4 Strategies Every Professional Should Steal from Content Marketers to Establish Expertise and Earn More

You have a personal brand. You have a platform. You have the opportunity to lead others. You have the opportunity to shape your own career opportunities by strategically creating content. Wait, what? That last one? That’s not just for marketers?

Definitely not.

Whether you’re a marketer or not, you can use strategies that content marketers use on the daily to set yourself apart from competition, establish yourself as an authority in your field, and subtly remind your network that not only is this what you do for a living, it’s a passion, and anyone would be lucky to get work with you. And what are the benefits of being seen as an expert in your field?

You can:

• be more selective with clients and projects

• charge more

• increase your potential to impact people in new ways (think speaking, writing, being asked to contribute to special projects and opportunities)

A huge way you can set yourself apart as an expert in your field is to implement content marketing strategies. Here are four strategies you should be stealing from content marketers right now.

Strategies Every Professional Should Steal from Content Marketers

1. Riff on something that is happening in the news cycle. Jump into the conversations people are already having and offer insight. Imagine you are in advertising and it’s the day after the Super Bowl. What do you do? You should share your take on the best and worst Super Bowl ads. This is a way to flex your expertise, contribute to the conversation, and provide something interesting and informative to others that subtly reminds them that you are an expert on this topic. 

2. Create a piece of content that is clearly educational. This may be an op-ed you contribute to a publication, a three-photo carousel of tips on Instagram, a blog post, a quick how-to video, or even an infographic you put together using a tool like Canva. Epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera is nailing this on Instagram right now. Strengthen your brand as a subject matter expert by creating content that serves your audience and helps them better understand something that you already have expertise in. Try to make it actionable and easy to digest. 

3. Be a content curator. Share content that you found helpful and informative. You can curate content for your specific audience and pull from other authorities. Author Daniel Pink does this really well on Twitter. He shares a link to an informative article and then includes a few sentences synthesizing the most important takeaways. 

4. Be a connector. Introduce your network to other authoritative voices that may be helpful to them. You could do this through producing an interview-style podcast or hosting Q&A sessions in a private group on Facebook or an Instagram Live. (I’ve gotten to do this a lot myself as a guest on other podcasts and on my own podcast Hustle & Grace!) There are lots of ways you can connect your audience to voices they may have not previously known. All the while, you are continuing to build your platform, serve your audience, and connect with influential people.

Content marketers have sworn by these strategies for years. Publishing content, speaking into conversations of the moment, and being a community builder are all ways that every professional can engage with their networks, serve them, and grow their careers. So go ahead. Steal these content marketing strategies. I’ll be cheering you on as you do. 

Are you ready to up your personal brand and start creating content? Snag the 31-day personal brand challenge to get 31 different ideas to improve your personal brand one day at a time in a handy calendar format.

Big News: The Personal Brand Course is HERE!

2020: Dumpster Fire of Predictability

Does that resonate?

I certainly didn’t know what 2020 had in store, but because I've been slow and steady on the personal branding train for a decade, I didn't skip a beat when one of my clients cut my assignments back by 60% at the beginning of the pandemic.

Wild, right?

The only way that I have been able to attract new clients and opportunities during these out of control times is personal branding.

The good news is you don't have to put in ten years of work to get results like mine. 

Being intentional with your personal brand leads to confidence and a better night’s sleep, because when it comes to personal brand, you can influence it.

You deserve to be in the drivers seat of your career. And I’m gonna show you how to get there.

I’m THRILLED to share that I've taken everything I've seen and learned from building a personal brand over the past ten years and turned it into a four-module, fluff-free online training program for talented professionals like you. It’s called, wait for it…The Personal Brand Course.

Since implementing this personal brand strategy I have increased my annual income by 483%. I’ve been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, HuffPost, and more. 

Getting clear on your personal brand and learning how to authentically share it with the world means you can get control over your career, finances, and life, all while doing the work that you were born to do.

Are you ready to use personal branding to…

• Work on your own terms?

• Recession-proof your career?

• Take ownership of how others experience you in public (online and IRL)?

• Get into the rooms, on the stages, and into the positions you want to be in?

