In today’s episode, we dive into personal branding for introverts with Alejandro Sanoja, a top branding expert and the founder of personal branding agency, Latinpresarios. We discuss why introverts can and should pursue growing a personal brand based on his own experience, the most common challenges introverts experience with building personal brands and how to overcome them, as well as strategies, frameworks, and a secret weapon everyone can use to build a compelling personal brand that enhances professional presence and attracts business opportunities. Alejandro also provides personal brand statement examples to help you create your own: https://latinpresarios.com/personal-branding-statement-examples/  Timestamps 00:00 - 01:26: Introduction by Christie Bilbrey 01:27 - 05:08: Alejandro shares his background and journey 05:09 - 06:18: Leveraging personal branding as an introvert 06:18 - 07:10: Benefits of creating long-lasting content 07:10 - 08:37: Importance of online presence in personal branding 08:37 - 10:12: Common challenges in developing a personal brand 10:12 - 11:34: Overcoming imposter syndrome and understanding content competition 11:34 - 13:09: Setting realistic expectations for content creation 13:09 - 14:33: Importance of templates and professional help 14:33 - 16:17: Strategic content creation for bottom-of-the-funnel keywords 16:17 - 18:03: Tactical SEO strategies and competition analysis 18:03 - 19:28: Writing about prices and competition to build trust 19:28 - 21:00: Effective use of pricing information in content 21:00 - 22:33: Managing burnout and balancing energy in networking 22:33 - 23:57: Tips for avoiding burnout and maintaining consistency 23:57 - 25:25: Building personal brand stories and statements 25:25 - 27:02: Structuring personal stories for maximum impact 27:02 - 30:00: Examples of personal branding stories and their elements 30:00 - 33:05: Testing and refining personal stories for engagement 33:05 - 36:38: Importance of a well-crafted personal brand statement 36:38 - 38:12: Crafting and practicing personal brand statements 38:12 - 41:11: Recording and analyzing presentations for improvement 41:11 - 43:00: Using social media profiles effectively 43:00 - 45:19: Final thoughts and additional resources for personal branding Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. On Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Ways to reach Alejandro Sanoja and Christie Bilbrey Alejandro Sanoja www.latinpresarios.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandrosanoja/  Personal brand statement examples: https://latinpresarios.com/personal-branding-statement-examples/  Christie Bilbrey www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  Free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona

In today’s episode, I share five exercises to help you get to the heart of your personal brand quickly.  These exercises will help you keep your brand clear, impactful for your audience, and make it easy for them to share with others.  Timestamps 00:00 - 00:27: Introduction to the episode and my background 00:28 - 01:20: The importance of a polished and authentic personal brand 01:21 - 02:10: Exercise 1: Identify your top skills, character traits, professional superpower, and what you want to be known for 02:11 - 02:49: Exercise 2: Gather feedback from others  02:50 - 03:40: Exercise 3: Define your target audience with specific criteria 03:41 - 04:36: Exercise 4: Clarify the main struggle you solve and testing your message 04:37 - 05:15: Exercise 5: Craft your unique value proposition with a fill-in-the-blank formula Key Takeaways 1. Identify Core Strengths: Reflect on your top skills, character traits, and professional superpower to build a strong, accurate, and results-oriented brand identity. Answering these questions and building into your brand will significantly enhance your brand's impact. 2. Seek External Feedback: This external perspective can reveal blind spots and provide valuable insights that help define your personal brand. 3. Understand Your Audience: Define your target audience with as much specificity as possible. Knowing their industry, job titles, struggles, and goals enables you to tailor your brand and content to meet their needs effectively. 4. Clarify Your Value Proposition: Your value proposition should be clear, concise, and easily understood by people outside your profession. This clarity ensures that your audience can quickly grasp the benefits you offer, are more likely to engage with your brand, and share it with others. Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. On Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Ways to reach Christie Bilbrey www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  Free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona

