S2 E42: Building a Powerful Personal Brand in the Era of Digital Expansion

Have you ever looked at the online world and wondered how to carve out a space that's uniquely yours? That's the challenge I, Jamar Jones, tackle head-on in this latest episode, sharing the secrets behind creating a standout personal brand in the digital era. As someone deeply invested in the authenticity and introspection necessary for an engaging online presence, I'm peeling back the layers of my own experiences and those of heavy hitters in the industry. You're in for real, no-fluff talk on how to use your individuality as your most potent marketing weapon, with stories and strategies that will transform not just your brand, but the way you see yourself.

Let's get into the nitty-gritty of partnerships, collaborations, and the raw content that’s taking social media by storm. I'll show you why your smartphone is the only tool you need to connect with your audience on a personal level. Get ready for an episode packed with insights that will not just inspire you but could very well change the trajectory of your brand and business. Remember, it's not just about who you know, it's about who you grow with.

Transcript

Jamar Jones: 0:13

what's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the forever podcast. It's your host, it's your boy, jamar jones. I'm the founder of Forever Media, a national keynote speaker and the author of the book Change your Circle, change your Life, and we're back here with another episode where we're going to do something a little different today. You know, right now it's kind of still the beginning of the first quarter of the new year, so I wanted to just really kind of talk about some general marketing strategies, some approaches to personal branding, content creation, and to do that I'm actually going to.

Jamar Jones: 0:56

So I, just about a week ago, I hosted an AI symposium that was put together by Concurrency and it was super dope. There were like probably 150 people there, had a great time, got to learn a lot about AI, so it was just really interesting to hear about the direction of AI, what people's thoughts were, and we had a unique audience in the crowd. So it was everyone from businesses that are actively using AI to community you know, just people that were in the community around here and then educators so people in the school system educate, you know. So that was like it was three different kind of, you know, points of view for AI and then everybody got to kind of learn about it and there's amazing speakers and, yeah, super honored to be a part of that and open up that event and so on this episode I'm going to use AI. So I'm going to use chat, gpt and have it come up with some questions for me and then I'll answer them to the best of my ability is what's going to happen. So you know, really, just for context, this I really want to just focus on personal branding, content creation and market, just general kind of marketing questions for 2024. Like, what are what do people want to know? If you, you know, as you're listening to this or watching, definitely drop it in the comments what your questions are for this year. Like, what do you want to focus on? What do you want to learn about? What's the direction that you have to go? What do you think as far as for trends for this year? So we're going to try this out. So I've already pre-entered the prompt in here. So it's just going to give me questions and let's see what's going on. It gave me 10 questions. I won't go through all 10. I'll kind of cherry pick and I may adjust this a little bit. Let's see. Okay, the first one's actually pretty decent.

Jamar Jones: 3:17

So how can I differentiate my personal brand in a crowded marketplace that's saturated with content? That's pretty good. Well, first of all, a lot of people think they have a personal brand, but they don't, and the meaning of that is where you know a personal brand is really, is really, it's it's you, it's it's the, it's the person you know, and a lot of people will try to market like an overall big brand or a company brand. As a person, that doesn't really translate very well, so that that may be why you're not getting the results that you ultimately want To have like a personal brand that stands out. It's honestly, the best way to describe it is that you have to work inward first for the outward to work.

Jamar Jones: 4:22

Just follow me a little bit, follow me, work, if that. Just just just follow me a little bit, follow me. So you got to actually work on and discover who you are. What do you represent? What do you care about? Uh, what are those different, unique pieces? Because every single person has a gift. We're all unique and what are those things that make you different? What are your special powers, your special gifts? That sets you apart from everybody else? Like, what do you just do a little bit easier than everybody else around you that you notice, and the more that you can dig deeper and discover those things for yourself and then gain the confidence to showcase those things. But just do it in your own way. Don't try to mimic, don't try to copy, don't try to mime these other people out here.

Jamar Jones: 5:13

I know sometimes it's hard. It's hard to do it because we see an example of something that we want to be and then we try to emulate what we're looking at and it doesn't really translate like that, because then it doesn't look authentic, it looks kind of phony, it looks a little phony. And you know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. We've all seen it, you can smell it. You can smell it. You know when somebody's just a little phony. If anybody's done interviews with people, just like if they've been in a hiring position and you've done interviews, oh my God, you can see the phony. If they really don't know what they're talking about, oh, you know, you know for sure. It's just a feeling man. It's that a feeling man, it's. It's that gut, it's that gut feeling.

