This week we’re talking about 5 templates to help you introduce yourself, both online and in person. The words you use to introduce yourself, your service, and your business to the world are important. That’s what we’re going to dive into.
I want to give you five templates that you can use today. I want to introduce to you is the idea of coming up with some templates ahead of time that you can use. Brainstorm these ahead of time and practice so that when you are on the spot, especially in person, you know what to say to people.
WHY DO YOU NEED TEMPLATES FOR INTRODUCTIONS?
If you’re like me, it’s easy to forget the most effective way to present who you are in a way that makes people remember you, but also makes them know if you’re someone that can help them or are someone that they can refer to other people.
I know a lot of the time the first fallback is that we end up being a little bit vague. We tend not to be as specific as we can be. That’s a common mistake that we all make, or sometimes you go to the other spectrum. You’re way too specific to the point where you are completely boring the person you’re talking to.
The same thing can happen online. Sometimes you can be too brief and someone can’t tell if you’re for them because it’s too vague, or you can be way too descriptive. No one wants to read all that text on the homepage of your website or on your “About” page.
Even in your bio’s on social media, are you using the right words that effectively tell people, “This is exactly what I do and who I am for”?
PREPARE NOW TO BE READY LATER
The context of where you use these templates is important, but I just want you to realize that if you do this work ahead of time and actually take time to think about what you are going to be saying and writing, then you will be better prepared when these moments come up. You will actually take the time to fill in the right words on the places where you and your reputation live online.
Here are five simple templates I’m going to call my Five Identity Scripts that you can use right here right now. Maybe you can do this as you’re listening–think about typing on your phone some things that you could say or that you would say when you answer these questions.
TEMPLATE #1: THE SIMPLE SCRIPT
The first one is the easiest one. It is the vaguest, the most simple. I call it the Simple Script.
For this one, you simply tell people what category or industry you are in. What does that mean? Well, if you asked me, “Hey, Brandon, what is it that you do by the way?” I’d say I’m in advertising and marketing. That’s it. You just leave it at that.
Or I could say, “I’m an advertising and business coaching.” Whatever you want to say, you pick a category so that they can gauge if this is an industry that is something they’re interested in. Based on the conversation, you can decide to go deeper with one of these other templates but start there.
Start more simple because sometimes people are genuinely just not ready to hear your full story, especially if it’s your first time meeting them. I would lean into this script the most because if they’re truly someone that might be a client for you in the future, it’s your job to find a way to continue to meet them and eventually expand on who you are and how you can help.
ASK MORE QUESTIONS
However, it’s going to start with you actually asking more questions about them, who they are, what they do, how they help, what they need help with, what their challenges are, et cetera…
Leaning into being an asker and someone who’s curious about them and what they do is always going to be your best bet.
When you’re first meeting someone, you don’t need to explain too deeply what you do. You just have to start by saying the industry you’re in. You could say your title too. That’s the other way to go with this. You could say I’m a personal branding coach and leave it at that.
Those are two approaches to the same thing. You start at the broadest level, your title or your category, your industry, and you leave it at that. You continue to ask questions about who they are and what they do.
TEMPLATE #2: THE STATEMENT SCRIPT
Number two I call your identity statements. The first one was your Simple Script. This one is your Statement Script. For statements, this is a pretty standard format for anyone out there who’s helping learn how to write your resume and things like that.
Your statement is going to be simply diving into who you help, how you help them, and why. Can you answer those three questions? Think about it right now in your head.
Who do you help, who do you serve, and who are your clients? Describe them. How do you help them? What do you help them with? What do you help them accomplish and what are the results that come from that? Then thirdly, why is that important? Why do you do it?
The way you can frame that is as a very simple sentence. I help (blank) do (blank) by (blank) because (blank). For example, I help entrepreneurs. That’s the audience. I help entrepreneurs build their brand story.
Or I can flip that. I help entrepreneurs get more clients by telling their brand story (and that’s where I fill in my why,) because your brand is the most important reason you will get clients or something like that. You figure out how you want to tell your story.
As each of you takes steps to fill in the blanks, take the time to write those things down and fill them in. You’ll be better prepared to answer those questions. Once you have the template, you can modify it.
YOUR SCRIPT WILL CHANGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
The truth is, you meet lots of different types of people. Sometimes different people are your customer and you would speak to them differently.
If I speak to an entrepreneur, I might say, “I help entrepreneurs with their marketing and telling their story by helping them work on their message and getting found online. I know when you’re starting as an entrepreneur, getting the message right and getting some people to find you just so you can get those first customers is the most important thing.”
I’ll leave it at that. That’s my simple statement. I’ll cut that down to be less wordy, but if I’m in conversation, that’s how I would conversationally explain it if they want it to go there.
Again, I usually would start with the more simple explanation. If they say, “What do you actually do,” this is what I might tell them next. That hopefully generates some curiosity for them.
If I’m talking to a podcaster, (because I do work with podcasters,) I might say, “I’m in the advertising and marketing space. I’m a personal branding coach. I help podcasters to develop their personal brand by working on their content strategy and marketing plan because I believe that if you build a show that’s important, it should be found by the right audiences.”
You explain what the importance of these things is as you’re going. That’s the statement. That was number two.
RELATED: Build your personal brand with the Content Marketing Starter Guide.
TEMPLATE #3: THE SLOGAN SCRIPT
The third is I’m going to give you is a little bit different, a little bit more cheeky. However, I think this is actually an important one that a lot of people skip. I think of it as almost like a slogan. We’ll call it your Slogan Script.