• Be the first person people think of when they need someone with your specialty?

• Show people how you can be the solution to their problem?

The Personal Brand Course lays out a step-by-step framework to build a powerful personal brand so you can get new clients, new job opportunities, and feel a much-deserved sense of control.

The course includes eight video lessons, the course workbook, as well as these bonuses:

+The Bonus Personal Brand Course Resources and Recommendations One-Sheet that includes my favorite thought leaders, podcasts, books, and tools to help you grow your personal brand. These are the tools and resources I use and swear by in building my own personal brand.

+EXCLUSIVE access to the HSL Courses Facebook Group (be a part of the supportive and action-oriented community of HSL course students and alumni.)

+The Quarterly Goal-setting Workbook that demystifies the goal-setting process so you know exactly what you need to do to achieve your goals. This tool helps you figure out steps to take to get where you want to be one year from now, what you need to stop, start, and continue this year, lessons to learn from last year so you can have your best year yet, and what to do in the next five minutes to help you reach your goals.

Personal brand isn’t just self-promotion and influencer antics. It’s a strategic tool you can use to gain control of your career, finances, and life. Let’s go.

How to Build Your Personal Brand

Photo by Hannah Foster Photography

For me, building a personal brand was undoubtedly the cornerstone of building the career of my dreams. Before I intentionally worked on building a personal brand, people in my community didn’t exactly know what I did. (It’s perfectly fair. I did A LOT of random gigs.) So when I decided I was going to press the gas on a writing, content marketing, and personal development career, I knew I needed to share that information with the world. Because here’s the crazy thing: 

If you don’t tell people how you can help them, they won’t know you can help them.

🤯 

Because of the way I shared my work with the world, I’ve spent every day doing work I LOVE and I haven’t had to worry about making ends meet in a decade. That’s the truth. So today I want to share with you some lessons I’ve learned on personal brand as I’ve hacked away at it for ten years. 

The thing is, for better or worse, today’s workers now have a digital footprint that goes back at least a decade, if not more. We live in a world in which anyone can find out just about anything about anybody else. Case in point: a couple of years ago I was Googling a potential client and I found out he was a state champion video gamer as a pre-teen. There was photographic proof. Our accomplishments, our embarrassments, and our history have a way of following us around online for years. So let’s be intentional about what we want to put out into the world so we can attract the opportunities we really want. 

What is a Personal Brand?

Personal brand is a combination of what content exists out there in the world about you and what people think of when they think of you. Think of some of your favorite celebrities. Let’s go with John Krazinski and Rainn Wilson, for example. Both were actors on “The Office” but you might associate John with being a nice everyman who is relatable, and Rainn with being bold and quirky. That’s a personal brand. What are some of the first words that come to mind when people think of you? Remember, everyone has a personal brand. And if you want to have a say in what yours is, you CAN!

Why is having a personal brand so important?

For a lot of people, personal brand is important because it plays a role in your career. 85% of recruiters and HR professionals say an employee’s online reputation influences hiring decisions. So what do you want those Google search results to be if someone searches for your name? 

What are the benefits of building a personal brand? 

• It’s an opportunity to cultivate a career with intention.

• It’s an opportunity to take ownership of how others experience you in public (online and IRL).

• It gives you leverage to get into the rooms, on the stages, and into the positions that you want to be in--not just where you’ve been but where you want to go.

• It gives others the opportunity to let you be a help to them. Without personal brand, people don’t know what you do, what problems you can help solve, and what needs you can meet.

I created a list of 31 practical ways you can build your personal brand in 31 days. Get it here.

10 Tips to Build Your Personal Brand

So now that we know why a personal brand is important, let’s get clear on the key elements you need to focus on as you develop a personal brand. 

1. Get clear on your goals. What is the point of all this? What are your long-term career goals? Short-term? What do you want to accomplish? 

2. Articulate what you do. You’ve got to get clear on what work you want to be known for when establishing your personal brand. If it’s more than one thing, that’s ok! That sets you apart from other people who only do one thing. So, what do you want to be known for? 

