Personal Branding Questionnaire

Hello Everyone, this is Prabhakar Alok.

Today, we are going to learn about personal branding, storytelling and much more.

So, basically, I am an active member of the Digital Marketing Practitioner Facebook community.

On 2nd June 2020, Akshya was invited by Karan on AMA Session on the topic personal branding questionnaire, storytelling and Agency, on this community.

So, I decided to why not merge all these personal branding questions and answers at one platform so that more people will read this.

So, we all are set at 8 pm. to shoot some interesting questions.

Personal Branding Questions And Answers

Let’s read all personal branding questionnaire with peace.

#1. How to get started if someone is not good at English?

Answer:- First thing, if someone is not good in English then he/she should have to learn. It is very essential and important nowadays.

It’s just a language only. You will learn very easily by listening, reading books, magazines, newspaper articles etc. This technique will enhance your English speaking skills. 

#2. How one should start a Digital Marketing Agency? Should we look for partnership in the beginning or should pursue all alone?

Answer:- There are 3 ways.

1) You should have enough capital so that you can hire experts in each field and pay them a good salary. If you have a good team, you can survive. Of course, you should know the basics so that no one can backstab you.

2) You should have expert level knowledge and practical experience. In that case, you don’t need enough capital. Your knowledge is your capital. You can grow step by step. In other words, it’s a journey from FREELANCER to AGENCY Owner.

3) Partner with experts and share the profits. You handle client acquisition and communication, he will handle the execution.

In all ways, it’s recommended to have at least basic knowledge!

#3. How did you acquire clients back then when you just started?

Answer:- I got clients from the network. And whoever wants to acquire clients initially I will recommend asking your friends and family to refer you.

#4. How to get a foreign client for social media marketing and how to be capable of doing a good job as a freelancer?

Answer:- Be super active in Foreign Facebook groups. Add value in comments as well as posts. Don’t sell directly. Establish relationships with foreign people and get them on a call.

To become capable, you need experience, nothing else. Keep going. Keep learning from failure.

In the end, all will be good.

#5. How did you become the master of such beautiful writing skills?

Answer:- I am an avid reader since my childhood. I have read a ton of magic stories. Moreover, I am a good observer. I like to feed my brain. All these things developed my subconscious mind and hence this RESULT!

#6. When it comes to the agency what are the Proper steps you’ve to take?

Answer:- First, I did a course. (Basics cleared)

Second, I did an internship. (Understood how Digital Marketing works)

Third, started taking freelancing projects. (Rehearsal before agency)

Fourth, started building the network, both online and offline.

The fifth, I started working on personal branding. (It gives me inbound leads and 90% of my business is dependent on my personal brand till now)

Last, left the job and started full-time business in Jan 2020.

#7. Tips to write killer content?

Answer:- To write great content, you should first ‘exactly’ know that what does great content mean? Read viral blogs and posts and analyze what makes them great?

Once you understand the pattern, it’s a cup of cake.

Meanwhile, keep writing daily!

#8. What structure or mindset should one follow while storytelling?

Answer:- No specific structure.

Usually, a story should have a hero, conflict, a series of events, and the climax with a takeaway.

For example,

I was poor (I am a HERO)

I was facing these problems (Problem is villain/conflict)

How I overcome (Process is a series of events)

What I learned ultimately and how? (Climax with a takeaway)

Mindset always should be how to keep the attention of the audience until the end. And trust me, it’s challenging. People have a low attention span.

#9. How to deal with the clients who need results in a week? and what are the costs that are not noticed by the audience in agency – like rent, miscellaneous etc?

Answer:- COMMUNICATION!

Even before taking the project, you should explain to him how Digital Marketing works and how much time it would take to see the results.

If you ignore this step as an agency and go for money, ultimately it will become a headache.

So, if you feel a particular prospect is not good, simply reject him.

#10. How to be THE ONE AGENCY in this situation of 5 agencies in a lane?

Answer:- If other 4 agencies claim that they make low-cost websites and here are the packages, you explain to prospect that how you are different. i.e. You not only create a website, but you also take care of UI & UX and create CONVERTING website!

#11. What things should we avoid in storytelling or what things you avoid while writing them?

Answer:- Don’t do storytelling just for the sake of doing. Storytelling is crucial but not mandatory.

If there is a requirement where more than CONTEXT, INFORMATION like stats and figures are important, don’t unnecessarily use storytelling.

Another thing, a good storyteller knows how to mix a story and the message he wants to pass. So, if your story and the message mismatch, it’s a failure. Because people don’t resonate with it.

Remember, how sometimes people come out of the theatre and say, ” Koi story nahin thi yaar. Bakwas film thi!’?

#12. What are the core skills required for running a successful agency?

Answer:- Networking, Communication, Decision-making and risk-taking ability, confidence, and core marketing skills!

#13. Do we need to learn storytelling for that or SEO would work?

Answer:- Yes you should learn. When you write a guest post, approval chances increases. Moreover, on your site, the outcome of the final article becomes better and people share it. SOCIAL SIGNALS!

#14. What is the difference between content writing, content creating and content marketing?

Answer:- Content writing – In text format.

Content creating/creation – Includes all the formats like audio, visual.

Content marketing – Process of marketing the content (any format).

Question:- How to close clients when they’re doubtful?

Answer:- Talk to them until they get answers to all their questions. Simple!

#15. What are the different content styles you have tried and experimented with? What has worked the best for you so far?

Answer:- 1) Purely informational
2) Storytelling
Storytelling works most of the time. However, if the information has weight, it works without a story too.