Learn four types of professionals who need to build a personal brand and find out the real power of a personal brand with eight characteristics that will strengthen your brand. To learn more about working with Christie Bilbrey, go to www.christiebilbrey.com.  Today, we kick off our new series on personal branding, designed to help you uncover and communicate what makes you unique in a way that elevates your brand, distinguishes you from every competitor, and draws more of the right prospects and audiences to you.  In today’s episode, we delve into the importance of building a personal brand, identifying who should focus on it, and the eight essential characteristics to include.  You’ll leave with a greater understanding of what’s possible with a personal brand and clarity on practical tips to enhance yours today. Timestamps [00:00] Intro [02:22] Who should focus on building a personal brand [08:21] Expertise: Highlighting your skills and knowledge [09:43] Experience: Sharing your journey through stories [12:49] Stories and lessons learned [14:11] Personality: Authenticity in personal branding [15:52] Values: Identifying your core values [17:34] Purpose: Defining your business goals [17:52] Reputation: Managing how others perceive you [20:38] Successes and unique perspectives Key Takeaways 1. Highlight Expertise: Share the types of clients and topics or types of work that resonate the most with you and that have yielded the most success. The passion you exude will naturally inspire and draw your audience to you. 2. Be Authentic: Authenticity is crucial in personal branding. Don’t show up differently than you are. Present yourself genuinely to avoid burnout and build trust with your audience.  3. Manage Your Reputation: Consistently pour goodwill and credibility into your brand. This helps build a strong reputation that can withstand negative feedback or publicity and demonstrates to your audience that you care, are reliable, and an expert at what you do. 4. Share Your Experience Through Stories: Use storytelling to make your experience relatable and engaging. Sharing specific anecdotes takes your audience behind the scenes into what your work really involves and helps them connect more deeply with you on a personal level. Tune in next time as we discuss five exercises to help you develop a personal brand that gets noticed. Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. On Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Ways to reach Christie Bilbrey www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   Christie Bilbrey’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/Free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona

In this episode of the PR series, I interview Erika Heald on all things content creation and digital marketing. Today, managing your digital marketing can become frustrating and overwhelming. When it comes to content, it's easy to get wrapped up in the idea you’re creating content for the sake of it, but it is crucial to focus on the goals. The goal of today’s episode is to provide you with practical tips and tricks for navigating the world of content strategy that will build your confidence and your business growth.  Some top tips …  Thought leadership has become a must-include component of most brands' PR and brand-building efforts. It is so easy to post content for the sake of posting but focus on posting content that is authentic and starts conversations within your online community.   Staying organized is the best way to reduce stress when planning your content. Utilize tools such as editorial calendars, content templates, and AI to maximize your efficiency and to ensure no aspect of your content strategy or plan is overlooked; even the smallest details matter!  Make sure your content strategies are rooted in solid goals and objectives. Whether creating content for your next post or trying to determine the channel that best fits you, remember that your goals and objectives are the ultimate destinations for success among your audience and your strategy.  Going viral should not be your goal! Going viral is a vanity objective, not a business objective, and it will not add monetary value to your brand. Remember, you are trying to share your message with a specific audience, not a giant one. Commit to avoiding random acts of content marketing. Create useful content that your audience will enjoy consuming; don’t create something to fill your editorial calendar, create content you would spend time engaging with if you didn’t work for your company.  This episode at glance …  >>  (2:45-4:13) Thought leadership has become a must-include component of most brands' PR and brand-building efforts. But what exactly IS thought leadership? Thought leadership is conveyed by a person who is unafraid to share their opinions, even the unpopular ones. Thought leaders make a huge difference in your content, stand out from the crowd and truly connect with your audience.  >>(4:16-5:30) Find different people to be thought leaders for your content. Utilizing various expertise will ensure you can meet all of your content strategy needs and allow your audience to connect with your brand more uniquely and authentically.  >>(5:40-8:07) Content pillars are essential to marketing on every channel because they help you define what you want to talk about and what you want to be known for. You don’t always need to rely on keywords for pillars; focus on what drives a true connection with your audience.  >>(8:10-8:59) Content marketing is all about getting to know your audience. Similar to servant leadership, you’re trying to be helpful. Rather than trying to sell your content you’re trying to be relentlessly helpful with your content.  >>(9:33-13:33) How do I know my content drives business growth? Take a look at Gini Dietrich’s ‘PESO Model’. This model will help you understand that all content is interconnected, and you can create content that works best for your audience, messages, and objectives.  >>(13:42-17:57) Editorial calendars help you organize your ideas, objectives, and pillars. This calendar is a flexible way to help you determine what you want to do and when you want to do it; it will also keep you accountable for committing to a specific time and activity.  >>(18:11-21:30) A common mistake in creating growth-focused content strategies is focusing too much on what your competitors do. If you only focus on sharing your version of what your competitors share, you won’t stand out as a unique voice in your space.  >>(21:40-24:55) The best way to gain momentum on a small budget is to make sure you’re creating and designing content with all the repurposing options in mind. Utilizing tools such as Copy.ai, Grammarly, Tailwind, and Canva are great AI tools for creating content and copy.  >> (25:40-33:51) Erika’s Twitter chat and Linkedin live were ultimately inspired by the questions, ‘How can we have a great conversation with an expert while also allowing our community to give their input, share opinions, and ask questions?’ It is a great way to drive brand recognition, engage the audience, and receive helpful feedback. >>(31:49-31:24) When developing a plan and determining the right channels for your brand, focus on the places where you have a solid audience to engage with. Try a new form of content per quarter and figure out what you’re comfortable with. Be realistic with your expectations and try things that are manageable for you.  >> (33:55-36:26) While going viral seems exciting, that should never be the main goal of your post. Going viral is a vanity objective, not a business objective. Viral content does not serve your brand because it is a broad approach, not one that is focused around your target market. You aren’t trying to reach a vast audience, you’re trying to reach a specific audience.  >>(36:56-42:27) When pursuing paid speaking opportunities, start by defining your thought leadership strategy and what you really want to be known for, knowing you can offer something unique to the conversation. Start with pieces that are in your comfort zone and pursue opportunities where you know someone involved in selecting the speakers or where you can get an intro. Taking advantage of low-hanging fruit is a great place to start.  Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Links Mentioned in Today's Episode Copy.ai Grammarly  Canva  Tailwind   Ways to reach Erika Heald & Christie Bilbrey erikaheald.com  erikasglutenfreekitchen.com Twitter: @sferika   Erika’s free download: Tools and Templates to Accelerate Your Work Erika’s free download: How to Build a Thought Leadership Platform Erika’s free download: How to share company content in an authentic and meaningful way www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

