10 things you might not know about Lenja Faraguna
She was declared one of 12th World Changers by the New York Times Bestselling author Roy H. Williams and one of 40th most influential radio personalities under 40 by the Radio Advertising Bureau USA. Lenja Faraguna believes that “for your marketing to be supremely effective you don’t need a degree in marketing but in humanity.” This thought is the biggest lessons she’s learned in the last 12 years as an entrepreneur and coach and it is the DNA of her mission in life.
More things about her that you might not know:
1.The old marketing, the screaming one, discount throwing and narcisistic one is dead, because it yells, lies, undervalues and is loathed by most people.
2. She has a Bachelor degree in Philosophy, English and American Studies and Semiotics of Advertising at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria.
3. She is the founder of Worldchangers Slovenia – the embassy of Slovenian entrepreneurs who are brave, give a damn, make money and change the world. A melting pot of knowledge, opportunity, ass-kicking environment and the first marcareting academy for smaller Slovenian entrepreneurs called “Crazy diamonds”.
4. She believes that everybody is unique in the world and she supports that. “There is no one like you. There was a 1: 400 trillion chance for you to be born. Even if someone has the same product/service, all the other components that make up a (PERSONAL) BRAND are unique to you! ONLY YOU! Yet most of the time, you do not show this uniqueness through your marketing = your communication with the outside world,” she write on http://ilovemarcareting.com/.
5. Success starts with yourself. Say YES to yourself and customers out there who are waiting for you to make their lives better. You will re-brand your MINDSET, re-brand your (personal) brand and finally give you tools to do marketing the modern way as marCAREting – so you can achieve a game changing success.
6. She believes marcareting works only when you CARE. About yourself and the others.
7. She is “nakedly” honest. “I’m real, raw, honest and I will call you up on your bull**it, spin your mindset and you will have to put in the work and go into action. Why? Because I believe that “ACTIONS are the endangered species in the world, not IDEAS”.
8. She doesn’t hide anymore. She admits her failures and learned from them. She had a major personal and business collapse in 2012 and when it couldn’t go lower it went up. She has risen like a phoenix, from her own ashes. She went from “bribing” her friends and dad to come to her seminars in 2011 for free, … to speaking to thousands all over Slovenia and Europe, at TEDx and on May 22nd 2017 with Gary Vaynerchuk, Robert Murray, Dr Kjell A. Nordström and Dr Jonas Ridderstråle (Funky Business), Julian Treasure (multi TED talk speaker) at Brands Minds Summit in Bucharest in front of 900 people!
9. She has worked with 134 start-ups as a mentor. She co-founded Club 466 International, where she sharpens the business diamonds of women leaders.
10. She loves the weather before the storm and Madness’ song “How can I tell you” and Xavier Naidoo song “Bitter hör nicht aud zu Träumen”, because they sum up my values about life and communication.
Top 10 Tips for Branding Yourself
source: Working Voices
Living in the era of social media power, when the information is the key and in everybody’s reach, finding oneself’s niche and becoming known is getting a more and more difficult task to accomplish. Even at first glance it seems the reality is exactly the opposite, the rapidity in which one can get into the public’s eye, but at the same time fade away, makes it even harder than before to make it last and create a strategic and smart path for one’s good brand positioning.
We’ve prepared some tips that we hope will help you on your road to success:
- Asses the market you are working on
Knowing the past, the competition and the market you are activating on is key in order to create a good positioning for your brand.
- Look deep within yourself and find your best features
According to Robert Half, branding yourself begins with self-reflection. Take stock of your strengths. What are your best attributes? What positive adjectives might a colleague use to describe you? Is there one particular talent or discipline in which you truly shine? What’s your personality? If you’re just beginning your career, choose a discipline or area of focus that truly interests you. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Hard-working, focused and reserved people get ahead just as often as social butterflies.
- Work on developing them even more
Go to extra classes / courses, attend workshops and seminars that will help be become even better on your field of expertize and that will enhance your talents. Learning never ends, no matter the time in your career you are at.
- Of all of them find the differentiator, your USP (unique selling point), that makes you unique
The USP is the big idea that brands are always searching for. A USP gives a brand a compelling and unique value proposition with its target audience. “Likewise, you want to represent something special that sets you apart from others and establishes a value equation about your abilities when you are pitching yourself for a job, a promotion or a free-lance assignment,” says Catherine Kaputa in Huffington Post.
