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Carol Cox: What do you need for a transformational

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personal brand? That's what we're talking about on today's

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episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast.

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More and more women are making an impact by

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starting businesses, running for office and

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speaking up for what matters.

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With my background as a TV political

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analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I

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interview and coach purpose driven women to

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shape their brands, grow their companies,

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and become recognized as influencers in

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their field. This is speaking your brand,

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your place to learn how to persuasively

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communicate your message to your audience.

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Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I'm your host, Carol Cox.

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Today we're diving into what makes a

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transformational personal brand and the

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three key elements that go into it.

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First, if you haven't yet listened to last

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week's episode, I talked with Ashley Harvey

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all about your brand voice, especially when

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it comes to your writing. So it's social media, email newsletters,

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your website, sales copy and so on.

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Definitely go back and listen to that episode after you listen to that one, if you

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haven't already. Now, if you think about your personal brand,

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it's not the same as your company brand.

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Now. They could be very much intertwined and

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align with each other. Like my personal brand is very much intertwined with speaking

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your brand, because speaking your brand is a very small business, and because I am the

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face and voice of the company. But your personal brand is not quite the same

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thing as your company brand because your company brand could change.

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For example, I've had different iterations

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of my career over the past 20 years.

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I had two different technology businesses

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and then started speaking your brand about nine years ago, and I'll talk a little bit

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more about that in just a moment. So your personal brand will evolve as you

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evolve and even as your career or your

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businesses change. So your personal brand, you can think about

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it as the collection of experiences,

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knowledge, expertise, values, points of

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view, your personality, all of that, that

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make up who you are and how you deliver your

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work or your message. It's also about how you show up because

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everywhere that your personal brand can be

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seen, heard, experienced and talked about is

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you showing up whether you're there or not,

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because you want people to be talking about

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you even when you're not in the room, even

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when you're not around, you want them to mention you and also to refer you, whether

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it's for prospective clients or for speaking

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opportunities. I intentionally included the

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word transformational in front of personal

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brand, because I really feel like the work

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that you do when you think about who you

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want to work with, the message you want to

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share, how you are the messenger for your

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audience, you're really transforming

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yourself as much as you're transforming the

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audiences that are hearing you or reading

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your content. If you think about what a transformation is, it's learning more about

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yourself and then making a change, or

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learning more about an industry or a

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community or society as a whole, and wanting

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to have a positive impact to make some type

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of change. So you're doing that yourself,

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and you're also helping your audience do that. So you're advancing the mission that

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you have along with growing your business or

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advancing in your career. I mentioned that before I started speaking

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your brand as a company in 2015.

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I had had technology businesses, so in the

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early 2000, during the.com boom, I got into

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software development and built large

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technology systems for fortune 500

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companies. That was one aspect of our technology business.

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I also had another aspect where we built

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software for political organizations and

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candidates. So voter files, fundraising,

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volunteer management websites and so on.

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I've had some recent experiences just in the

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past couple of weeks that have reminded me

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how powerful a really clear and consistent

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personal brand can be. So I mentioned that there's three key

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elements that I wanted to share with you for what makes up a transformational personal

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brand. So this is what I have come up with.

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The first key element is that you want your

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personal brand to be remembered.

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Again, you want people to talk about you, to

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refer you, to mention you when something

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comes up that's related to what you do,

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that's related to either what you do in your business or your career, or that's related

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to the overall mission that you have or

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those values that you share.

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So I want you to think about right now, who is someone's personal brand that is

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memorable to you, that you really like or

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that you follow? And why is it?

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What is it about them? What is it about the kind of content that

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they create or their personality, or how

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they show up that makes them memorable and

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makes them even aspirational to you?

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A couple of weeks ago, I attended a

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political fundraiser that was held on behalf

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of four women who are running for office in

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the Central Florida area where I live. I'm always a big advocate of donating to

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women who are running for office, because

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women tend not to get as many donations as

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men running for office, and they tend also not to get institutional support.

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I always say, if you find find women in your

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local area to support whether they're running for Congress or school board or

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county commission and so on, and help them

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out, whether it's a donation of $50 or $100

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or more, it really does help. I was at this.

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I was at this fundraiser, and I was talking

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to some of the candidates and some of the other people who were there, and one of the

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candidates went over and introduced me to two men who were standing on the side.

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And so I had my name tag on, and I introduced

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myself, and one of the guys said, oh, Carol

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Cox, I know you. You did our website for when I was the

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chairperson of one of the Democratic parties in a neighboring county.

