Jennifer McClure`

Helping Leaders Leverage Influence & Create Maximum Impact.

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Written by Jennifer McClure

Balancing a Strong Personal Brand With a High Profile Corporate Career With Amber Naslund

photo of Amber Naslund

If you’re a regular listener of the podcast, you’ve heard me talk with several previous guests that I first connected with back in the somewhat golden days of blogging, and the beginnings of social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Although I’m not sure how I originally came across my guest on this episode, I know that I was a regular reader of her very popular blog called Brass Tack Thinking during that time frame.

Through great writing and a relatable voice, she shared experiences, practical advice, and marketing expertise, that was extremely helpful to me, and thousands of others, in building a personal brand, and in building a business that connected with those that I wanted to serve.

Then, one day in January 2010, she wrote a blog post that was titled – “The Equestrian’s Guide to Reaching Your Goals” – and as a fellow adult amateur equestrian, I loved how she linked lessons she had learned from horseback riding to setting foundational goals for the next year.

That was it. We were destined to be the best of friends. Or, at least virtual horse buddies. 🙂

To this day, we love sharing, commenting and liking pictures of our horsey adventures online, and I hope we’ll actually get to meet at a horse show or an industry conference or event sometime in the future.

But, since that doesn’t look like it will be able to happen any time soon, I thought that asking her to join me on the podcast would be fun, but also really valuable for both me and you. She’s still doing great work, and continues to share her thoughts and ideas freely in order to help others.

Amber Naslund is a 20-year veteran marketer, and in that time she’s worked with some of the biggest companies, the freshest startups, and everything in between.

In her current role as a senior consultant at LinkedIn, she advises top global clients on their digital content marketing strategies, and their overall approach to using LinkedIn, while on a mission to prove that companies can build compelling, authoritative B2B brands without being dull.

Amber is also the co-author of the best-selling social media handbook The Now Revolution, and when she’s not working on her next book, article, or industry talk, she’s restoring her brain cells on horseback, or spending time with her kid (who’s also an accomplished equestrian already), and her rescue dogs.

In this episode, Amber and I chat about what it was like for her to go from industry darling, to best selling author, to failed entrepreneur, and what she discovered about herself in that journey that helped her to rebuild her confidence, and fuel her success today.

We also talk about what it takes to build a strong and authentic personal brand and platform in today’s noisy world, as well as what to consider when balancing a strong personal brand with a high profile corporate career.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:​​

  • What an entrepreneurial failure taught Amber about herself, and how it set her up for future success.
  • What it’s like being a woman out front in the tech industry sharing your ideas.
  • Advice for someone who asks how they can build a loyal following online.
  • Amber’s thoughts on whether it’s necessary to be on all of the online platforms if you’re trying to build your personal brand.
  • The difference between being authentic and being genuine, and why it’s important for personal brands.
  • Why Amber is comfortable talking online about sensitive topics like mental health, imposter syndrome, and failures in business.
  • Amber’s journey toward understanding imposter syndrome, and how she’s come to view it as a normal, and real, part of the process.
  • How sharing your own vulnerabilities can be helpful with addressing imposter syndrome, and foster trust with your community.
  • 3 tips for those who are interesting becoming thought leaders.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 50

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

Key Quotes From This Episode:

“Being a thought leader isn’t the goal, it’s the result. So, every “thought leader” started as a nobody that no one had ever heard of, that didn’t have an audience. That stuff comes with your willingness to show up first, and put more into the community than you’re asking to take out. So make all of the deposits up front, share the knowledge, be generous, be effusive with how much you’re willing to put in, and the results come. But it has to go in that order.” ~ Amber Naslund

“When we feel seen, and we feel that sense of belonging to something that is bigger than us, but still imperfect, it’s okay for us to be imperfect. That’s an incredibly relieving, reenforcing and validating feeling as humans, and we could all use a little bit more of that right now.” ~ Amber Naslund

“The world doesn’t have your point of view, so there’s really no harm in seeing what you can add that’s unique, even if the conversation itself is not.” ~ Amber Naslund

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

Amber Naslund

Amber Naslund LinkedIn

Amber Naslund Twitter

The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund

Laurie Ruettiman

Tim Sackett

William Tincup

Brené Brown

Impact Makers Podcast Episode 049 – Discovering the Hidden Forces That Drive You to Do Your Best Work With Todd Henry

Connect with Jennifer:

Send her a message [https://jennifermcclure.net/contact/]

On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_mcclure/

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker

Categories: Blog, Personal Branding, Podcast
Posted on November 12, 2020

Written by Jennifer McClure

Developing a Strong Personal Brand That Enables You to Lead From Where You Are

photo of Jennifer McClure

Sometimes, I have the honor of being a guest on other podcasts or webinars, where I’m typically asked to share about one or more of the topics that I’m passionate about, including leadership, speaking, and personal branding, and I wanted to share one of those recent conversations with you.

