When building your personal brand, look to the speakers who have already succeeded in creating theirs. Gordon Tredgold is a fine example.
What makes personal branding so important for a speaker?
Of course, you’re the face of your business. People come to see you speak and they’re influenced by the ideas that you come up with.
But you have to consider the importance of branding on a business level. The simple fact is that people don’t connect with companies as well as they do with other people. If you’re relying on a business brand to drive engagement, you may miss out on opportunities.
This is especially true when the business focuses on educating people.
That’s what you’re doing as an influencer. You’re highlighting problems and showing people how to solve them based on your experience.
It’s for this reason that many entrepreneurs focus on their personal brands as much as their business brands. And for speakers, there are few greater examples than Gordon Tredgold when it comes to personal branding.
Who Is Gordon Tredgold?
Throughout his career, Gordon Tredgold has always defined himself as a leader.
And he has the experience to back it up. For years, he worked as an IT and business transformation consultant. He’s led teams of hundreds of people for several Fortune 500 companies. Plus, he’s overseen several multi-million dollar projects.
But it is for his work as a speaker and author that many know him today.
Tredgold is the author of FAST – 4 Principles Everyone Needs to Achieve Success and Drive Results. This book alone showcases his authority and experience as a leader. It was a finalist for the Chartered Management Institute & British Library’s Practical Management Book of the Year award in 2017.
He builds on this reputation in his speaking. Many regard Tredgold as one of the world’s foremost experts on business transformation. And this reputation allows him to charge huge fees for speaking.
His efforts to bolster his personal brand play into his popularity. If you read one of Tredgold’s books, you’ll encounter a personal writing style that seems to speak directly to the reader. As a speaker, he’s warm, funny, and extremely knowledgeable.
That’s a position that any aspiring influencer wants to find themselves in.
Tredgold shows us exactly what a speaker needs to do to build their brand. These are the lessons that you can learn from his career.
Lesson #1 – Focus on Building a Great Website
Tredgold has always understood the importance of a strong web presence in today’s climate.
A visit to his website – gordontredgold.com – will show you that.
The URL is the first thing you’ll notice. Tredgold isn’t hiding behind a business brand. He’s making it clear from the beginning that this is his website and it contains his thoughts and ideas. The level of confidence in himself strengthens the trust that his audience has in him.
They’re not visiting a website run by some faceless corporate entity.
They’re seeing Tredgold’s thoughts and philosophies from the man himself.
The website’s content builds on this branding. The imagery all shows Tredgold doing what he’s best at. You need only look at the pictures to see that this man is a speaker. The written content digs into where his expertise lies and what he has to offer to his audience.
All of that’s on the website’s home page. While there’s plenty more content besides, that single page tells you everything that you need to know about Tredgold.
That’s what your website needs to do too.
Your audience won’t spend an eternity trying to figure out who you are and what you stand for. Make it easy for them to find out with a website that makes the information as clear as day.
Lesson #2 – Stay Active on Social Media
Tredgold also understands the crucial role that content plays in personal branding.
Your speaking is only part of the puzzle. Your followers want to find out more about you and dig deeper into your thought processes.
It’s impossible to cover all of this information in a 20-minute speech.
That’s why Tredgold identifies social media as such a valuable tool for personal branding. In particular, he says that it’s crucial that you identify where your audience is so you can share your messages on the correct platform:
“For example, if you want to establish yourself as a talented chef, start creating foodie videos for Facebook or Instagram. However, if you are a business consultant, write insightful articles that professionals will want to click on while browsing LinkedIn.”
Where you publish is as important as what you publish.
Figure out who connects best with the message that you’re putting out. You’re likely to find younger audiences on Instagram or Twitter. As Tredgold points out, LinkedIn is the place to go if you appeal to a professional audience.
Once you’ve made your choice, keep communicating. Create a content marketing strategy that involves posting to social media several times each week. Finally, talk to the people who communicate with you. Focus on using social media to build the personal relationships that strengthen your brand.
Lesson #3 – Cross-Promote With Other Thought Leaders
You’re not the only person in your space who has something valuable to say. Plus, there are people in other spaces whose messaging may align with some of your own.
In some cases, these are your competitors. However, you’ll often find that working in partnership with such people can help you to build your brand.
Tredgold has a long history of working with others to promote and build his brand. He also says:
“…You can use cross-promotion to benefit from each other’s growing following. Publish interviews on each other’s websites, launch joint social media competitions, or host industry workshops together.”
The key idea here is that partnering with people who have credibility grants you authority by association.
Think about some of the other famous speakers in the world. Tony Robbins offers an excellent example of this. His branding focuses as much on the time he spends with other influencers as it does his own message.
That’s because he understands the value that these people bring to his message.
Don’t treat everyone who has a similar message as competition. You’ll often find they can play important roles in building your brand if you create partnerships with them.
Lesson #4 – Don’t Let Anyone Else Speak for You
While cross-promotions helps you to build authority, it’s not an excuse for other people to put words in your mouth.
You still have to control the message you send out, even if it’s hosted on a platform that you don’t control.
Tredgold makes it very clear that he’s the person who comes up with his ideas. The content that he showcases through his partners all has his name attached to it. And if you check his website, you’ll see that he uses videos often to show that his message comes from him.
It’s easy to read a piece of content and assume that somebody else wrote it on behalf of the influencer.
By taking these steps, Tredgold ensures there’s no confusion. His videos are an especially useful tool as they show the words coming out of his mouth.
Lesson #5 – Stay Consistent at all Times
Tredgold is a man of many talents. He’s a consultant, speaker, and celebrated author. That means he has access to all sorts of different channels for delivering his message.
The important thing is that he maintains consistency across all of those channels.
Tredgold always positions himself as a business transformation expert. He doesn’t claim to be able to offer advice about anything else, particularly if he has no experience of it. The message stays the same, regardless of the channels he’s using to send it out.
Sticking to your niche is an important part of personal branding. The fact is that you’re not going to convince everyone to connect with your message. In fact, trying to please everyone usually ends up with you pleasing nobody. Your message isn’t strong enough because you’ve diluted it down to the lowest possible denominator.
Your experiences and knowledge influence your message. Don’t try to pass yourself off as an expert in anything else. You’ll come off as inauthentic and audiences will be able to see right through you.
Create an Amazing Personal Brand
Gordon Tredgold has done a brilliant job of establishing his niche as a speaker. He’s the man to go to if you want to transform your business.
His experience lends him the authority he needs to maintain that position. And his commitment to building his brand through content and consistent messaging reinforces it.
As an influencer, you can learn an enormous amount from Tredgold’s career. After all, he’s done what any aspiring speaker aims to do. He draws from his own story to make his speaking and writing more effective.
In doing so, he’s created a powerful personal brand.
Use these tips to start your own brand building journey. And remember that Speakers Institute can help you with any aspect of creating your speaking business.
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