- Define your brand and become an expert
Take the time to do some soul searching and determine exactly who you are and what makes up your brand. Whether you’re looking to garner media attention, attract new clients or build your business, you should focus on becoming an expert in your field. Avoid establishing an expertise that’s irrelevant to your mission, goals, and vision. You’ll just be wasting your time.
- Be present in the market and make yourself known
Make sure you are present at the most important events in your industry and start conversations with the right persons, the ones with whom the association with will help your brand and your career. Ask questions, mingle, try and show your expertize as much as you can.
- Generate brand awareness through networking and promotion
You should be connecting with other professionals in the industry by using social networks and commenting on their blogs. Networking is one of the best ways to become known in the industry. By forming relationships with people in your audience, you can grow your business and your brand long-term.
In time, once you have a known and appreciated voice try using the PR tools available to you and get your name out there.
- Be a constant presence on the social media channels that are representative for your work
Depending on the industry you are activating on make sure you know what social media channel suits you the best. Not every industry fits you having a profile on Linkedin and Facebook at the same time, not every industry requires an Instagram or Snapchat account. Also, make sure that the content you are delivering is customized to that specific social media account.
- Always keep on expending your network, strategic partnerships and focus on the game plan
The networks are meant to evolve, not stand by. So is the industry you are activating on. Moreover, you can never know what the future holds. The more people you know, the merrier. The more connected you are, the better. Make sure that at the same time you don’t lose the focus on your “final” game plan.
- Don’t look focus, get rid of your ego and accept criticism
According to the AICPA specialists, the true measure of your brand is the reputation others hold of you in their hearts and minds. Notice how they introduce you to others. Ask them what your top brand attributes and core strengths are. If they can easily tell you, then you’ve succeeded in branding you.
“These days, branding the company you work for isn’t enough. The world wants to hear what you have to say as a professional within a company. The work involved in uncovering your brand may seem daunting, but your efforts can benefit you immeasurably. Your unique brand message differentiates the best you have to offer, gives a good indication of what you’re like to work with, and shows how you make things happen,” says the American Institute of CPAs.
When it comes to being the best the ego shouldn’t be standing in your way. Accept the criticism, as it will only make you better and help you achieve your goals.
Tips & tricks on how to create a successful video campaign on Facebook
Today is all about finding your vision and place on the market and targeting it the right way. Specific messages are created and translated in a specific way, for each media in part. What works for YouTube may very well not work on Facebook or cinema. Even if we talk about the same brand, campaign, positioning and target. So how does one create a powerful and successful video for Facebook, in order to really help the brand?
According to kissmetrics.com, over three billion videos are watched on Facebook daily. Video is eye-catching and engaging and, when used properly, is a great way to bring life to a product or brand. The website editors identified 4 main rules that you can find here. (credit photo: Shutterstock)
As Facebook says, while video continues to grow as a storytelling medium for people and brands, it has been working with hundreds of businesses on building and analyzing video ads to discover what makes great video creative. What they found was that, like advertising of all kinds, building effective video ad creative requires both art and science.
Some rules that would anyone help create a good Facebook video are:
- Tailor your story to your audience.
People are more likely to pay attention to content that’s relevant to their interests, which means you’ll likely get better results if you customize your ad’s message for the people who see it. Consider creating unique videos (or different versions of the same video) for different audience segments.
- Invest in production.
Whether you use a camera phone or a production team, secure the best available creative resources and set a realistic production schedule and budget. People are more likely to watch and remember videos that are well-crafted and designed to play on every device. Remember, cheap doesn’t sell anymore and doesn’t give the “authenticity” feel anymore. Treat the channel with the proper respect and attention and you will get the wanted results.
- Make sure people will relate to the story, by keeping it real and close to them. Use situations that feel close to people’s lives and habits.
- Use the first few seconds wisely.
Bring your story to life quickly, so as people scroll through News Feed looking for content, your video ad quickly piques people’s interest. Consider showing brand or product imagery in the first few seconds. Almost half of the value of a video ad is delivered in the first three seconds, according to research that Facebook commissioned from audience ratings and research company Nielsen. Seventy-four per cent of the value of a video ad is delivered to the audience in the first 10 seconds.
- Focus on storytelling.
Video length is less important than telling a cohesive and concise story. Your video ad shouldn’t be longer or shorter than it takes to tell your story well, so create a storytelling arc from the first frame to the last that keeps your audience interested along the way.
- Create empathy / entertain them / make them laugh or cry.
Everyone feels close to a good, real story that captivates them and brings their emotions to the table.
- Tell your story with and without sound.
Since videos on Facebook autoplay with sound off, it’s important to make sure your video ads entice viewers even when muted. When sound is off, beautiful imagery and on-screen text can help tell your story. When enabled, your video’s sound should offer additional value to viewers and further bring your story to life.
- Use the Groups section
Meeting friends, and sharing your life with those friends, is the business of Facebook. The platform’s ‘Groups’ video perfectly portrays how it helps people connect with others who share similar interests. It creatively identifies how users can benefit from using Facebook by providing a clearly defined problem and a beginning, middle, and end.
How to have the best brand storytelling on Instagram
As storytelling is the latest trend in communication, all the agencies and companies trying to bring the concept to life in their campaigns and social media presence, Instagram is one of the latest powerful social media tools to try and capitalize on this trend.
According to Social Media Week, since Instagram launched a couple of years ago, over 300 million people have used this platform as a visual place to share their lives. With more than 20 billion images shared on the app to date–this app has become a creative space & community for people to share their story in innovative ways using photography and short videos.
It’s no wonder the stories on Instagram are catching up people’s attention and likeness as so many of them spending so much time on their mobile devices. What it does now for its users is allowing them to share their stories to the world in a quick and easy fashion. It has become a simple, yet powerful tool that has allowed people and brands to develop their own voice visually.
How can a brand take advantage of this trend and make himself even more noticeable on Instagram? Just take a pick here at our short pieces of advice:
- Identifying your niche & developing your own unique voice.
The way you position yourself is always the key. The more different, unique, special your brand is, the better. Make sure that your stories are always capturing that essence of the brand and special approach. By giving your audience something they know they can expect from you, it will be easier to grow a stronger and more dedicated community around your work.
- Utilizing your captions to add more depth to your photos.
Captions may become a vital part of your storytelling process, if you know how to put accent on them and use the right hashtags and words. The story behind the story is always important and should be relevant. Putting your own spin on the story, emphasizing on a certain aspect that makes your brand YOURS is helping bring the story where it should. Your story ultimately, makes a huge difference.
- Choosing and using different angles
The same places or the same ideas, presented in your brand’s way, are creating the differentiation that you are looking for. Instead of shooting something from the same angle as everyone else, try looking for new spots to take the same photo. Maybe you want to get closer to the ground for a different angle, pose a person in a different place, or shoot a photo through the branches of a tree to provide a more natural frame. There are always ways to put a new spin on the same place, and try to make sure you try a bunch of different angles.
- Highlight your brand’s versatility
People want the brands to be playful, to interact, engage and entertain them. They get bored really easy and you must make sure you always bring something fresh to the table. Don’t be afraid to try, to mix and match, to always have in handy a special new app or filter that is trendy. Make it count while is still fresh and not used by a lot of other brands present on Instagram. Your followers will be looking for powerful, original, content. Find ways to expand your current niche creatively to develop a strong brand voice.
- Using video and gifs
Always be present. Be fast and up-to-date. A video speaks more than a picture. A gif makes one laugh and entertains. In other words, powerful tools for your story.
- Making sure you have user-generated content
Getting your followers involved is extremely important for a TODAY brand. Get your audience to do some of the heavy lifting for you by creating a user-generated hashtag for your brand tribe. Then you can post the content of your biggest fans directly on your Instagram account.
- Showing your happy employees
There’s a global war for talent today and the best brands are showing off the fresh faces on their team and all the fun they are having at work. Showcasing yourself at work or your company’s employees in action is great for putting a human face on your brand, which makes what you share on Instagram more interesting to your followers.
- Introducing them behind-the-scenes
Each one of us loves to feel special and shown that they are important. Make sure your brand does that for its followers. You can start by taking them inside the stories of your company, showing them some never-seen before images, actions, activities, etc. Take them where nobody has been before!
