76: {Interview} Humanizing Your Brand with Marina Byezhanova

Have you ever wondered about the power behind personal branding? It's one of my favorite topics and one that we dive more into today! 

Marina Byezhanova, the founder of Brand of a Leader, discusses the importance of personal branding and how to establish a personal brand. She emphasizes that personal branding is rooted in introspection and understanding oneself better. By developing a personal brand, individuals can increase opportunities and have more visibility. Marina also distinguishes between a personal brand and a professional brand, highlighting that a personal brand is an expression of who a person is, while a professional brand focuses on what they do. She advises starting the personal branding process with introspection and self-awareness, and recommends choosing one platform to establish a presence before expanding to others. Marina provides insights on creating thought leadership content on LinkedIn and the importance of humanizing one's brand. She suggests outsourcing content creation when it becomes unsustainable for individuals to maintain consistency. 

Takeaways

• Personal branding is a process rooted in introspection and understanding oneself better.
• A personal brand is an expression of who a person is, while a professional brand focuses on what they do.
• Start the personal branding process with introspection and self-awareness.
• Choose one platform to establish a presence before expanding to others.
• Create thought leadership content on LinkedIn and humanize your brand.
• Consider outsourcing content creation when it becomes unsustainable to maintain consistency.

More on Brand of a Leader HERE and you can connect with Marina on LinkedIn HERE 

Transcript

Caroline (00:01.697)
Welcome, Marina.

Marina Byezhanova (00:03.566)
Thank you so much for having me.

Caroline (00:06.241)
So tell me about where you are now. I'd love to hear more about your agency and how did you get there?

Marina Byezhanova (00:12.238)
Of course. So I live in Montreal, Canada, but I'm a very proud Ukrainian. I think you can see the flag behind me just a bit. Born and raised in Ukraine, have called Canada home for a very long time. And I own a personal branding agency that's called Brand of a Leader. And we're based in Canada, but we're a global agency with clients from North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Australia.

your name it, we've got presence there. How it got started, I'll tell you very quickly. I'd always been in pursuit of finding my own voice. Having been born in what at the time was the Soviet Union and Ukraine and coming to Canada as a new immigrant and not having a voice, I realized what a privilege it is and how underutilized it is by so many people. And that's my passion behind finding my own voice, transformed into the passion for helping other people find theirs.

That's how Brandable Leader was born.

Caroline (01:09.345)
So why should you start a personal brand?

Marina Byezhanova (01:13.486)
I think it's twofold. so number one, the, and one of the biggest misconceptions people think personal branding is some kind of a PR exercise and it's not, it's a process rooted in introspection. So for people looking to understand themselves better, understand how they show up to others, even in the very small circle of influence, how we are perceived with intention. Are we perceived the way that we want to be perceived? that's number one, it's an exercise in introspection.

And then number two, for people who want to increase more opportunities, have more visibility, instead of always knocking on other people's doors, have people knock on our door, well then we can market our brand and it becomes really powerful. So twofold, understanding ourselves better and then being found by others.

Caroline (02:07.073)
So is there a difference between having a personal brand versus a professional brand?

Marina Byezhanova (02:13.358)
micro yes, and execution, I believe so. So we look at every personal brand as an expression of who the person is, not what they do. And I think again, that's a second biggest misconception is my personal brand is I help X do Y in order to Z. That's not a personal brand. That's a marketing byline, which could be effective or not. That's a separate conversation. But a personal brand needs to express who we are because what we do changes.

throughout our lives and who we are is constant. And that's what gives a brand portability. But then we adjust the marketing of our brand in different ways, depending on context. So when I give presentations, I speak to a lot of corporate groups, a lot of executives, and I use it interchangeably. I say personal brand. I say leadership brand. I say personal leadership brand, because some people get overwhelmed with the concept of feeling like Instagram influencers in the professional arena. So.

how or what we communicate changes. The brand is just one. It's just a brand of us.

Caroline (03:18.049)
So if someone's listening to this podcast and interested in getting started in establishing their personal brand, where would you suggest them start?

Marina Byezhanova (03:28.014)
So first you have to get ready for the process of introspection. When we work with clients, they often say, I did not expect this to be like therapy sessions. They call it business therapy and they really like it. But you have to be prepared for that. So it's not about external research and looking for gaps to fill. That's all part of the marketing play important, but not branding. So when we work with clients, we take them through that process of introspection and that's something people can do on their own as well. It's hard to do on your own. It's good at least when somebody's coaching or guiding you along the way.

But the first thing that we do is we'll look at each person's life journey. From the very beginning, as a child, I think that's what feels a little bit like therapy, all the highs and all the lows, because we'll look for patterns and common denominators. Because again, a personal brand is an expression of who we are, not what we do. So what is it that keeps showing up a lot? And that's a very powerful exercise. A second one is looking at our core values.