Today is a short, solo episode focusing on slowing down and enjoying the Christmas season. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, take a breath, and let’s reflect.A few takeaways …  Look for easy ways to slow down, take a break from the frenzy of life right now, and enjoy re-centering your thoughts on what is good and things that matter outside of your work life. Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Ways to reach Christie Bilbrey www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey 

A Lawyer’s Secret Weapon to Grow Reputation & Business Development with Angela de Cespedes PR Series In this episode I interview Angela de Cespedes, a litigation partner in Saul Ewing’s Miami office. She specializes in commercial litigation in sports & entertainment, eSports, and video gaming. We discuss the importance of taking your business development online and engaging with potential prospects, colleagues, and others to maximize your time while building your reputation and network.A few takeaways …  Identify business development activities that can draw your audience to you. Prioritize your efforts to show up consistently online in a way that will raise your credibility for prospects, media, and others who are looking for someone who does what you do. Take advantage of the headline LinkedIn gives you. Don’t fill it with something generic that doesn’t differentiate you. Think of the keywords you want associated with your brand. These are searchable and can help you show up for those in Google as well as on LinkedIn. People will Google you and look at your LinkedIn profile before they ever go to your firm’s website bio. Make a great first impression by creating personalized professional profiles on social media. This episode at glance …  >>  (7:45-9:15) The importance of prioritizing PR in your legal career  >> (9:30-11:20) Identify an approach that uses your strengths to grow your reputation & business development network  >> (11:30-15:00) Why proper use of LinkedIn needs to be a part of your reputation building & business development strategy >> (15:00-19:00) Mindset and time management choices to stay consistent with reputation & visibility-raising activities >> (19:00-24:10) Define & protect your personal brand reputation & image >> (24:15-30:25) Get creative to stand out with visibility efforts  >> (30:30-34:15) PR trends lawyers should pay attention to  >> (34:20-41:05) Best tips to maximize LinkedIn Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Ways to reach Angela de Cespedes & Christie Bilbrey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-de-cespedes/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lawyerswithgame6662/videos  Saul Ewing: www.saul.com    www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