Shortly after the world changed for us all as a result of a global pandemic, my friend,  Erich Kurschat – who is the owner of Harmony Insights LLC, as well as the founder of an inclusive mastermind community called HRHotSeat – started scheduling half hour conversations over the lunch hour with people in his network to be intentional about connecting, and also to stay inspired in order to do his best work.

Back in June of 2020, I joined Erich for one of these lunch date conversations, where we chatted about the importance of personal branding for leaders at all levels, why introverts do not get a pass when it comes to personal branding, and how you can grow and develop your personal brand without having to be a speaker, a blogger, or an online Influencer.

I asked Erich if I could share the conversation with you, and he graciously agreed. So I hope that you enjoy it, and get a few takeaways from it that you can apply to your career.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:​​

  • The importance of having a personal brand and being known for something / your expertise / doing great work.
  • The need to embrace your position as a leader – regardless of your position in an organization.
  • Why introverts do not get a pass when it comes to networking and Personal Branding.
  • Why you shouldn’t get hung up on the term “Personal branding”. Yes, it’s marketing, but truly it’s about becoming known, so you can be discovered for opportunities.
  • Growth and impact comes from challenging yourself and doing hard things
  • Does personal branding extend outside of your professional life?
  • Ways to develop and build a strong Personal Brand beyond becoming a speaker or having your own blog.
  • How my journey to become a professional speaker began with teaching what I knew – even if it wasn’t something that I was passionate about.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 42

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

Key Quotes From This Episode:

“You’re in a leadership role in your organization, whether you have a leadership title or not. By being in the people profession, people are looking to you for leadership.  So you have stepped into the light. There will be heat.” ~ Jennifer McClure

“An HR leader’s Personal Brand is so synonymous with the company that they work for – in both the quality of the people that work there, as well as the culture – that HR leaders who are still taking a back seat, and not taking active steps to develop their Personal Brand are not only hurting their careers, they’re also hurting their companies.” ~ Jennifer McClure

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

HRHotSeat Mastermind Community

Harmony Insights

Harmony Insights Lunch Dates

Erich Kurschat LinkedIn

Steve Browne

HR On Purpose !! Developing Deliberate People Passion – by Steve Browne 

HR Rising !! From Ownership to Leadership – by Steve Browne 

Kary Oberbrunner

Impact Makers Podcast Episode 9 — Prison to Plan to Payoff: Becoming an Entrepreneur with Kary Oberbrunner

Storybrand – Clarify Your Message

Donald Miller

DisruptHR

—–

Connect with Jennifer:

Send her a message [https://jennifermcclure.net/contact/]

On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_mcclure/

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker

Categories: Blog, Personal Branding, Podcast
Posted on September 25, 2020

Written by Jennifer McClure

10 Steps to Get the Most Out of LinkedIn [Beyond the Basics]

LinkedIn is a great tool for growing your professional network, communicating your personal brand and connecting to opportunities to help you grow your career and your business. But are you going beyond the basics in how you utilize LinkedIn?

Beyond creating a Profile, connecting with your co-workers and joining a few Groups, here are 10 solid steps you should take to get the most out of the opportunities that being a part of the LinkedIn network presents:

1. Post relevant and helpful information in the “Share an Update” box on a regular basis.

Want to build your personal brand and professional reputation? Then become known as a resource or “go to” person in your field or industry. Read a great article? Share it with a comment. Aware of an interesting networking or professional development event? Share it and let your network know you’re going.

I share a ton of links and resources with my network via Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In, and in my experience the engagement is often higher and of better quality (i.e. informative threaded discussions, new connections made, etc.) when shared via my status update on LinkedIn.

Action Step: Share a LinkedIn Status Update with your network at least 3 times per week. Add this activity to your calendar or To Do list to ensure it gets done.

[Read more…]

Categories: Blog, Personal Development
Posted on November 13, 2013

Written by Jennifer McClure

Why Personal Branding Is Important for Career Development in HR – #NextChat

Personal Branding. The phrase that doesn’t want to die.

Personal Branding and Human Resources. Not like peanut butter and chocolate. Or is it?.

We can blame Tom Peters for starting the whole personal branding thing way back in 1997 with his article – “The Brand Called You” in Fast Company Magazine – , but the phrase really came into its own in the latter part of the last decade as technology and social media provided everyone from underdogs to big dogs the opportunity to better manage their careers, get noticed and reach a global audience if desired.

