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If I had a magic wand, I'd love to dispel one myth about personal branding – and content marketing, in a wider sense.

I'd often tell people that they need to talk about their brand on a daily basis. I often get one very specific type of pushback:

"Oh no," people would say, "I don't want to be too aggressive and promotional."

That's entirely not my point.

Talking about your brand can take a lot of different shapes or forms.

When you talk about your brand, you talk about:

• the methods you use,
• the things you believe in,
• the values that drive your work,
• the way you think through problems,
• the opinions you have on current trends,
• the small things that make you exactly you.

If you paid attention to this list, you'd see there's no mention of offers, promos, or products. But these are the things that make up your brand.

And, more importantly, these are the things that build interest and rapport with your audience – which, in turn, results in trust.

***

We've been led to believe that "talking about your brand" and "here's the latest promo, BUY NOW!!!1!1!" are the same thing.

I blame growth hackers.

I blame the marketing bros.

The Grant Cardones of this world.

But we can do it right, you and I. We know that creating content is about generating long-term value, not pitch-slapping. We know that, to win, we need to be in it for the long run. Not selling products but building bridges. And we're fine with that.

Just think about your favorite brands – commercial or personal ones. I'm gonna venture a guess they are really active in creating content. They talk about themselves. But they do it in a way that doesn't feel aggressive, sleazy, or salesy. This should be our golden standard.

***

So, if I could get people to believe one thing, it'd be this:

Talking about your brand and being promotional couldn't be farther apart.

Now, don't be afraid of being too aggressive. Be afraid of being less helpful and relatable than you can be.

Rapport matters,

P.S. What's the most "human" content you've seen recently? Let me know with a reply!

⏰ Final call: Join us if you want to build a brand! I'm counting down the days to start the Personal Branding Blueprint – a 4-week personal branding cohort that will help you be seen, liked, and trusted online by creating a hub of valuable content. The course will teach you: How to position yourself and stand out in your field? How to define your brand and make your core strengths apparent? How to build a consistent presence online? How to use content to attract and engage growing audiences? How to convert attention into profitable action? How to build a consistent content production plan that’s easy and efficient? How to prioritize your content ideas and optimize your future plans? The cohort starts on May 7, and free spots are limited, as I want to keep this small enough to provide personal feedback to all participants. Take the next step to building a robust personal brand

👌 Handpicked Stories for You

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When reviewing social media content strategy done right, it's best to go to the source. Duolingo is winning the social media game and proves that "unhinged" can be a good social media personality. Two important takeaways: 1) Brands wanting to sound human actually need to be human. 2) There are very few consequential moments or irreversible things that will forever define your brand. So have some fun and take some risks.

​Distribute Ideas, Not Content​​
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​Above the Fold – The most important part of your page?​
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​5 Real-Life Ledes That Kinda Work (and How They Could Be Better)​
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​17 Best Content Marketing Examples to Boost Your Creativity​
​While I object to the use "best" in the title here, most of the examples are pretty good. If I had to pick three favorites, I'd direct your attention to the Casper blog post, Semrush's own "State of Content Marketing" report, and Headspace's mindful ringtones.

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👀 Interesting stuff to click on

• ​This piece of linguistic research – what is the world's fastest language and what does that even mean?
• ​This fun promo video – it's just fun, and I definitely recommend you go and watch the movie!
• ​Weekly cat – there aren't many things that are as cute as this.

Hope you enjoyed these ones!

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