What is it that we're really strong because brands, corporate brands, employer brands, personal brands have points of view. So what is it that you believe in so, so strongly that perhaps that becomes the cornerstone of your personal brand? But so the starting point is a lot of self -understanding, self -awareness, and a lot of introspection.

Caroline (04:45.985)
If someone's interested in starting a personal brand, would you suggest them being omnipresent on multiple platforms or picking one platform and getting really good at it?

Marina Byezhanova (04:56.494)
Well, so first of all, when we speak about personal branding or think about it, the first platform that we have is our offline platforms. It's our circle of influence, right? So if we are a leader within an organization, we have employees, well, platform number one is how we shop to these employees, how are we perceived by them? What are the things, the topics that associate with us, not only on the thought leadership angle, which is very important, but also on the humanizing side of things. So the first platform is offline.

And also to a lot of people who loathe social media, I can see that you can build a personal brand that's very strong offline. Seth Godin, he's not really on social media much, it's like a repository for him, no best practices there. He's written best -selling books and he leverages a newsletter. So you don't have to be on social media, social media gives you scale.

And then what I do recommend, so let's say you're very clear on your personal brand, offline, whatever that community is that's relevant to you and your goals, you've got it, you're aligned, and then you say, okay, I'm ready for more visibility. I absolutely recommend choosing just one platform first. Once you've dominated it and it's really clear, I mean, if you were in the thought leadership space, LinkedIn is likely going to be the platform. You start with that, you're clear, you're consistent, it's running, you know what you're doing.

then you look for the next one. Of course what happens is when somebody makes a decision, okay, I'm ready, I'm going to put myself out there. Now is the time we take a deep breath because it's uncomfortable for most people and then Boster syndrome kicks in. Then when I'm ready, I'm going to do everything. I'm going to be on everything. And it's not sustainable because we also have, you know, jobs to do or companies to run if we're a business owner. So one at a time, but layer them. Of course, the more the better, but in a layered approach rather than trying to spread ourselves thin.

Caroline (06:43.809)
So if you are wanting to create a personal brand and have yourself be seen as a thought leader, specifically on LinkedIn, you've done a great job of building your personal brand and I think LinkedIn, there's a huge opportunity for people because not that many people create content there. What type of content, if you want to be considered a thought leader, would you suggest someone start posting?

Marina Byezhanova (07:07.662)
Great question. So LinkedIn is absolutely under leveraged, as you said. There are a lot of people creating content, but almost nobody's consistent. So if you start creating content and you're there two to three times a week, you go to the top of the feed of everybody that's in your network. So you stand out very easily, unlike most other platforms. What types of content? That's very important. So we recommend the two -pronged approach.

One content pillar, one bucket is connected to your thought leadership and only you know what you're a thought leader in, right? So you choose for somebody, it's whatever vertical that they're in. It could be a particular area of expertise. It could be not the vertical or not what your business is in, where you're working or that you run, but could be leadership, for example. That might be you're building your thought leadership in that. So people were to recognize you as a thought leader in, in what, how do you answer that question? That becomes your topic.

then we recommend original thinking on the topic. You can take an article, but don't just share somebody else's article. Most people can do that themselves. They can Google information. Just write your thoughts and your insights, number one. Number two, don't preach at people. Unless you already are a global thought leader on the topic, then you can start being a little bit more preacher prescriptive. To that point, don't, because people get very defensive. You say, I have.

What has worked for me is I believe, not you should, you must, everyone should, people shut off with that. And then what works well on LinkedIn right now, no links, content that has an image, videos working really well, but again, not a link, directly upload it, number one. But number two, you can't only share thought leadership content because then you're not building a human connection with anyone. And at the end of the day, we're looking, we're human beings looking to build human connections.

So I strongly recommend thinking of a second topic that humanizes your brand. You have to find a way of connecting the two so it doesn't feel disjointed, but showing to people again not only what you do, but also who you are, and that becomes really powerful as well.

Caroline (09:14.017)
I think it's totally okay to post on LinkedIn personal things too. For me, I've posted once a quarter pictures of my two wine -riner dogs because I called them my podcast managers on Instagram and so I wanted my LinkedIn audience to know that too. And so you think people are like, no dog photos on LinkedIn, but those are the posts that actually go viral.

Marina Byezhanova (09:36.046)
I absolutely agree with you. People react and a lot of our clients get really frustrated because they say, I say such smart things on my thought leadership content. And then you force me to post a picture of my family under a Christmas tree and that is what performed the best. Because human beings are human beings. We do connect on a human level. The secret is identifying what the topic is going to be and how do you connect it, right? So let's say you mentioned your dog and you call him your podcast managers and then there's a connection.