#16. How to decide/set pricing of services in the initial stage?

Answer:- It depends on two things

1) how confident you are?
2) How solid your past case study is?

There is no thumb rule for pricing. You can charge anything as long as you are able to justify it.

How to justify?

Re-read point no 1 and 2.

#17. How to write content specific to niche? for example, B2B business daily, for Linkedin!

Answer:- Step 1: Observe which posts are getting high engagement in your niche.

Step 2: Replicate the pattern.

Meanwhile, you experiment with your content and create your own pattern.

#18. Which types of post we can do on Instagram for PB and is it good for PB? Since Linkedin and FB seem lit for this.

Answer:- Yes, Instagram is super-important in PB.

Post educational, humor, interactive content.

Go live more often, do AMAs. Keep engaging your audience.

Run ads with profile visit objective to get followers.

#19. What are the tips and resources recommended for beginners who want to learn storytelling?

Answer:- Read novels, watch movies, go out, meet people, talk to them, observe life.

And start creating content. You will get amazed because all the above activities reflect in your content.

#20. Is storytelling necessary for every personal brand?

Answer:- Necessary – YES.

Mandatory – NOT

Personal branding is about trust. We consider someone a brand when we trust them. And storytelling helps to create trust. Stories give an emotional connect.

#21. How is personal branding different from thought leadership?

Answer:- Thought leadership comes with experience. He/She is a truly knowledgable person.

A personal brand doesn’t necessarily to be an expert.

Let me tell you an example.

Today morning, I saw a post regarding 8 years old kid selling webinars and courses. He has a lot of fans as well. But do you think he is a thought leader of the field? Definitely not.

And Personal Brand? Yes, he is!

Personal Branding and Thought leadership are quite different things, but they can be combined. And when they combine, it becomes a lethal combination.

#22. Divulge one of your secrets for storytelling and personal branding!

Answer:- For storytelling –

I have been reading stories since childhood. I was an avid book reader. Moreover, I am a good observer of things happening around me. To add this, I am quite introvert too. All these helped me to become a good storyteller.

Personal brand –

I started posting valuable content. What does valuable mean? Content which helps. But wait. So many people post valuable content, then why aren’t they personal brand?

I create content that resonates with the audience. To be specific – ” Whoaa, exactly this I was looking for. Thank you, Akshay for posting!”

To create content that resonates I used storytelling.

#23. Suppose, if I want to build myself as a brand, how can I incorporate storytelling? What areas should I focus on?

Answer:- Adopt an omni channel approach, but focus on 1-2.

Facebook groups, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Quora, YouTube, Blog are some of the channels.

Each channel demands different things to become a personal brand. So I insist to study that first. Once you finalize, start creating content.

Initially, you might not get engagement but stick to it. Personal branding doesn’t happen in a night. It takes consistent efforts.

Talking about incorporating storytelling, share your personal experiences. Connect the dots between your story and the point you want to convey.

That’s it!

#24. How do you find topics daily to write a post on?

Answer:- When I started I used to Google. Some known websites and content covered by them.

#25. What are the Top sites where I can guest post to improve credibility?

Answer:- Forbes, Entrepreneur, YourStory, and…Actually, we can Google that. But here I will say, approach a PR company and get an article published by themselves. It’s super powerful. It also helps in getting verified ticks on SM platforms.

#26. How to identify fake people posing as experts of any skills.. say Digital Marketing or Social Media? Is publishing a book enough to ‘validate’ skills? Anyone can publish a book in an hr on Amazon Kindle or write 5 articles or conduct a free webinar!?

Answer:- The best way? Talk to them directly. You will understand. I follow the same technique.

#27. How to maintain the personal brand once, someone establishes themselves as a brand? any tips?

Answer:- Yes, many.

1) Don’t show false dreams to the audience. Claim what you have done. Promise what you can do. If you don’t follow this, troll posts are waiting for you.

2) Stay away from controversy if you have no relation with it.

3) Always be humble. Ego seems like a swag, but people notice you.

4) What you post on the Internet, stays there. Hence, think twice before posting anything.

5) Don’t do negativity of anyone.

#28. If I want to build my personal brand, how should I prepare myself? What questions should I ask myself?

Answer:- 1) Find your passion.
2) Start learning and get expertise. Have that ONE skill that you know better than MOST of the people.
3) Help people with your knowledge.
4) Stay Consistent.

#29. How can we differentiate between Bragging & Personal branding?

Answer:- Bragging is when you keep talking about yourself only to others.

Personal branding is two-sided. Here, people to talk about you EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN THE ROOM (Old saying!).

#30. How to develop the storytelling concept gradually?

Answer:- Observe the things around you. Think, ” Can I connect it with something which deserves a post?”

Also, remember your past experiences. And try to connect it with the point you want to convey.

The more appealing “concept”, more engagement you will get.

And there is no sure-shot formula to it. Practice improves, but uncertainty is always there.

Just keep experimenting. It’s fun!

#31. How to keep a balance of knowledge and story on your post?

Answer:- Good question. But no specific answer to this. As a ” whole post”, it should look like informative. Guess what? Sometimes, the story too falls under knowledge, because it teaches.

However, if a situation demands hardcore knowledge like stats and figures, no story required. Storytelling is not compulsory in every situation.

So it’s a wrap. thank you guys for scrolling down.

I hope you have got some valuable info about Personal Branding and Storytelling.

If you know more about Personal Branding Questions then please drop in the comment box

Peace out!