Benzinga Chicago Panel Recap: Personal Branding
Many asked for a recap of my panel commentary at the recent #BenzingaCapitalConference.
The panel was titled “DIY: Balancing Your Personal Brand with Organic Corporate Growth”
My panelists included 3 other important cannabis influencers (names in comments).
My creds...
Served 220+ cannabis firms since 2016. 19,000 LI/X weed connections. Publisher of the Substack blog, the Cannabis Management Review (link in comments). Frequent industry speaker.
My readership is the Who’s Who of Cannabis.
Summarizing my panel comments…
1. Defining your brand goals
I view a personal brand the old-fashioned way: it’s one reputation. This contrasts with how many people and companies define a brand i.e. a promise of value. The differerence is not pedantic.
I put myself out there to build my awareness, credibility and help elevate management practices in the cannabis sector. I am not directly selling anything, nor am I acting out of altruism.
Engagement and readership are appreciated but it’s not my raison d’etre. Ultimately, I hope my insights and experience leads to trusted business relationships and paid consulting & advisory work.
Put another way, my musings are part of a process not an end to itself. This approach has implications on what topics I cover, my opinions and who I feature in the articles.
2. Build back from the audience
I have a target audience. I understand what they care about and I try to deliver information and lessons that helps them improve performance. My followers are primarily middle to senior managers, key industry stakeholders (e.g., bankers, policy makers) and others who embrace continuous learning.
3. Deliver quality, easily digestible and balanced content
I find inspiration in the cheeky words of the great Christopher Hitchens, “if you can’t think you can’t write”.
My brand is more about what I write about and less about who I am (strong credentials notwithstanding). I aim to be a signal, not noise.
The focus is on creating unique, relevant, and actionable knowledge communicated in simple prose.
4. Be authentic
I opine on what I know and have a passion for. My jam is bringing outside industry insights and historical lessons to our sector. Yes nerdy, but also unique and helpful. I ignore topics I know little about, or I deem irrelevant to my audience.
Disagreements are welcome if they are put forth in a professional manner. I want to learn from others.
5. Put in the time
Companies are less inclined to work with sloppy, unprofessional writers and lazy thinkers. High quality writing & speaking takes effort, imagination, and grit. A bit of a perfectionist streak doesn’t hurt, either. Ernest Hemingway succinctly sums up my process “the first draft of anything is shit.”
#branding #personalbrand #thoughtleadership #Benzinga