Meet Danielle Hughes
Danielle Hughes is the creator of the Personality Brand. She teaches clients how to bring more of themselves into their message so they feel comfortable expressing it and can convey what makes them different from their competition, attracting the right audience and repelling the wrong one. Often referred to as a magician with words, while she can’t pull a rabbit out of her hat, she can hone your brand message and deadlift you or your employees, but not at the same time. That’s just irresponsible. (note: Danielle is
available for office party tricks and accepts payment in bottles of Bordeaux.)
What is a personality brand and why does someone need one?
Yes, so personal brand is everywhere. And the word personal means private. So why are we sharing our private thoughts, habits, behaviors with people that we don’t know? But our personality is who we are. It’s always on display and we dial it up and we dial it down, depending on who we’re interacting with. So people that we have just met might get a small glimmer of our personality. Our friends and family get too much of our personality. And so to me, when you cultivate a personality brand, in business, it puts you in control of what you want to share with the people that you’re meeting or the people that you’re interacting with, or even your clients or customers, and allows you to say this is what I want you to know about me in order to form the necessary connections that we need to do business.
But it also creates a line in the sand of things that you’re not going to share because they’re no one’s business and they will remain private.
What if someone’s an introvert?
So, the beauty of personality brand is that you are in control. So, just because you’re introverted doesn’t mean you’re not interesting. Doesn’t mean you don’t have hobbies. And I always say, think about if you were stuck in an elevator with someone (which I know is a nightmare for an introvert). What is the one thing that you could talk about with this person for an hour and it would not freak you out? And what is that thing that you would love to talk to them about if you found out that they shared that hobby or that passion with you? And we’re just starting there. We’re just putting that little thing, even if it’s at the end of your title your LinkedIn title. And it just says like triathlete or knitter or, you know, lover of pugs.
It’s gotta be a little something and that’s enough. And you can just start there and then you can baby step it to more if you feel comfortable with more. But I always tell people, just because you’re introverted or just because you’re shy, you have things that you love to do that I’m sure help you connect to other people.
Connect with Danielle!
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Transcript
LinkedIn is the channel that you're going to find me on. Just search for Lori Highby. You can simply click the follow button as I post daily information about marketing strategy, tips, all podcast episodes, and upcoming events you might see me at. If you'd like to connect, make sure to send a note with your connection request that references Social Capital.
I can't wait to hear from you. Social Capital Podcast is sponsored by Keystone Click, a strategic digital marketing agency that believes in order to successfully market to your ideal customer, you have to first understand your customer. Learn more at KeystoneClick. com.
The topic of relationships ties very closely with marketing. That's why I'm bringing on marketing experts with a variety of backgrounds for you to learn and grow from. Today's guest is Danielle Hughes. Danielle is the creator of the Personality Brand. She teaches clients how to bring more of themselves into their message so they can feel comfortable expressing it and can convey what makes them different from their competition, attracting the right audience and repelling the wrong one. Often referred to as a magician with words, while she can't pull a rabbit out of her hat, she can hone your brand message and deadlift you or your employees, but not at the same time. That's just irresponsible. Side note, Danielle is available for office party tricks and accepts payment in bottles of Bordeaux. Danielle, welcome to the show.
[:I love it.
[:[:[:But hey, let's dive into this a little bit. So what is a personality brand and why does someone need one?
[:It's always on display and we dial it up and we dial it down, depending on who we're interacting with. So people that we have just met might get a small glimmer of our personality. Our friends and family get too much of our personality. And so to me, when you cultivate a personality brand, in business, it puts you in control of what you want to share with the people that you're meeting or the people that you're interacting with, or even your clients or customers, and allows you to say, this is what I want you to know about me in order to form the necessary connections that we need to do business.
But it also creates a line in the sand of things that you're not going to share because they're no one's business and they will remain private.
[:[:And I think so many people, you know, adopt the title of their job or the description of their job as themselves, but your job title or even your job description most likely wasn't written specifically for you, right? It was written to fill that role and to do a bunch of tasks, but how you embody it and what you bring to the table are going to be very different from maybe the person before you or the person after you.
So figuring out how to put your own stamp on things and showcase your own differentiators, it's what is what's going to help you cultivate those relationships in the workplace and get noticed for all of the right reasons.
[:[:[:[:And then that E is like that little something extra, right? Your hobbies or your passions, something that's going to resonate with the right people and help you stand out. And the, you know, the trick is we don't want to ever open up our bio with seasoned executive with X number of years experience. You know, I like to say that seasoning is for chicken cutlets.
You know, it's, it's too expected. It's too, like you said, generic, right? Everybody can say that. So you look at your bio with a critical eye. And if it sounds like somebody else can put their name in your bio, it's not enough you. So think about how do you bring again more of your own personality, but also more of how you think more of what makes you makes you different.
Can you open up your bio with a story instead and talk about, you know, ever since I was a child, I've wanted to do X, Y and Z. Or can you make it really customer focused and, you know, say something like, you know, you know, organizations today are looking for X, you know one, two and three.. I am, you know, uniquely qualified to help you get to these things because. So you're trying to just kind of jar someone I say out of their stupor. And get them to pay attention. And it's anything that's different is going to get someone to want to read more. How do you start this conversation? How do you get them interested? How do you get them engaged in what you have to say?
[:And so that's not a good use of that section, but it, it's a storytelling place and it's really, to put that unique, authentic positioning and self and voice I actually throw a couple personal nuggets in my bio and I am somewhat shocked and surprised at how many people actually comment to me on that, which tells me one they're reading the bio.
They're not just skimming it. So because it's not at the top. It's kind of in the middle . But they're intrigued by it. You know, I say I play hockey. I say I have a Batman collection, you know. These are like weird obscure things that not everyone talks about. But it's a conversation starter. It kind of lightens the tone a little bit and gives people a feel for who I am. So I agree. You don't want something that, you know, you could just place someone else's name on and it's the exact same story that's being told.
[:Or, oh, she's the hockey, you know, the hockey chick.
[:[:It's hard to relate to like impressions and engagement and metrics, but you can relate to, you know, something that somebody loves to do on the weekends. And that really is something that lights them up.
[:[:It, it's gotta be a little something and that's enough. And you can just start there and then you can baby step it to more if you feel comfortable with more. But I always tell people, I don't, just because you're introverted or just because you're shy, you have things that you love to do that I'm sure help you connect to other people.
So what are those things that are going to help you connect in the professional space and not just with your friends and family?
[:[:[:[:And then they find that they really do have something to share and they've just not maybe thought about it in that way, or they've just never thought that, you know, this aspect of their life could be something that's shared.
[:All right, let's change the conversation to something a little bit more fun. If you could go back to your 20 year old self, what would you tell yourself to do more of, less of, or differently with regards to your professional career?
[:Less, I think I would have told myself to put less pressure. And actually take some time after college to travel before I jumped right in, like I was at a school and right into a job and not realizing that I would be working for the rest of my life. You know and then what was the third thing, more or less and...
[:[:So I think I would have told myself at that point, because I was young enough that I should have just, I could have done things in a more risky manner and just seeing what stuck to the wall.
[:[:[:[:[:So being his, his first born, I was on skates when I was two years old. And I played a little bit when I was really, really young. And then my mom said that I should be in dance and I didn't like that. But when I was in high school and was able to drive, I joined an adult league and I've been playing ever since.
[:[:[:[:And I think that's a very true statement, especially in the ever changing digital marketing world. You know, you want to, you want to always kind of be thinking about what's happening next, not necessarily what's happening yesterday or today. So I would say those are probably the two biggest analogies.
I I'd say the third one is, is practice, you know, I mean you can't just jump in, and I think that's a big challenge that I know I face is that the digital marketing space, you probably experience this too, is very low barrier to entry because a lot of people can say they're social media experts or, or whatnot, because all they really need is, you know, some sort of device and access to the Internet.
But putting a lot of time and energy and understanding the strategic play and the tactics that are, you know, part of that play. The more that you practice and put those into motion, the, the better the outcome's going to be at the end of the day. So I think that ties into hockey very well is, you know, you gotta, you gotta practice what you're doing and you have to understand kind of the thinking and the reasoning why behind the move to really get into a, a mode of it's going to work for me because I've been doing it so often and I'm confident in it.
[:[:[:[:[:[:[:[:[:[:[:[:If you have a burning marketing or relationship question, just reach out. I'd love to answer it on the show. And as mentioned before, let's connect on LinkedIn. I'm looking forward to hearing from you and I hope you have enjoyed today's show. Today, go out there and get noticed.
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