2 simply defined marketing terms

photo credit: morguefile.com

Two terms that are thrown around a lot these days are Personal Branding and Social Selling. So what the heck do those terms mean?

Personal branding - how you can use your unique combination of knowledge, skills, experience and accomplishments to benefit others.

Social selling - targeted online content marketing that builds real human relationships and converts to sales (remember people still buy from people even online -- I like to call this humane marketing).

Bottom line is

Whether you're online or off, communication is the vehicle to shared understanding with another person, which provides a platform for trust and relationship building. In others words, network, connect with others, get to know people and see how you can help them, then offer value (your solution) in exchange for value (money/a sale).

Applications of... 

Personal branding

Your LinkedIn profile is a good understandable example of applied personal branding. You're showcasing who you uniquely are, providing credibility for why you have value to offer and promoting how that value can benefit others to get a job, to attract clients or simply build personal relationships with others who have interest in you.

Social selling

Social selling examples can be found all over the Internet from people and businesses using content marketing in their promotional, relationship-building efforts, but a less obvious example might be a musician performing live at a coffee shop.  

In this scenario the musician is engaged in social selling. The musician is providing information, or in this case a sampling of their talent -- their music, which is information provided to the audience that either resonates or doesn't. If the musician has promoted their performance well the listeners in attendance are likely a part of their target audience. Thus, the musician is connecting with their audience to build a further relationship with them throughout the duration of the performance, which can impact an audience member's propensity to buy the musician's album or other merchandise.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella