BROADCASTS.com

Published: July 14, 2021, 1 p.m.

Lauren V. Davis

Lauren Davis Creative

Lauren Davis will help you create memorable personal branding messages that convert to engagement and life-long clients. Originally (and still) a record store owner since 2006, Lauren learned early on how to transform one-hit tactics into a personalized brand that drives legendary visibility.

The leadership and drive Lauren found building an iconic staple in her community and nationwide inspired the creation of Lauren Davis Creative in 2010, a marketing and branding consultancy that works closely with entrepreneurs on aligning, developing, and encouraging the Real Personal Brand inside them, making them highly visible, to become the authority in their industry. \xa0

Lauren has received senate recognition for her support of small-businesses through her non-for-profit that helps educate Local Businesses and is a featured marketing expert in Reader\u2019s Digest, HuffPost, and on global top-rated podcasts. Finally, Lauren host\u2019s her own show, The Real Personal Branding Podcast, where she uncovers the secrets of personal brand building online from some of the top thought-leaders, speakers, authors, and coaches in the world.

Instagram:\xa0https://www.instagram.com/ldaviscreative/

Facebook Group:\xa0https://www.facebook.com/groups/understandsocialmedia

Lead Magnet:\xa0https://lauren-davis-creative.ck.page/aca6b3a010

Podcast: https://laurendaviscreative.com/show/

I work with people building a personal brand\u2026as well as small brick and mortar businesses\u2026

What I always truly believe is that businesses should try and take as much control over their online brand as possible\u2026.in the most minuscule way, building your social media platforms on the ones where you\u2019re serving your customer\u2026

If you have the ability to take ownership over your name..on a certain platform, you should probably do it.\xa0That doesn\u2019t mean you should let accounts sit there and die and not have any movement\u2026there are simple ways to keep them active\u2026

I would recommend\u2026Googling yourself\u2026ask yourself, \u2018How am I showing up to other people online?\u2019\u2026I put all the different ways my name could be spelled or listed..and I also set up Goggle alerts.\xa0That way when my name gets mentioned\u2026Google is going to send me an email.

We have a lot of control honestly. \xa0

You can take advantage of all of the free social media platforms, you can build your website and it takes a little bit of effort to really dive in to what will bring people to your website first. \xa0

You can control the narrative of how your presence shows up online and you might as well do it\xa0because it\u2019s going to help your particular unique audience find you better.

The one thing you always have control over, the one thing you can constantly do is create more content.\xa0So continue to create good content.

If you find something you don\u2019t necessarily like, maybe do some deep digging into what you don\u2019t like about that article and see how you can truly correct it from the inside out.

..Show up as the real person that you are.\xa0As the genuine person that you are\u2026there\u2019s gonna be no ability to be fake or be disingenuous anymore. \xa0No hacks, no bought growth.\xa0That kind of stuff is out and conversations and real genuine relationships with your audience are in in a big, big way.\xa0If you\u2019re not taking advantage of that, if you\u2019re not holding that dear to your heart,\xa0then my recommendation would be to start getting serious about that.

It boils down to knowing who your audience is\u2026.and let me tell you how I would recommend getting to know your audience.\xa0If you think of a networking event\u2026you show up\u2026maybe a person comes up to you and shoves their business card in your face and they do their elevator pitch at you and your eyes kind of glaze over\u2026we\u2019ve all been there where this person is just pitching you right off the bat\u2026who is this person?\xa0I\u2019m never gonna do business with them.\xa0This is so off-putting and so annoying. \xa0

Situation 2\u2026they come up and ask you a very directed question\u2026and as your answering, they\u2019re looking over the top of your head\u2026and looking for the next best person to talk to and not even listening\u2026at the end of that interaction, you don\u2019t feel good.

Situation #3..you spend time connecting with someone..this has been so great getting to know you.\xa0You both ask questions back and forth.\xa0And you feel\u2026this is someone I want to get to know.\xa0Then you set up a coffee date\u2026and then you decide maybe we can do business together.\xa0That feel much more real and aligned. \xa0

If social media is feeling strained and forced to you\u2026it might be because it\u2019s not aligned with how you get to know people in real life. \xa0

You can use social media just as you would be yourself in real life. \xa0

Start with those 15 people that always come and watch your posts or like your posts\u2026there\u2019s a reason why those people always like your posts..Don\u2019t ignore them.\xa0Pay attention to the people that are already at your party.

Thinking about our audience, many time we just thing about the demographics.\xa0(what gender, where they live) But there\u2019s also psychographics\u2026.the values your customer\u2019s hold, their beliefs, their lifestyle..

Behavioral psychographics\u2026why are they loyal to your organization?\xa0What are their patterns of past support?\u2026that\u2019s how you get to know your audience on a much deeper way.

If there\u2019s somebody that you really want to get connected with?\xa0Go back to how you\u2019re really feeling in real life.\xa0How would you open up a conversation with that person?\u2026Would you compliment them on something they\u2019re doing?

I think online we think everything should be so fast\u2026.In what world do we do business with someone after the first thing they say to us?\xa0This never works.

Figure out why you want to get to know them\u2026.Is it because I want to do business with them? Is it because I want to learn more about their business?\xa0Is it because I love their podcast or I love their shoes?\u2026Whatever it may be\u2026and then find that common ground\u2026.What about this person that I can connect with them on?\xa0It goes back to that psychographic piece\u2026

Ask yourself \u2018how can I really bring value to this person\u2019?\u2026How am I going to improve this person\u2019s life by being in it?

When I was starting\u2026we knew nothing about starting a business\u2026people started paying attention..we started putting ourselves everywhere online that we could\u2026.Everytime there was a new social media platform, we leaned into it\u2026How do we build a legendary brand? \u2026We needed to get some national attention\u2026we would reach out to different organizations\u2026we would ask them to share\u2026we would Tweet them\u2026we did this from the inside out\u2026.we are constantly asking ourselves, \u2018How can we be that legendary record store that people talk about\xa0later on?\u2019\u2026What stories will people tell?\u2026our receipts ask people to share things online\u2026doing little things to help our customers take ownership in creating this legendary story.

For every business\u2026brand\u2026it\u2019s a different path.\xa0But, asking yourself \u2018What do I want to be known for later on?\u2019 That can help solidify your path\u2026and move in the right direction.

What stuck with me is the ability to look beyond what\u2019s in front of me and say \u2018What do I want to be known for? How do I want to be remembered?\u2019

People are 16 times more likely to read a post from a friend than from a brand.\xa0

Your job as a\u2026business owner is to be the face of your brand and to connect with people and be their friend.\xa0When people believe their friends, it\u2019s because they believe that their friends have their best interests at heart\u2026.we can use that for the good of our businesses and\u2026the purposes we stand behind.

Adapt quickly.\xa0Lean into new things and be excited about the future.

There is always enough business to go around.\xa0Don\u2019t worry about competition.

www.marlanasemenza.com

Audio: Ariza Music Productions