Connection. The art of storytelling; it's in your DNA. It's the heart and soul of your brand.

As part of our research for our upcoming Video Marketing PLAYSHOP, my partner Chris Lombardo of Red Guitar Films and my son Taylor attended a Drucker Business Forum lecture yesterday featuring Peter Guber, Hollywood Producer and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group. He was on his promotional book tour for his just released title, TELL TO WIN. Peter is a master storyteller given his natural gregarious personality and long term career as a film producer and executive.

As a special BONUS, I gifting you with an article as a way to ignite and inspire your imagination and possibility thinking in terms of your personal brand. I am very passionate about this topic given it's been the core of my past PR career as a publicist and now the heart and soul of my coaching business.

Please allow me to impart some highlights of yesterday's captivating lecture with Peter reflecting content from his new book (which I highly recommend).

Connection. The art of storytelling; it's in your DNA.

It's the heart and soul of your brand.

Your personal brand is your most powerful asset in your business today.

Why? It speaks to your emotional core. It connects you to your audience on your social networks and offline. It’s the leading edge in marketing today. The days of product/service marketing are long gone and replaced by personal brands, which are synonymous with your business. You can no longer separate your “personal” from your “business” while marketing. It’s one-in-the-same. And we have the extraordinary power of Social Media to thank for that.

See, many still have a challenge transitioning their offline world onto the virtual world. And rightfully so. It can be hard to wrap your head around this “thumbnail” size photo of you and expect people to “get” who you are. Today’s marketing requires us to be very authentic and transparent using Social Media because of the nature of this virtual world. The secret is by posting in authentic conversational form 1^st person, we can translate our offline lives onto this virtual platform that offers outstanding networking and relationship building for our businesses. Essentially I am giving you permission to be you in all your marketing! No “business” façade.

The real you in savvy style.

Furthermore, it’s the accumulation of your postings on your networks that form your “personality” and your compelling story, which is your brand. You are delivering YOU as the brand of your business in form of words, videos, photos, etc. Here’s the good news accentuated by Peter Guber in his book,

“There’s a treasure to be discovered, and it’s inside you. Built into your DNA is humanity’s ten-thousand-plus years of telling and listening to oral stories. This veneration of story is a force so powerful and enduring that it has shaped cultures, religions, whole civilizations. Now through telling to win, you can harness this force to achieve your most cherished goals.”

Monetize what comes natural to you. Tell your story and other stories with emotion, drama, compelling twists and turns. Bring the audience in. We are taking people from their head to their hearts as they listen (video) or read your postings with the core of your personal brand at play. When you master the art of storytelling, you can win at most endeavors because you are igniting the common bond: emotion; and that will always move people to action.

So in closing, “Today everyone, whether they know it or not - is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move people to action. Simply put, if you can't tell it, you can't sell it." –Peter Guber

To begin forming your personal brand, answer these four questions:

1. What are your five leading personal qualities that define you the most?
2. What are five passions that light you up and magnetize people to you?
3. Five recent successes and gratitudes.
4. What were some of your most challenging times that resulted in a reinvention or upleveling of your life? (transformation)

The answers to these questions make excellent content for your Social Media postings. Weave in conversation with any one of these. Be creative with how you use these while posting on Facebook or LinkedIn. Stop hiding from your target audience on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube, and speak your truth! Be you. Your mindfully chosen communities will reward you by being loyal and committed to stick around for a while.

And that’s a sign of conversion. That is how you monetize YOU.

To your success!

Marla

eCreativebiz.com