Jamar Jones: 6:06

So work inward, get past those fears, those those um, self-doubt. Uh, just you that that just overcome you being, you know, rejected, just all the internal kind of emotions that you personally have to go through. You got to work on that first and really the top people that we see that are personal like branding experts or people that really just do this flawlessly, or at least it appears to be they've gone through some journeys, they've gone through it. I personally have worked with influencers, um athletes, speakers, major speakers, um content creators and a lot of these people. It may look easy what they're doing, but they've really honed in on this, this personal brand thing, man, like they've really tapped in deep within themselves and that's, that's what's gonna separate you. So then outwardly, in a crowded marketplace, that actually becomes a lot easier. So I'll give you a quick story and then we'll go to the next question.

Jamar Jones: 7:25

So when I was first starting my business and at first it was all like in the entertainment area, you know, because I just kind of went to what I knew, so like, hey, entertainment, let me just go out to these clubs, let me, you know, consult with artists, let me just try to help people in the entertainment space, and I was really being my authentic self during that time. Then, when I made the switch to corporate and started to do some corporate gigs, I started to change. So I started to stop, I stopped wearing my hat, I stopped kind of dressing or talking like I normally do and I started to become something I wasn't. And what happened is I started to market out in a way that I wasn't. You know, that wasn't true to me or what. Overall, my brand, like my whole website and everything, just started to change and I was trying to like conform around what I thought these companies wanted to see because, honestly, you know, I'm a, I'm a small business, I'm, I'm on the come up, I'm trying to make it, make it happen. And you know, long story short, what happened is is, you know, I got gigs. I was able to keep some stuff moving.

Jamar Jones: 8:43

The problem is, my brand was like nothing, like no one really knew my story at all. It was all just this kind of like video production, photography. We're doing this and it's you know. And I was like, yeah, we're real cinematic and this is why you should hire us. I mean, there's no story. There's no story the moment that I switched back and I remember a guy, good friend of mine I won't call him out.

Jamar Jones: 9:12

But a guy told me he's a little bit older than me and he said man, if you really want business, you got to stop wearing the hat. Man, like, you got to just like, you got to have the suit and tie and all that stuff. But the moment I did the opposite, I did the opposite. The moment I started to share that I was a hip hop artist, I started wearing my hat in any situation, I don't care who I'm meeting, I don't care what boardroom I'm in, I'm showing up as myself. And the moment I started to do that, the more that I created and crafted and was able to share the story of myself, which then gravitated more people to what I had going on in the first place. So once I dived deeper into who I was, that is what was the turning point.

Jamar Jones: 10:05

And you know where Forever Media has this brand now a part of it, where people see it and they're like yo, that's fire. Well, that's because everything in the brand of Forever Media and then really that's my own personal brand as well it's the essence of how my brain thinks of who I am the hip-hop side of it, the entertainment, the colors, the flashiness, and then the authenticity, the realness, the. You know just all those pieces. It's all me. So the more you can tap into you, the more that it's going to be easier to just share that with everybody. And now there's tactics and things like that, that, from the outside of, how do you market and get your name out there? That's a whole, nother question, but that's how you, that's how you stand out.

Jamar Jones: 10:55

So let's go into the next one, let's go with this one. So what emerging trends in content creation should I be aware of and how can I leverage them to connect with my audience? So well, thank you AI. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate AI. So emerging trends that are really on the come up, man, I mean there's, there's, I guess, with content creation, so this, so vlogs, was really big back in the day and now I'm starting to see a new style of vlogs kind of come back. They're not as polished, so they're very free-flowing.

Jamar Jones: 11:54

And you almost see this on TikTok, like TikTok short-form videos, maybe YouTube shorts. You see people just going live or they just have their phone and they're just recording their day, but it's not overly produced and it's getting tons and tons of engagement, which this is a great news for marketers, for other content creators, for myself that are, you know, people that are busy. They have a lot of stuff to do, but, man, this really lowers down the production cost. And if you could, you know, these iPhones these days got some pretty dang good quality. So just having something that can just showcase your day and just a quick clips. Some people just go live and put their phone up. There's some people that are in a restaurant just cooking, just cooking the whole day. They're making sandwiches, and then it's got their phone up and there's on live working and on and on live on tiktok. It's crazy. And then the, the bigger companies are seeing especially if they're part of like a franchise and all that stuff, like they're seeing this and they're they're working out deals with their employees to say, hey, you got a huge audience that's checking you out making these sandwiches. Let me give you a little bonus, let me give you a little something. So the vlog style of content is slowly coming back, but it's not overproduced. So how can you mold that in to what you're doing today? What you're doing today?