The mistake that people make is they share something and it feels random. Or they try to force a connection, you know, that post recently that went viral that was comparing, I think, a proposal to a sales, you know, sales techniques. That's ridiculous. So when you try to make a connection, it's ridiculous. That flops. Or when it feels out of nowhere, why are you sharing the meal you had at a restaurant? You have to either always share them and then connect them to your thought leadership topic somehow, very thin thread, but something, or not share it all.

And then I think it's important for all of us. I think it's not about whether content is more professional, more personal. It has to make sense for you to be on brand. And that's why it's important to figure out, well, what is your brand before you start posting content. A big mistake I see people make is they start creating content on LinkedIn, hoping to figure their brand out. It's not working. And then they give up. First, we figure out, well, what is the brand? What's on brand? What do I stand for? What's my point of view? What are my topics?

and then you create things that are in alignment.

Caroline (11:04.673)
So if you're listening to this and building a personal brand right now, and let's say you're getting some traction and things are starting to go up, and this is, I'm just talking all organic at this time, nothing paid, no ads, none of that. At what point do you outsource the content creation?

Marina Byezhanova (11:23.374)
at the point where it's unsustainable for you to be consistent. So that could be from the get -go and that could be six months in, but the key is consistency, as with anything, right? You can't spend a month going to the gym every day and then not go for three months and then go back and you're constantly sore and it's not working out for you, right? It's exactly the same thing. If you're going to be doing it, then you need to be posted two to three times a week, like you have to work out at least two to three times a week to sustain things, right?

And so if you find that it's unsustainable for you, that's when outsourcing, that's why agencies like mine exist, because what we do is we make it really simple. We interview you once a month, we get all the stories, we get the video, we present you with enough content for a month, you approve it, and we go and post it. It becomes really simple. So if you're able to do it, and our clients are always saying, you know, well, you know, technically I could do this myself. Well, of course you could, and a lot of them are great writers. Have you been?

and will you? And that's where outsourcing it can help. So it's only a question of time and consistency, in my opinion.

Caroline (12:31.105)
So what is lighting you up about some of the clients you're working with right now?

Marina Byezhanova (12:35.426)
How much time do we have for this question? There's a couple of things. So we work with GenXers. So our clients are 45 years of age plus. They're extremely uncomfortable with the idea of social media. They are not me, me, me type of people. They don't like spotlight and the whole thing makes them feel very icky, but they feel that if they do put themselves out there, you know, there are benefits to be had. And typically the benefit is not only transactional.

but they feel that they want to inspire, they want to impact, they want to have a message to spread. And so they come to us with all these questions and all these insecurities, and we're able to package things together. Our purpose is to help people realize and express their greatness. And so when we're able to package those things for them and then help them express it, it's incredible. You know, the last client presentation I had where we presented...

a brand architecture to our client was on Friday. And he has two very different sides to him that see, they seem like there's no connection. There's no parallel between the two. So he said, well, how can I put myself out there? It feels like, like it makes no sense. There's, there's two completely conflicting sides. We worked through it together. We found the common denominator that has become his brand angle. And we wrote his brand story that connects everything. And when I presented it to him and he got choked up,

like this like super massively successful, you know, business guy, you know, like a shark and what he does. And there was this pause and he got emotional, he choked up and he said, you guys just resolved a dilemma that I've had for decades of my life. Like you just told me my story in a way that I hadn't been able to tell it to myself, nothing made sense and what a gift. So that lights us up, you know.

beyond anything that words can express. And then of course taking somebody like that and help him shine and expand his visibility is just, that's why we do what we do.

Caroline (14:39.393)
I love that story. Thank you so much for sharing that. I mean, how amazing to do work that impacts people like that.

Marina Byezhanova (14:47.758)
It's incredible and it's one of those things where I'll present to a client and I'll say, my God, and we get paid for this? When somebody says, this has been transformational, the impact you've had on my life. And it seems almost so frivolous when people talk about, I'm gonna build my brand, and people say, this sounds, and then I say, let's rephrase it. Say, I'm gonna put myself out there. I'm gonna tell my story better.

because it just sounds so frivolous and sounds almost superficial, but we do end up doing deep work that makes an impact and our clients are all making impact and inspiring in different ways. So we drive this impact that helps them drive theirs. And truly, it is incredibly, incredibly rewarding and a privilege to be doing work like this.

Caroline (15:38.721)
So as we wrap up, how can our listeners find you?

Marina Byezhanova (15:42.606)
So first of all, our website is www .brandofaleader .com. And if you look at show notes and you copy and paste my name into LinkedIn, the benefit, you know, clients often ask me when they have really funky names, should I change my name? No, because chances are that you're going to be like me, it's going to be really funky, nobody can pronounce it. But when people paste it into LinkedIn, you're the only one. So if you paste my name into LinkedIn, I'll be the only one with this name there.

Caroline (16:13.345)
Thanks, Marina.

Marina Byezhanova (16:14.83)
Thank you so much for having me.