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And I was like, wow. And he said his name. And as soon as he said

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his name, I recognized his name. I just didn't recognize him because this was

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probably 14 years ago, maybe 12 years ago,

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that I had last had an interaction with him

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when he was a client of that prior business

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that I have. And the reason he remembered me

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is not just because my company had built the

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website for the county party that he was

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running at the time, because I was such a fierce advocate not only to support the

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candidates who were running for office, but to make sure that they had the technology

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and the tools to make them competitive.

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The second key element to think about for your transformational personal brand is to

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stay relevant. As trends change, you want to make sure that

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whatever you're talking about, whatever your personal brand represents and stands for,

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whatever your mission is, is also reflecting

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these trends. Because I have this background in

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technology, and also because I want to make sure that we have more women of influence

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and leadership in tech and business,

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politics and so on. When ChatGPT came out two years ago now, I

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was all over it. I want to make sure that women are at the decision making table and

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in leadership positions. When we think about how AI is going to

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affect all of us, from our work to our

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education and so on. So that is a trend I that I am infusing not

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only into the work we do at speaking your

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brand, but also into my personal brand.

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It could be AI for you, it could be other

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trends that are going on, such as sustainability and environmentalism related

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to climate change. It could be about workplace culture and say

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multiple generations that are in the workplace now could be about wellbeing.

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So there are trends that kind of ebb and

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flow. For example, obviously when the pandemic happened, it was very much about

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remote work and then it became about hybrid work. So you want to make sure that whatever

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you're talking about, not just in your

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business, but also your personal brand, so you're speaking engagements and so on are

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relevant. Connect to trends, connect to

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things that people are interested in. Recently, I was asked to be on a panel on

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AI, and the reason is because the person who

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had asked me to be on a panel saw me do a

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virtual presentation, an online presentation

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on AI. So this is another tip is to make

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sure to say yes and to show up whether it's

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for virtual engagements or in-person engagements. The more that you say yes and

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show up, the more and more people will see

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what you're doing, and then you'll get asked for other speaking opportunities, other

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panels, media opportunities, and so on.

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So I went to the event where I was going to be on this panel, and I saw there someone

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who I have known for the past 20 years, but

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I haven't seen in person, or maybe at least

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ten years ago. Back 20 years ago, he owned a video

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production company, and I was one of his

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first clients for some videos and

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commercials that we made at the time.

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And so not only did he remember me, and I

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remember him because he also has a personal brand that's very memorable as well, but he

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is staying relevant with I, which is why he

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was asked to serve on this panel. And I also am staying relevant with AI,

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which is why I was being asked to serve on

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this panel. So that's the second key element

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is make sure that your personal brand is

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relevant. The third key element for your

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transformational personal brand is

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relational. Make sure that you're building

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your network, not just online.

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I know it's easy to just be on LinkedIn and

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just to post things and connect with people,

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but really build your network offline as

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well. Show up at meetings, at groups.

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Go to conferences, whether the local conferences or industry conferences.

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The more that you show up, the more that you're building your network.

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You're building those relationships. Relationships that I've had now for 20

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years, as long as I've been in this

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community here. And I see now people that

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I've known for so long and they remember me

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because of this strong personal brand that I

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have, because my mission has always been so

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clear and because I've always shown up so

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consistently. For example, on election

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night, which is just a day after this

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episode airs, I will be back on the TV news

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commenting on the election. This will be the fifth presidential election

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that I've done this for, starting in 2008,

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all the way through now into 2024.

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And the reason that I'm invited back on the TV news is because of the relationships that

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I built, relationships that I built with the

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news directors and the reporters at different stations, but also with my fellow

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political commentators who also recommend

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me, and I recommend them as well.

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So the three key elements for your transformational personal brand is that you

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want to be remembered, relevant and

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relational. Okay. So now I'm going to give you some very

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tactical, practical things that you do.

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I've created a free workbook that goes along

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with this episode with some of the things that I'm about to share with you now, so

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that you can actually work on them, and you can get that free workbook at speaking your

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brand.com/personal brand.

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So altogether speaking your brand.com/personal brand, the link is also

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in the show notes. So here's how to actually think about doing this to make sure that

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your personal brand is remembered, relevant

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and relational. The first thing is that you want to map out

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the spokes of your personal brand.

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You are a multi-dimensional. I'm sure you have different interests.

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Maybe you've had very different things that you've done in your career like I have, and

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your personal brand is not just about your expertise or about what you do in your

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business or your career. It's also about the things that interest

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you, the conversations that you want to be a

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part of. For example, the spokes of my

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personal brand include things like speaking

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and marketing. They also include history,

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feminism, politics and tech and AI.