3. Articulate who you serve. Whether it’s clients, customers, or the type of company you'd like to work for, get clear on this so the content that people find online about you really resonates with those people. For example, in my work I love working with people who live at the intersection of creativity and corporate, so I want to make sure the way I present myself online appeals to those creative-types, entrepreneurs, and marketing professionals.

4. Flesh out what you want to be known for. What do you want to be associated with? How do you want to be experienced? That's really the crux of the whole personal brand. I've had a lot of aspiring freelancers say to me, “Hilary, I want to freelance full time, but I'm really not a self-promoter.” And the truth is, by sharing what you do with the world and who you serve, you're not self-promoting, you’re raising your hand and telling your community, your network, “hey, I’ve got a solution to someone's problem.” If you need a freelance writer, or designer, or consultant, or a speaker for an event, or a fantastic childcare provider, I can be the solution to your problem! So instead of just posting pictures of your cat on Instagram, consider a creative way to showcase how you are a solution to someone’s problem. 

5. Determine how you will “show your work.” There are a plethora of ways to do this, like a blog, posting videos, starting a podcast, and putting a portfolio online. You have a fantastic opportunity to establish credibility by creating content. If you’re job hunting, produce content that contributes to your field. Maybe it’s a quick how-to video you share via your Instagram story, an article on your blog, or an infographic you create using Canva. Those pieces of content will differentiate you from the crowd. Look, you’re establishing your credibility as a professional already! 

6. Use your social media presence to show that you are multi-faceted. You may be wondering “So, are you saying I have to delete all my cat photos?” No! Your social profiles don’t need to be all business. Show the best facets of your personality, even if they are not work-related. People want to work with interesting people, so, yes, it’s OK to post that photo of you riding a camel, or a link to a GoFundMe cause you are passionate about. Conveying that you are well-rounded and have interests outside of work is a good thing, as long as those interests are positive and healthy. 

7. Get familiar with your privacy settings. Do you know offhand if your Instagram account is public or private? Who can see your posts on Facebook right now? Do you know what your social media profiles look like to people you don’t know? Do you know which photos and posts potential employers can find without making a request to connect with you? Is the information about your current employment, skills, education all up to date and accurate? Are there any photos that indicate anything other than professionalism and an emotionally healthy human being that others would want to work with every day? If you think a photo, tweet, or a status update could be viewed as questionable, go ahead and lock it down or delete altogether. 

8. Contribute to the conversation in your industry. Share thought-provoking articles. Take part in Twitter chats. Join Facebook groups. Connect with people in your field on LinkedIn. And of course, if you get involved with events in your industry in person, post content during and after the event. These are subtle ways to establish your presence in your field. This does not have to become overwhelming. Start with a commitment to spending five minutes a day sharing content and/or interacting with others in your field online. (If you want more actionable tips like these, download the 31-Day Personal Brand Challenge.) 

9. Provide value to your audience. It’s not enough to just constantly share all the great things you are doing. How are you serving your audience? Are you being generous with your expertise? What are your readers’ or followers’ goals? How can you help them reach them? 

10. Check your online content for narcissism, negativity, and typos. While your closest friends and family may find your selfies endearing (or not, TBH), people who don’t know you as well will likely experience them in a different, more negative way. Speaking of “negative”—even though we live in the age of online rage, unless you pair it with inspiration or a way to take action (think: the difference between a rant and an actionable request) it’s best to avoid these posts. And typos—be ye warned. People intrinsically judge the intellect of the authors of posts that are filled with grammatical crimes. Avoid this trifecta if you want to attract your dream employer.

We’re living in wild and crazy times that feel oh so out of our control. Lucky for us, personal brand is something you can be intentional about and influence to help you have a flourishing career and life. 

There is a way to convey authenticity online while also being intentional about showing your passion for your work, your expertise and skill, and that “je ne sais quoi” that makes people want to work with you.

Ready to get some practical, nitty gritty action items to kick your personal brand into high gear? Download the 31-Day Personal Brand Challenge! It’s a free downloadable PDF that gives you 31 actionable steps to take to improve your personal brand one day at a time in a handy calendar format.