PR Series In this episode I interview Sarah Bugeja, the VP of Marketing for Later, the social media management software company. We discuss unique challenges that B2B business owners have with social media as well as how to more effectively take advantage of all that social media has to offer your business. A few takeaways …  Many B2B companies don’t take advantage of differentiating their business from others in their space with their creative content on social media, so many competitors begin to look and sound the same.  A recipe for successful content on LinkedIn and other platforms is making sure that it is entertaining and interesting. Sharing the stories of your wins and losses - and doing it in a way that uses layman’s terms, so that others outside of your industry can follow along. Your vulnerability will draw your audience to your willingness to be authentic and show that you don’t only share a highly-curated feed, making them more inclined to trust you and follow you for authentic tips and help.  When repurposing content, think about where else you will want it to live before you create it.  Look for opportunities for partnerships and collaborations to get in front of new audiences you want to target. This episode at glance …  >>  (6:15-11:50) Missed opportunities for B2B companies on social media >> (11:55-15:05) Which types of content are most effective for B2B companies to engage audiences on LinkedIn >> (15:05-17:30) Best ways to provide content that humanizes your brand >> (19:45-24:30) How to approach paid ads with social media >> (24:33-26:00) Taking advantage of the best times to post on each platform  >> (26:05-26:30) Does scheduling posts affect your views?  >> (26:20-28:25) Tips for repurposing content on other channels >> (28:30-29:45) Metrics you should and shouldn’t focus on >> (30:00-35:00) How to be seen by more accounts when a platform isn’t showing your content to much of your audience >> (35:05-36:50) DM strategies to be effective and not spammy with cold outreach  Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Ways to reach Sarah Bugeja & Christie Bilbrey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbugeja/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mavrck/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latermedia    www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

Meaningful Metrics for PR with Mark Weiner PR Series In this episode I interview Mark Weiner, the PR industry’s leading expert on meaningful metrics for PR, to help businesses and PR pros understand how to successfully communicate with each other, develop fruitful relationships, and dive into the details of data that shows what’s working, what needs to change, and how to make strategic decisions based on data from PR metrics.  Believe it or not, this is a heated topic in the PR world because it has long been difficult to find extremely helpful PR metrics. A lot has changed in recent years and we discuss best practices, how to get the PR pro and the client speaking the same language to understand what success looks like, what’s possible to measure, and how to set expectations. A few takeaways …  If you don’t understand the values and speak the language of data that executives speak, it will be very challenging to communicate the effectiveness of PR efforts. Getting on the same page with communication up front and identifying exactly what success looks like is essential to successful PR efforts in the eyes of the client. While you can spend a lot of money on price promotion advertising to make more money in the short run, the money often stops when the ads stop because people are more cost sensitive and less loyal today. It’s like turning on and off a spigot. PR doesn’t have diminishing returns the same way as advertising. When the ad stops running, they cease to provide returns but PR lives online for years and will continue to serve you, delivering a much better return on investment than advertising. The more involved the decision of the buyer, the more online research they are likely to perform before making a decision or even talking to a salesperson. PR stories and online reviews can carry much more sway than ads for buyers. Taking your client through a PR audit up front is an important element in setting your objectives. It’s most helpful for a client to go through this with a third party who doesn’t have a vested interest in a positive outcome. The most honest responses are given anonymously, confidentially, in an online survey, where the results are only given in aggregate.  This episode at glance …  >>  (4:45-9:25) How to reduce friction between PR pros and clients in finding meaningful metrics and data as well as what to do with it  >> (9:30-14:15) How measurable objectives prove the value of PR >> (14:15-13:00) While PR may not drive the most sales in volume, it does provide the greatest efficiency >> (13:05-21 :45) What to measure and how to maximize measurement insights to grow your business >> (21:45-22:15) Key insights that companies and PR firms should look for in their metrics and the role of technology in it  >> (27:20-40:00) The most important questions to discuss at the outset of a campaign or working relationship to develop the right program to track the right metrics  >> (40:30-48:00) Most overused metrics  >> (51:50-55:00) Good options for small businesses who can’t afford expensive focus groups for research >> (55:40-1:05:00) How to tell stories from data Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Ways to reach Mark Weiner & Christie Bilbrey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-weiner-0ab74b1/  PR Technology, Data, and Insights book on Amazon : https://a.co/d/dOR5hDQ  www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