Jamar Jones: 13:39

Another way, another kind of emerging trend that I'm seeing, is podcasting. I mean, it's just going bigger and bigger. Some of these podcasts, some of these top, top podcasts, are competing with TV networks, with television shows, with like, like, just to give you some context. So the Super Bowl did about Super Bowl just passed did about 100, 110 million views 110, 115 million views for the Super Bowl. So there was a Deadpool trailer. Now this doesn't do with the podcast, but this is just the context A Deadpool trailer, a movie trailer that just got released. It's closing in on 400 million views. So and I listened to certain podcasts that a single episode is doing 15, 20, 30 million views. Single episode with way less production and way less overall promotion of what you have to do. As long as you start to build and you build that audience and you know, with the search engines, with google and youtube, things are a lot more accessible.

Jamar Jones: 15:06

And then the way on how you can have collaborative content and share that out, just podcasts to get out this stuff quickly, like I'm. I'm recording right now pretty quick, got a meeting in a little bit. Like. This stuff is going to only continue to grow. So get on. You know the trend with podcasting because it's just a simple way to get out some messaging and you never know how far it can go. This stuff is really challenging a lot of you know major media of how we're consuming it.

Jamar Jones: 15:39

Let's do one more question and then we'll wrap here Once again. Put your comments, put your questions in the comments, you know. Let people know just what other questions you guys have, and obviously we'll make videos on it. We'll make you know, put it in a podcast. So, all right, let's let's go through this one.

Jamar Jones: 16:04

How can I leverage partnerships and collaborations to expand my reach and influence within my industry? I think this is why I wrote a whole book on it. Change a circle, change your life. Uh, I don't think people, a lot of people, don't leverage partnerships and collaborations enough. It's like what's in it for me model, and a lot of times those collaborations and partnerships can set you apart from everything.

Jamar Jones: 16:35

One thing I learned when I was doing music was a lot of times artists like when they drop a song, it's all about me, all about them. It's like, oh, I'm dropping a song, here it is Download my music, you know, come to my shows, do my stuff, buy my t-shirts. It's like, man, screw you, I'm living my life. I'm living my life and you just want me to do everything that you want to do. So one thing that I learned is that you got to attach yourself to something bigger than just yourself. So when I was doing music, I attached myself. When I had the real success with all the shows and everything, I attached myself to a cause. So for me it was, it was cancer. It was then creating that partnership with the American Cancer Society to overall, do all the shows and all the colleges and everything that I did and performed all across the Midwest and the East Coast and did two tours and booked that out myself. Reason why that came to be is because I made myself bigger. I made my music and myself attached to something bigger than myself.

Jamar Jones: 17:43

So to leverage partnerships and collaboration, think about who would be a great partner or collaboration with what you're doing. That will complement very well you know that's not competition, but that will complement to what you're doing that you can form a really good ecosystem. You know, think of, like Apple, how they have the iPad, iphone. You know the watch, how, if you're the iPad, how can you go find the MacBook? How can you go find the Apple Watch? Just how do you make that nice ecosystem and find and partner with those collaborations? Think even outside the box, even outside your industry.

Jamar Jones: 18:22

So this question is about within my industry. Think about outside. What are other things? This is why a lot of corporate sponsors, you know, are corporate people, companies. They sponsor nonprofit events Because it's a great way for them to get attached to a cause, attached to a mission. But then, as they're sitting at the tables, at those galas and stuff, they're meeting a bunch of other businesses for potential business development or relationship growth. So think about how you can leverage that and what other partners. Just write it, jot it down, say, hey, hey, here's 10, use ai, using it right now. Put it in the prompt give me some partners, you know, uh, it's, it's becoming easier and easier.

Jamar Jones: 19:08

So this has been a fun episode. I think. If you guys like this stuff, uh, you know, let me know and I'll continue to do it. I will. Uh, this is actually pretty helpful because, like I love rifting, I like to, you know, just off the cuff, is, is, uh, is how I, it's better. It's better than all the planned stuff. So I want to hear from you guys definitely, uh, comments and uh like, share, subscribe, do all the things. And it's been fun hanging out with you guys and kill it this year. You know. If there's any other ways you guys have, you know, let us know.

Jamar Jones: 19:47

And yeah, we're excited for where this is all going to go. So, guys, keep tapped in to these episodes, because we got some killer guests coming out very, very soon. Can't wait. We got my man, sean Hanif from GenFlow, that we just did an episode with, and he owns a huge, huge agency, a hundred million dollar agency, and he works with content creators, creators, influencers, and he creates businesses for them, and now he's launching several other things. So you're going to learn a lot from that episode. So tap in and we'll see you on the next episode. Peace. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. And don't forget to hit that notification bell for more amazing content that we're gonna be putting out. And don't forget you can change your circle to change your life.