One of the first talks that I gave as a “professional” Speaker way back in 2007 was at a women’s professional networking group on the topic of “Personal Branding For Career Success” – and I’ll be delivering a 1/2 day workshop on the same topic this weekend for MBA students at Xavier University. The concept of defining and developing your Personal Brand remains an important topic for career management. And if you’re working in Human Resources, that goes for you and your professional counterparts too! Even if you don’t want to think so.

To understand more about how the concepts of Personal Branding can help you as an HR Pro, I’d like to invite you to join me and the good folks from SHRM | We Know Next today, September 12th, at 3pm ET for a “Twitter chat” about Personal Branding and why it’s important for HR pros. You can participate in, or follow the “chat” on Twitter  via the hashtag – #Nextchat. (New to Twitter chats? Learn more here – How to Participate in a Twitter Chat.)

Have questions? We’ll attempt to answer them. Have input or expertise? I’d love to hear from you. Think this Personal Branding thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread – or a bunch of hooey? I definitely want you to share your thoughts!

—–

For more details on tomorrow’s #Nextchat, check out the SHRM – We Know Next blog – Nextchat: “Why Personal Branding Is Important for Career Development in HR” – September 12, 2012 @ 3pm ET

If someone were to ask you to write down what you believe your “personal brand” is today, what would you write?  Are you excited about it?  Does it really describe your character, personality and passions?

In today’s competitive labor market, building a personal brand with a strong online presence is critical to your career, so it’s important to prioritize and identify ways to get noticed inside and outside of the office. There is tremendous value in personal branding and in the concepts of understanding who you are and being able to communicate your value, as well as to articulate what differentiates you from others in your field.

Whether you know it or not, people have a perception of you — and you need to take control of that.

Join us at 3 p.m on 9/12 for #Nextchat with Jennifer McClure of Unbridled Talent.  We’ll discuss the ways a busy HR pro can accomplish building their Personal Brand.

Q1. Why is personal branding so important for career development in HR?

Q2. How can HR pros use social media to help create and promote their personal brand?

Q3. Is face to face networking still important to creating a personal brand? Why?/why not?

Q4. What are the best ways that busy HR pros can develop a personal brand with limited time and on a limited budget?

Q5. How can developing a personal brand aid your career as an HR pro?

Categories: Blog, Human Resources, Personal Branding
Posted on September 12, 2012

Written by Jennifer McClure

Personal Branding For Career Growth & Success [Presentation]

Last week, I once again had the privilege of speaking to a group of over 50 women who have been selected for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s WE Lead Program. This was the 3rd year in a row that I’ve had the opportunity to share with the participants in this 10 month leadership development program about the importance of Personal Branding in today’s competitive employment environment.

It’s always a pleasure to spend time with highly talented women with such high potential and I really enjoy the conversation and feedback that happens as a result!

In my “Personal Branding for Career Success” session, the participants are initially asked to write a few words or statements describing what they believe their Personal Brand is today, as well as what they’d like for it to be (assuming that is different). Then, we work as a group to get that message into a a succinct Personal Brand Statement for each individual that they can utilize as a base for building a strong online presence, focusing their career activities and even prioritizing and identifying ways to get noticed within and outside of work.

I’ve included the presentation deck from last week’s presentation below.

Personal Branding for Career Growth – Feb 2012
View more presentations from Jennifer McClure
Personally, I’m a bit over the term “personal branding”, but I do still see tremendous value in the concepts of understanding who you are and being able to communicate your value, as well as to articulate what differentiates you from others in your field. Clearly, many of the participants did as well, as evidenced by some of their comments:
“This was a fascinating topic. Hadn’t thought a lot about doing personal branding, but see how it fits with career and work. She was very organized with presentation, handouts, small group activity and content was great.”
“Excellent, but I left feeling somewhat inadequate. Time to get to work!”
“Helped to spend some time reworking my personal brand statement. She knows her stuff.”
“So helpful! Lots of steps to take to claim my brand.”
“People do have a perception of me. I need to take control of that.”
“Branding session impressed on me the importance of keeping social media tools updated.”
“Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with our WE Lead class yesterday! Your presentation is always one of the best-received of the entire program and that was true again this year. Clearly the information you share resonates with the group and it motivates them to take action. Please know how much we appreciate your contribution to WE Lead and hope you take pride in the lasting impact you are making for these women. – Diana Long, Program Manager Women Excel
What’s your take on the topic of Personal Branding? Love it? Hate it? Think it’s more important than ever to have one?

Categories: Blog, Personal Branding, Presentations
Posted on February 15, 2012

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