Dennise Cardona 0:00
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of UMBC Mic'd Up Podcast. I am Dennise Cardona, your host. Today we're going to be talking about personal branding, and I know even the phrase personal branding can feel a little uncomfortable. Like suddenly we're all supposed to become our own marketing departments, but really your personal brand is much simpler than that.
It's what people know you for, what they remember about you, the ideas and experiences that you bring to the table. And for a lot of us, when we think about building that professional presence, we immediately think LinkedIn: update the headshot, fix the headline, add the new job, make sure nothing is horribly outdated. These are all good things, but LinkedIn is really just one piece of personal branding because people shouldn't know only what you've done.
Ideally, they also get a sense of what you know, what you care about, and how you think. So today, I want to talk about a few ways that you can start doing this beyond LinkedIn. And you do not have to do all of them. Please do not do all of them. Just find what feels natural for you. So let's start with something obviously near and dear to my heart: podcasting.
And no, I'm not saying that everybody needs to run out and start a podcast, but there is something that is really powerful about letting people actually hear you talk about what you know. When you're having a conversation, people naturally get more information from you.
They hear your enthusiasm, your personality, your stories-they get a much better sense of who you are at the core. And you don't even need your own show to do that. Look for podcasts that are in your industry and pitch yourself as a guest. Maybe there's something that you know really well.
Maybe you've had an interesting career experience. Maybe you have a perspective that people aren't hearing very often. That's enough to get you started. And if you do want to start your own podcast, keep it very simple. Pick a topic that you genuinely care about.
Know who you're talking to, and do not worry about having a gigantic audience right out of the gate. Actually, don't worry about having a gigantic audience ever, like at all. The right audience matters a lot more than a big one. And here's another thing that I love about podcasting: one conversation can become a lot of different things.
You can pull out like a short clip for YouTube as a short, as a reel, as a TikTok video. You can turn also an idea into a blog post, so you can share a quote from the podcast episode, and you can build another conversation around something that actually came up in the conversation. So, in other words, you're not constantly starting from scratch. And for me, I consider that a huge win.
Now, podcasting gives people a chance to hear your voice. Speaking gives them a chance to see you in action. And when I say public speaking, I don't necessarily mean walking on a stage with 100 people staring at you, although if that's your thing, you go for that. It could be something like a webinar or a workshop, a panel discussion, a presentation at work.
You know, even sharing something at a local professional meetup can be helpful. The point is, you're putting yourself in a position where people can see what you know and how you can communicate it, and that's really important because there's a big difference between saying I'm knowledgeable about this and letting people actually experience that knowledge firsthand.
If you're new to speaking, I would say start small, look around your own organization, your professional associations, your community, your industry, and where are people already gathering and talking about things that you know? And when you do speak, capture it if you can. Get a little video, take a photo, share something you learned from the experience afterward.
Not because every single thing that you do needs to become content, please don't do that. But because good work can disappear quickly if nobody outside that room ever knows that it happened. That brings me to the last piece: sharing your ideas, or as we like to call it in the professional world thought leadership. Another phrase that can sound much more intimidating than it actually is.
You don't have to declare yourself a thought leader. Actually, I'd probably recommend not doing that. Just share useful ideas. Write an article. Contribute to a blog. Join a panel, post something that you've learned, talk about something happening in your field, and explain what you think about it.
That's the important part, because simply repeating what everyone else is saying isn't really building your voice. Your perspective is what makes it yours, and over time, something interesting starts to happen. People begin associating you with certain topics. They think, "Oh, Dennise knows instructional design, or "She's the person who talks about the workforce development, or whatever the thing is for you.
And that doesn't happen because you announced your personal brand, it happened because you've consistently contributed something useful. It's all about the value that you bring. So, if you've been thinking about your personal brand as your LinkedIn profile, maybe it's time to think a little bigger. LinkedIn is a great home base, but your professional reputation is being built in a lot of other places too.
It's in the conversations that you have, in the things that you teach, the ideas that you share, the rooms that you're willing to walk into and contribute to, and you don't need to suddenly become a podcaster, a public speaker, a blogger, a YouTuber, and professional content machine. Please don't do all of that. Pick one place to start. Maybe you pitch yourself as a podcast guest, or maybe you volunteer for a panel, or maybe you finally write that article that you've been thinking about. Just give people another way to discover what you have to offer, because ultimately your personal brand isn't really about promoting yourself. It's about making your expertise easier to find.
Thanks for tuning into this episode of UMBC Mic'd Up Podcast. I am Dennise Cardona, and I will catch you in the next
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