We never feel the need to swim against the current, and so our branding is defined by that current, along with all the other fish in the school.
What’s in a name?
At only thirty-two years-old, Aaron Foo heads product strategy at iCarAsia. His job involves overseeing and directly executing branding efforts and campaigns for a platform that has the distinction of being the biggest network of online automotive sites in Asia, with a 10 million-strong customer base.
Having held the position for over two years now, Aaron knows a thing or two about the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of reaching your customers and was only too happy to sit down with Linkedpreneur and share what he knew.
The personal branding game
Outside of his professional life, Aaron is also a huge believer in personal branding, and can be found regularly posting videos on LinkedIn. He says that LinkedIn, unlike other social media sites, actively facilitates interactions and connections between new people, often over a shared interest.
Aaron went on to share how high-ranking corporates would message him to compliment his videos, laying the groundwork for relationships that would never have been possible in real life. Imagine having CEOs of decent-sized companies telling you they enjoyed your content. Man, wouldn’t that just make your day?
Separating corporate and personal branding
Are you defined by your workplace? Is that all you are? For many, we would probably immediately say no, but if asked what else defined our personal brand, we’d struggle to come up with much.
The main reason we don’t know is that we’ve never had any proper practice to find out.
To slightly paraphrase what Aaron says, many of us fall into routines and then simply coast along. We never feel the need to swim against the current, and so we become defined by that current along with all the other fish in the school.
Aaron’s method for busting through the routine was to pre-record all his videos in one go (each time wearing a different shirt) and then post them throughout the week. He was driven by the belief that his postings added value to his personal brand. As he cites the many relationships he’s built, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Quite literally dropping some knowledge
Aaron also shared a couple of his favourite books. We won’t tell you what they were, but we can say that one of them took us by surprise because of how radically different the content is to Aaron’s current line of work. What is it? Here’s a clue: it rhymes with ‘phantom poo’. Yes, we know it’s a terrible clue. We just want you to watch the video.
Khushboo Nangalia is a TEDx speaker, award-winning marketer, entrepreneur, and talk show host. She is also the founder and CEO of global digital & creative agency Beyond 99, Through her LinkedInpreneur series, Khushboo and her team aim to connect and tell the stories of innovative entrepreneurs from across Asia. To connect with Khushboo, head to LinkedPreneur.
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