PR Series In this episode I interview Gini Dietrich, creator of the PESO Model and founder of Spin Sucks. We discuss the PESO Model approach to communications strategy. For those unfamiliar with it, this approach was launched in 2014 and is now taught to every PR, marketing, and communications student in the United States and talked about by marketing and PR firms nationwide.  It’s a pretty big deal when your approach becomes an industry standard in less than 10 years. We discuss how this happened, why it matters, what it is, how to implement it, measure it, and where the industry is headed next.  Some top tips …  The PESO Model was developed by Gini Dietrich to avoid the peaks and valleys that naturally come from solely focusing on media relations. By expanding to incorporate owned media, shared media, and paid media into your communications strategy, in addition to media relations, you can continue to build awareness, lead generation, and more when you don’t have a great press piece coming out that month.   The PESO Model is best implemented by starting with owned media (including blogs, podcasts, and videos), adding shared next (social media), and then moving to earned (media relations) and paid (social media ads, sponsored content, and email marketing). Everyone should at least measure direct traffic, organic traffic, and branded search with Google Analytics. When direct traffic increases month over month, it demonstrates that your communications program that builds awareness is working. Organic traffic shows that your content, social media, and media relations are working in driving people to your website. By going into Google Trends and typing in your company name, if you see an increase in searches for your brand, then your PESO components are doing their job as well. If you haven’t yet experimented with Chat GPT, start by typing in a prompt for something you’re working on, like an article, and ask it for 500 words on your topic or headline. It won’t be the final draft but it will be a first draft and will help you save time. Gini uploaded a podcast script and asked it to optimize for search, write some headlines, write a meta description, and write me seven tweets. Again, it wasn’t the final product but it was a timesaver for a first draft. This episode at glance …  >>  (5:00-6:30) What is the PESO Model and why was it created  >> (6:30-10:30) The strategic order to approach implementing the PESO Model >> (10:30-13:00) Overlap and differences between marketing and PR >> (13:05-19:00) What to measure and how to maximize measurement insights to grow your business >> (21:00-25:00) What do PR and corporate communicators need to consider in light of Chat GPT moving away from search engine results pages  >> (26:00-27:40) How to get your message in front of journalists when departments are shrinking and they are doing the work of 5-6 people    Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Ways to reach Gini Dietrich & Christie Bilbrey www.spinsucks.com   www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

Why Awards Matter & How to Create Successful Entries with Mike McDougall PR Series In this episode I interview Mike McDougall, CEO of McDougall Communications, winner of 22 PRSA Silver Anvil Awards among many others, and judge of a host of different awards programs. We discuss why awards should be an important area to focus on in your business. From the ways they improve your skills and take your business to the next level, internally, to the various ways they can enhance your thought leadership and reputation, externally, we dive into what makes an entry award-winning and how to get there. Some top tips …  When applying for awards for the first time, start small. Choose two or three awards that make sense for the audiences you’re trying to reach. Don’t approach it with the attitude that you need to win the first time you apply for an award. Look for feedback to learn about the way this award is judged. It’s a process and involves a lot of learning. Awards writing has a unique style and over the years, you’ll get the rhythm of it. Start planning one or two years ahead, identifying the right awards that will resonate with your audience, and learn what it will take to achieve what the award requires. For nearly any awards program, winning entries are able to tell a story that the judge can understand and enjoy, demonstrating a sacrifice that was made to make the program unique and special, risks that were taken in creating your project or product, add humanity and a personal touch to your submission showing how you were able to change someone’s life through the program - even for a moment - demonstrates a wow factor, how your program made a sustained impact that leads to brand recognition, and also including meaningful metrics to show the difference before and after.  If you decide not to follow the entry guidelines the way they’re written, your submission will immediately be removed from consideration. Something many don’t consider is including how you could’ve done better in some areas that you can improve upon in the future. This shows your humanity and tells the judge you recognize you’re not perfect and you’re aware of your shortcomings.  This episode at glance …  >>  (3:55-5:00) The different ways awards help your business >> (5:05-6:15) How the structure of award entries can improve your business, internally >> (6:20-8:00) How to identify the right awards for your business >> (8:00-9:45) The best way to begin the process of awards entries >> (9:45-12:00) Give yourself at least several weeks to write the entry  >> (13:30-14:20) Even if you don’t win, it offers other benefits to grow your reputation & offer recognition >> (14:25-19:00) What sets apart winning entries from the rest >> (20:50-21:40) The importance of reading and following the entry guidelines >> (21:45-24:25) Mindsets and objectives that better position you for awards >> (24:25-27:00) How to use awards to enhance thought leadership  >> (27:00-29:00) How to use awards to enhance your reputation  Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts “I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now! Ways to reach Mike McDougall & Christie Bilbrey https://www.mcdougallpr.com  [email protected]  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcdougall  Twitter: @mikemcdoug  www.christiebilbrey.com [email protected]   Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/  Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest