena Glimbovski
- GET INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY!
Get involved in social projects, donate to noble causes, but do this primarily with your heart. You can choose those causes close to you, your family, or your employees. Those helped will remember you and talk about you and your brand. Plus, any help offered will return tenfold at the right moment. Do good, to receive good!
“Stop selling. Start helping.” – Zig Ziglar
- BRAG ABOUT YOURSELF!
Don’t expect the world to know about your achievements, the wonderful things you do, what makes you unique, if you don’t talk about these things.
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” – Oscar Wilde
When you have something new, announce it! When you’ve done something you want to be purchased, say what you have and how you got it, and how hard the team worked for this achievement. Don’t overdo the bragging, but don’t shy away from discussing new elements in your life.
“If all my money was $20, I would buy pencils for $2 and advertise them for $18.” – Henry Ford
Be specific regarding your achievements. Provide concrete details to support your claims. Back up your claims with figures or statistics that demonstrate your impact and success. Talk about projects or tasks you’ve managed successfully, the skills you possess, and how you’ve added value in the past.
Share examples of situations from which you’ve learned and developed.
- SEND EMAILS!
Keep in touch with clients, colleagues, business partners, those who have just visited, groups of people with whom you share interests. Ask them for their email addresses where you can send information. Of course, also ask for permission to send emails when you have news (don’t forget GDPR rules). Send announcements, stories, and information about new products. You can also send market figures or links to your media appearances. It’s important to send holiday greetings as well.
“As you’ve noticed, people don’t want you to sell to them. What people do want is news and information about the things they are interested in.” – Larry Weber
- SEND NEWSLETTERS!
Show your customers that your relationship is just as interesting after the sale or direct collaboration ends. Constantly send information about the most important market data or about your product.
“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.” – David Ogilvy
- BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH JOURNALISTS AND BLOGGERS!
Journalists and bloggers can help distribute your information and promote your name. Engage with friends on Facebook and even use Facebook groups to convey data about you and your projects. It’s important to go towards those professionals who are specialized in your niche. If you want to talk about your company’s financial results or grow your brand, look for those specialized in business. If you have medical services, then look for health specialists or in real estate or auto if your business is in cars or houses and land.
“Public relations is a mix of journalism, psychology, and law – it’s always changing and always an interesting landscape.” – Ronn Torossian
Journalists know best how to further your story and make it captivating. In addition, they help you reach a very wide audience. The golden rule for you is to provide them with interesting and real information, valuable data, that helps them build subjects and proposals for editorial materials.
What information is of interest to journalists from a businessman? A relevant survey for the market you’re active in, accompanied by your own analysis or a specialty study.
If you want your message to have an impact, talk about benefits, dangers, and ways to do something better and easier. You can also use research that provides new market data.
“To impose oneself in the market, one does everything possible to seem already established.” – Francois De La Rochefoucauld
- SEND UNIQUE INFORMATION TO INFLUENCERS:
Working with influencers isn’t cheap. The results can be proportional or totally uncorrelated with the amounts invested in promotion through influencers. But… if your message is truly valuable, they will share it and roll it on their pages, without you asking or paying them. One option is to gather interesting data about your industry, which you nicely package.
We all love figures, and when we hear statistics that surprise us, we are very tempted to send them and show them to our loved ones in our circle.
You don’t have to conduct a brand new market research; most often, the data are freely available on the internet. What do you need to do? Gather relevant data from the internet (necessarily from safe and reliable sources), put it nicely in context, and possibly come with your own comment on how a certain result can be achieved. Don’t forget to mention the sources of information.
“People share and read that type of content that rises to the surface through friends and people they know and trust.” – Malorie Lucich
- GO VIRAL!
If you’re outgoing and good at speaking, make posts and videos with the potential to go viral, i.e., posts that roll quickly and thus you gain instant notoriety. If you can do this, you will definitely make your image known without spending money on advertising.
- CREATE A LOGO and CHOOSE A MOTTO!
Your company’s logo and image are elements that will remain in your client’s mind. All major brands have a company logo and motto with which they identify. See what represents you, personalize the image, and promote your logo and motto for an added trust. Choose graphic elements that express professionalism and seriousness. You need to inspire trust in those around you.
Also, read Part 1 and Part 2 of this guide.
Here we talked about:
- how to tell your story and also make an impact with it
- how and why to talk directly to customers
- why to acknowledge your mistakes and how to make a plan to get out of a crisis
- the impact of “Thank you!”
- how and why to ask for recommendations and feedback
- how to build a solid and correct presence online
- what and how to post on your website and on social networks
- the impact of a photograph and what kind of photos to post
- how to have well-written texts and who can help you write them
- why to update your data
- how often to provide new information
- how transparent to be in your relationship with others
I am Sergiu Voicu – communication specialist, journalist, entrepreneur, and tourist.
Senior PR Consultant since April 2022.
I am a journalist specialized in economics, business, finance, banks, and tourism, with over 20 years of experience in the most important press institutions in Romania.
Since 2017, I have been the creator of the Romania Fast Forward project, where I make extensive reports about successful Romanians, business people with beautiful stories, and top domestic companies.
Over the years, I have presented both business, travel, and entertainment shows.
I have over 12 years of experience as a news reporter accredited at the Government and had the opportunity to be a director and second director for a few television documentaries.
I worked in radio for 5 years, where I was both a radio show host and a DJ.
I am a graduate of Economic Studies and have a master’s degree in Journalism.
Below are my social media links:
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