How Branding Can Be Your Secret Weapon – In Just 7 Minutes with Phil Pallen

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to Learn How to Find, Build and Show off Your Personal Brand for More Clients, Greater Profit, and Better Site? Learn how to bring your brilliance to life through your branding: Philpallen.co/freebies

Summary

Have you been struggling with finding your own unique personal branding that seems like every branding is already taken?

And if ever you do have a brand, are you having a hard time positioning your brand and marketing it in a way that looks good for you and your business?

Do you want to know how you can spice up your branding and make it your very own secret weapon?

Phil Pallen is a personal branding expert and keynote speaker. His non-conventional approach to digital marketing and talent for social media has built him a global audience.

In this episode, Phil talks about how to find your very own personal branding through your uniqueness and professionalism. He also shares some helpful and promising tips to make sure that your awesome brand is consistent both offline and online.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:31 – Phil’s ideal client: “My ideal client is a busy working professional. I’d say usually women, probably three women to one man, but my site gives a good kind of window into that. They’re busy working professionals that have achieved the majority of their success on their own.”
• 02:05 – Problem Phil helps solve: “So the problem is, I’d say uncertainty on what to do next. Because my client’s very unique personal branding means that they are the brand. They are the product. Because it’s them, they’re too close to it.”
• 03:40 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Phil: “I’m gonna piggyback off of what you just said. And I think the symptom, the most typical symptom is unawareness that they’ve evolved as a business owner, as a professional in real life. But that evolution has not happened online.”
• 05:37 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Phil’s solution: “When I approach this process, position your brand, build something to show for it, and then stick the “for sale” sign up in front of the house and promote it, the mistake that people make is they jump too quickly to that final stage.”
• 06:50 – Phil’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “I’m going to reiterate the process that people should follow regardless of industry. Position your brand. So that’s a combination of what is something you love paired with something others need.”
• 07:16 – Phil’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Phil’s Website: Philpallen.co/freebies

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Personal branding really is the art of achieving consistency between who you are and how you show up online, or in-person, and making sure that evolution happens online.” -Phil Pallen Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I think you’re in for a treat today! I’ve got Phil Pallen and Phil is- well, first of all, good day, Phil. Welcome! Good day from down under. Whereabouts are you hanging out because I believe you are a man of many cities?

Phil Pallen 00:27
That is always a question. No one asked me how I am and asked where I am! Today I’m going to Lisbon, Portugal.

Tom Poland 00:33
And where else do you inhabit? Florida somewhere?

Phil Pallen 00:38
Yeah, I’m Canadian but based in the US, but I’ve been digitally nomading for over five years well before the pandemic, so this is what I’m used to.

Tom Poland 00:48
Oh, that sounds like fun! Pandemic aside. For those of you who don’t know Phil, his stuff is frickin awesome! I had a look at his website. I was blown away! He’s a personal branding expert. He’s a keynote speaker. His non-conventional approach and- you just got to go to his website, folks, and have a look at it. We’ll give the URL in a moment. His non-conventional approach to digital marketing and talent for social media just sets him apart! He’s built a global audience. We’re fortunate to have him on the show. Phil, thank you again for being here. The title is, “How Branding Can Be Your Secret Weapon”. Phil’s going to show us how that can become a reality in your business in less than seven minutes. Phil, our time starts now. Sir, question number one, who is your ideal client?

Phil Pallen 01:31
Sure. I appreciate that amazing intro! My ideal client is a busy working professional. I’d say usually women, probably three women to one man, but my site gives a good kind of window into that. They’re busy working professionals that have achieved the majority of their success on their own. They’ve reached a point where it’s really helpful to have some outside input to navigate that next step.

Tom Poland 01:58
How would you- question two, six and a half minutes left. How would you define the problem that you solve for these professionals?

Phil Pallen 02:05
Yeah, so the problem is, I’d say, uncertainty on what to do next. Because my client’s very unique personal branding means that they are the brand. They are the product. Because it’s them, they’re too close to it. The purpose that I serve is I hold a mirror in front of them, and I say, “Look, this is who you are. This is how it looks. Here’s what I’m seeing. And also, what I’ve learned from helping over 300 people like you. Here’s what I think we need to do to get to the next step. And here’s-“. You know, it’s a collaboration. It’s not just me telling them what to do. But I really hold that mirror for them. That’s how I solve the problem.

Tom Poland 02:45
And there are a few things. I mean, I guess, collaboration, kind of like a dance. You’re both bringing something to the party, so to speak. But they’re working with your experience, but with their personality, with their vision, with their ethics, with their values. But as a recipe, mixing your experience with theirs together– some of the stuff is just magical. And you’re really-

Phil Pallen 03:04
Thank you!