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So at first glance, you may think, okay, well, I kind of get how marketing speaking

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going together and I get how history and feminism go together.

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But what about politics? That seems like an outlier in tech, and I

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definitely seems like an outlier.

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But this is what makes me multi-dimensional.

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This is what makes me interesting, and this

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is also what keeps me relevant.

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So how I connect these different spokes.

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The connecting thread that I find is that

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I'm always looking for the women in the

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stories or their absence. This is why I studied history, because I

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wanted to find out what women were doing,

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whether it was in 1850 or 1900 or 1940.

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I wanted to know what were they doing and why weren't they in my history books?

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I also want to make sure that women have a voice in decision making, in leadership, in

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all of these different areas, and that I

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also recognize the importance of

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communication and advocacy in advancing

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gender equality. I'm a big believer that

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more women who have a public voice, who are

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speaking on stages and in the media, that

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that is a way to advance gender equality.

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So you can see now then, how all of those

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different spokes connect much more. Again, you can get the worksheets that I'm

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talking about here in that free workbook as

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speaking your Brand.com slash personal

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brand. So that's the first thing is to

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define the spokes of your personal brand.

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The second thing is to lead with your mission and values, and you want to define

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what your brand voice is, because your brand

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voice is not just your tone and your

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personality. It is that. But it's more than that.

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It's also your mission, your expertise, your

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methodology, and your experiences.

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And I have this brand voice canvas framework

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that I created last year. And in that workbook you can fill that out.

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So for example, under the Brand Voice

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canvas, for me under mission I have my

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mission is to amplify and champions women's

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voices and stories to have more women influence in key positions in different

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industries. My expertise is public speaking,

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thought leadership, personal branding, my

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methodology. I have these different frameworks that I've created, whether it's

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the brand voice, canvas, signature Talk

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canvas, Escaping the Expert Trap, and so on.

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And then experiences are the stories that I

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share. So I share about speaking successes

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and failures. The three stages women go through when we use our voice, and so on.

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So you can fill out the brand voice canvas

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and see my example. The third thing is to think about what your

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brand story is. So what is it that you stand for?

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What is your unique viewpoint and perspective for your industry or for the

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work that you do? What do you do or believe that's different

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or challenges the status quo? And what are those hard won lessons that

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you've learned that you can share with others? These questions are in that workbook

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as speaking your brand.com slash personal brand. So I want you to think about how do

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you want your personal brand to be remembered, relevant and relational.

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And this work can be hard to do on your own

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because you're so close to your own content

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and to yourself because you're in your own head. And also I often see is that we second

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guess ourselves. We want to put something

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out that's bold or maybe counterintuitive or

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challenges the status quo, but then we back

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down. Plus, it's really helpful to have

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others to be a mirror and a sounding board,

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and to have a coach to ask you the right

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questions and to help you to see the bigger

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picture and the connecting threads.

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We do this in our online program called the

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Thought Leader Academy. We work with you both one on one and in a

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small group on zoom, because this is online

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on zoom. You can join us at any time.

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You can get all of those details as speaking your Brand.com slash academy.

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And we have something very special coming up

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in the summer of 2025, we're hosting a four

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day in-person retreat in London, England,

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that is designed to help you develop a brand

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that's authentically you powerful, magnetic

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and transformational. You're going to have workshops and

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activities. You're going to have one on one coaching with us, feedback, practice

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sessions. We're going to help you to really

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develop your brand, your personal brand, but

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also intertwine with your company brand if you do have your own business.

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All around our bold framework and you're

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going to leave not only with your brand and

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your brand voice defined, but also creating

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brand assets that set you apart and draw in

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those opportunities that you're looking for.

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And of course, we're in London, so we're not

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just going to stay inside and do workshops.

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We're going to go see a play at Shakespeare's Globe, we're going to do a

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women's history walking tour and so much

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more. The retreat is limited to 12 women, so

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it's nice and intimate. You're going to have an incredible time not

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only working with me, with Diane and with

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Ashley Harvey, who was on the podcast last week. So go back and listen to that.

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But also meeting incredible women leaders

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just like you, who want to elevate their

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impact. The dates of this four day retreat

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are June 20th 9th to July 2nd, 2025.

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You can get all the details as speaking your

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Brand.com slash London again that's speaking

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your brand.com/london.

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You can fill out the application and then schedule. We're going to schedule a zoom

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call so we can talk. I can find out more about your goals and

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answer all the questions that you have.

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I want you to have a transformational

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personal brand, because I know that there

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are incredible things you want to do in the

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world, and having a brand that's remembered,

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relevant and relational is a way that that's

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going to happen. Until next time, thanks for