Reputation = revenue: Why now is the best time to profit from your personal brand
How can you extract commercial value from the profile and reputation you've built in the marketplace?
G’day, my name is Trevor Young and this is my newsletter about positioning ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that come with being an active participant in today’s ‘Reputation Economy’. You can subscribe by clicking on this button:
In a previous edition of this newsletter, I covered the relationship between the ‘Reputation Economy’ and the ‘Creator Economy’ (READ IT HERE OR SEE VIDEO BELOW).
When it comes to creating content, there’s a ‘same-same-but-different’ vibe between both economies.
‘Team Reputation’
Those on ‘Team Reputation’ (let’s call them ‘reputation creators’) run businesses and create content as a means of supporting those businesses.
While it might be to showcase their professional expertise or provide them a platform for genuine thought leadership, their efforts are often geared towards building their profile and enhancing their professional reputation in the marketplace. This, in turn, helps to build trust and affinity with their customers and clients, as well as the people who influence them (if they are being strategic about it).
‘Team Creator’
Those on ‘Team Creator’ (we’ll call them ‘media creators’), however, are essentially mini-media operations. In other words, they:
(a) BUILD their media platform - whether that’s a newsletter, blog, podcast or YouTube channel (or combination thereof) along with various social channels
(b) GROW their audience - this is a strong focus; while creating top-notch content is a priority, content distribution and promotion are equally as important today in building one’s presence and following in the marketplace
(c) MONETISE the audience and the brand they’ve built, often while remaining a one-person business (with virtual support).
Hybrid creators
I’m generalising here, but you get the picture: there is definitely much nuance between the two types of content creator.
Of course, there are also ‘hybrids’ as well - people who cross-over i.e.
Reputation creators who start out doing it to support their brand and their business, but end up building a decent-sized engaged audience for their content (not to mention a growing media profile); they then expand their business interests as a result, potentially changing their commercial model away from what they built in the first place. In other words, they’ve got many more commercial opportunities in front of them because they’ve been successful in growing their audience and building their brand, and so their business enterprise changes as a result - maybe they add professional speaking, become a B2B influencer, collaborate with others in their industry, etc. Maybe they’re offered external advisor roles, or perhaps they start teaching what they know (and get paid for it), this could be via online workshops, group coaching programs etc.
Media creators who go down the path of growing and monetising their audience: traditionally, this would mean such things as platform advertising, brand sponsorship deals and commercial collaborations, affiliate marketing, creating exclusive content for paying subscribers (using the likes of Substack and Patreon), selling their own branded merchandise etc. Monetisation may even extend to online courses, coaching and consulting, strategies that are closely aligned to reputation creators. So you can see where the cross-over really starts to occur.
SO WHAT - WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Because, in today’s hyper-competitive world, myriad opportunities present themselves to the motivated and curious - those individuals who are active players in the digital space and understand how to leverage the ever-evolving media landscape for commercial gain.
I’ve long encouraged business owners (and marketers and PR pros) to develop their own content philosophy, but now that sentiment edges into relevance when we’re talking about building and commercialising your professional personal brand.
And that’s the core tenet of REPUTATION REVOLUTION - both the podcast, and this newsletter.
No, let me re-phrase that: it hasn’t always been the core tenet of Reputation Revolution, but it is now.
Shift in focus
Reputation Revolution, in the past, has been focused on personal branding, and helping credible individuals build visibility, influence and trust in the marketplace, and in doing so, position themselves to take advantage of today's 'reputation economy'.
This meant we covered a lot of topics - owned media (content creation in all its various forms), social media (including all the platforms), media and influencer relations (earned media), reputation management, community building, book publishing, networking and public speaking, paid media and SEO … plus, occasionally, we touched on the business side of personal branding (extracting value from the profile and reputation you build).
As I said, that’s a lot. We’ve covered all that on the podcast, plus in this newsletter.
But, in the near future, the strategic and tactical side of building a personal brand (i.e. many of the topics mentioned above) I will be covering off in a new podcast/newsletter combination, under the banner BECOME YOUR OWN PR MACHINE.
PLEASE NOTE: 👇
[ Subscribe to Become Your Own PR Machine now and receive a FREE copy of my audiobook - Content Marketing for PR (finalist, Best Audiobook, Australian Business Book Awards) - valued at $27.79 ]
The business side of personal branding
This move will allow me to be more purposeful about creating content under Reputation Revolution that focuses solely on playing a bigger game and leveraging one’s personal brand assets for commercial gain.
In other words, the business side of personal branding - capitalising on the profile and reputation you’ve built in the marketplace.
It’s a meaty topic, and I'll be looking at both sides of the ‘creator coin’, with a skew towards the reputation creator and how they can build a high revenue business off the back of their professional personal brand.
But, I’ll also be looking at independent content creators, and highlighting what we can learn from them, as they are at the cutting edge of content creation today.
My goal is to ‘build a bridge’ between the Reputation Economy and the Creator Economy - to explore where they meet and intersect, and unpack the commercial opportunities that come with that.
When’s all this happening?
Soon. I’m going to take a quick break from the article writing side of this newsletter, but will continue to publish episodes of the Reputation Revolution podcast for a few more editions. Then you’ll start seeing a shift towards the business side of personal branding!
Onwards!
----------------------------
👋 I'm Trevor, an experienced content and digital communications strategist, coach and mentor
✅ I help credible business leaders and industry experts elevate their profile, build their reputation and grow their sphere of influence in a way that's strategic, sustainable ... and respectful.
#PersonalBranding #ThoughtLeadership #ContentMarketing #PersonalPR #ReputationRevolution #ReputationEconomy #PRWarrior #CredibleAuthority