Tom Poland 03:04
Taking their uniqueness- this is what I noticed from your website, their uniqueness, and their professionalism, and making the book cover, so to speak, look as good as what’s actually in the book. That’s my take on it, you know. So, they’ve probably had-

Phil Pallen 03:19
Yes! I love how you described that.

Tom Poland 03:20
Brilliant with what they do, but haven’t always had the book cover to match it. And how do we judge a book? By its cover, right? Should we? Probably not, but we do! And you solve that problem. So, let’s have a look at question number three, five minutes left. What are some of the typical symptoms of this problem? How does someone know they need more of what you’ve got?

Phil Pallen 03:40
Oh, sure. I’m going to piggyback off of what you just said. And I think the symptom, the most typical symptom is unawareness that they’ve evolved as a business owner, as a professional in real life. But that evolution has not happened online. Someone will go to their website, and it doesn’t quite communicate all of the exciting things that are happening now. I’m a big believer that personal branding really is the art of achieving consistency between who you are and how you show up online or, you know, in person and making sure that evolution happens online. Absolutely! That’s a symptom.

Tom Poland 04:20
Are you quite fussy about who you take on as a client?

Phil Pallen 04:23
Yes. I am definitely fussy.

Tom Poland 04:23
I know that’s not on the list of questions I gave you, but I just imagined, just looking at your work, it looks to me like you’re taking on people that you feel are genuinely going to be a fit.

Phil Pallen 04:32
Yeah, I really need people to let me do my job. So, I don’t take on a client that’s going to just start to bark orders. They’re better to work with a graphic designer. That’s a lot less expensive. My best work, the ones that end up, Tom, on my website are people that trust me from the beginning. They’re people that I’m so aware of and trusting that they’re going to let me do my job.

Tom Poland 04:56
Right. And on the other hand, they’re not so passive that you don’t get anything from them. As you said before, it’s like you’re bringing something to the party. Nice!

Phil Pallen 05:03
Yeah, they have to care!

Tom Poland 05:04
Yeah, care and contribute, and so on. But okay, cool. So that explains why there’s such consistent, and I don’t want to, you know, over-stroke your ego, if that’s possible. But that looks like it’s such a consistent theme of brilliance coming through in-

Phil Pallen 05:20
Thanks.

Tom Poland 05:21
In the profiles of the individuals on your website. We will get to the URL in a moment, folks. I know you’re keen to get there. What would you say- Phil, question number four, and we’ve got three minutes left. What would you say is one or two of the common mistakes that people make when they’re wanting to solve the personal branding challenge?

Phil Pallen 05:37
Yes, very simple. When I approach this process, position your brand, build something to show for it, and then stick the “for sale” sign up in front of the house and promote it, the mistake that people make is they jump too quickly to that final stage. They try and stick a “for sale” sign up in front of a house that doesn’t have a roof, which means they’re only going to get a fraction of the value that they deserve.

Tom Poland 06:01
So, what does it look like in commercial terms in their business? Like a new website without doing the branding first? Is that the sort of thing you’re in?

Phil Pallen 06:09
Absolutely! Yeah, it could be not really going through the thorough process of positioning their brand, really being aware of what is something I love to do, and how my positioning appeals to what people need. I throw all the visual components photography, color, typography, all of that! You know, stick old photos. It’s like putting old wrapping paper on a new gift. So really my process is very thorough and set so that we get that end product.

Tom Poland 06:39
Streamlined. Thank you for that! Question five, 90 seconds left, so I better shut up. One valuable free tip. A top tip someone could take, not going to solve the problem, but it might start them in the right direction.

Phil Pallen 06:50
Sure! I’m going to reiterate the process that people should follow regardless of industry. Position your brand. So that’s a combination of what is something you love paired with something others need. Build something to show for it. Step two, photography, brand identity, website. Finally, promote! Stick a “for sale” sign up for that house, that social media content strategy. SEO, anything you do to get in front of the right people!

Tom Poland 07:16
Excellent outline! Thank you. So, let’s help folks with this. I’m going to answer question number six for the sake of time. A valuable free resource to folks to help you with all of that. Go to Philpallen, P-A, double L, E-N, .co/freebies. There are pages of amazing stuff to help you on your way there! Phil, last question, sir. 34 seconds left. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Phil Pallen 07:41
Oh gosh, I actually did not prepare for this one. The one question you should have asked me? I don’t know, Tom. You’ve done a really good job of asking questions. The one thing you haven’t done is a good job of not talking a lot. You keep asking more questions that are not on the list. I’m trying to give you short answers, Tom! And then you’re like, “But what about this?”

Tom Poland 08:00
Guilty as charged! Phil Pallen, thank you so much for your inspiration and your insights. Cheers, everyone!

Phil Pallen 08:05
Thank you. I really enjoyed this!

Tom Poland 08:07
Thank you. Bye.

Tom Poland 08:09
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.