This is what people will remember about you. This is the thing that you want to be known for and is the thing that captures a little more of an essence of who you are. It taps into the “why you do this.”
I know Simon Sinek has a great book called Start With Why and has an amazing Ted Talk on this. If you haven’t read it or looked at that Ted Talk, go check it would. It will help you understand this a little bit better.
People don’t always work with you because of what you can do for them. They work with you because of who you are and how passionate you are about it. Sometimes it’s like they have to know, like, and trust you first and be passionate about the person you are to believe that you can deliver the results that you say you can.
If you tap into the “why you’re doing this”, and you can convey that in an effective way, it helps you be memorable. If nothing else, it gives someone something catchy to remember that is going to stand out in their heads. That way when they have to explain you to someone else, it’s easy for them.
For some people, their slogan might be something cheeky. “I am the Batman of copywriting,” or “I’m the Wonder Woman of graphic design.” That’s kind of catchy and you can easily remember that, or they draw parallel to something like that.
TAP INTO WHY YOU DO WHAT YOU DO
Another way to do it is instead of making it an easy comparison, you do tap into not just what you do, but why you do it.
For me, my slogan might be, “Your Voice Matters.” At the top of my shows, I say, “Build the brand that matters.” When I’m giving talks or I’m guesting on a show, I make sure that I include in my story and in what I convey that I believe that everyone’s voice matters and that your brand matters. Then I expand on that.
If I keep saying this over and over again, people remember that Brandon is the “Your Voice Matters” guy. He helps people work and develop their voice. That’s something that you can use over time and be repetitive with. Work on your slogan because it might help you to identify what you want to be known for over time.
Think of it as what you would put on a book cover if you had to write a book. That’s number three.
TEMPLATE #4: THE STORY SCRIPT
Number four is going to be your story. This would be your Story Script and is going to be anything that explains in a more interesting way why you’re doing it, what you’re doing, who you are, and why it’s important.
We all have a story. Usually, it’s going to be some kind of origin story as to how you came to be where you are. Or it’s going to be an “Ah-ha!” moment, a turning point, or a pivot point in your journey that led you to what you’re doing.
It helped you get past the pain that you were in that you solved and now you help coach on. If nothing else, it’s just your origin story that explains your experience.
One way to frame that for me could be to talk about my eighteen years of experience at advertising agencies. I can talk about the stories I have from working on brands like Coca-Cola and Apple, or maybe an example of one of those lessons I learned working with them that I can tell in a meaningful way that explains my experience in branding.
USE PERSONAL STORIES FROM YOUR PAST
Another way to approach it is to talk about why personal branding is so important to me and why podcasting is so important to me. I say this all the time because when I was leaving corporate, I realized that I was a resume, but I had no reputation. I needed to develop that reputation quickly to be an entrepreneur.
To do that, I had to develop a personal brand. That set me on this journey of figuring out how to do that. Now, because of the time I put into creating content, building community, making an impact, and mattering to people, I now have a personal brand that helps serve my business.
That is how I developed my reputation. That’s a story that you can model. Say, “This is something that happened in my life that I can use to help explain to people who I am and how I help.” This is all doing the same thing. It’s an introduction of you to someone else.
That might be a great story to put into your about page, but not on your homepage. It could also be a great thing to put in a speaker bio or in a one-hour podcast spot. You wouldn’t tell a long story like that if it’s a one-minute clip. It just depends on where you want to put these things.
TEMPLATE #5: THE SPEAKER SCRIPT
The last one, number five, is going to be your Speaker Script. This is really just understanding that if I was going to be interviewed and if someone wanted to talk to me about what I do, what would I talk about?
What are a couple of topics that I would feel comfortable talking about all day? How would I frame that as an interesting subject line?
For example, in my space, I might say, “As a speaker, I talk to people about how to build authority with an expert personal brand.” That’s one example. Another would be “I educate people on how to leverage your podcast as a content engine.”
When you can explain to people those things that you love to talk about, it helps them understand what you do, if you are right for their show, to be featured or be a guest speaker, or to even help someone as a customer.
That might work because even though they’re talking about the content and the things that you like to teach, they can expand that on their own to say, “Okay, that’s one thing I’m interested in, or someone that I know is interested in. How do you actually do that?” Then you can get into how you serve people.
YOUR TEMPLATES WILL EVOLVE WITH YOU
Each of these is a tool for you to use. Craft these ahead of time and continue to work on them. Honestly, this is a process that evolves every month with every experience.
Every time I go to a new conference, every time I go on a new show, even just regularly on a monthly basis, I am rewriting these things down somewhere so that I can look at them and say, “Am I happy with how I am introducing myself?”
I’ll tweak it and change it to make sense for the environment and the context. As I get more and more comfortable with my template, or even as I evolve and my services change, I continue to adapt this and evolve this as well so that people always know, right now, where I am in my business and how I can best serve them.
If they know someone that needs that help, they know to send them to me. It’s easy to remember who I am in the context of their relationships. Hopefully it’s memorable if you’ve made a good impression.
Those are my five templates, my five scripts to help you introduce yourself both online and in person.
CONNECT WITH BRANDON
Instagram: @brandonbirmeyer
MORE ADVICE AND INTERVIEWS
If you’d like more content about how to build your personal brand, check out my free Content Marketing Starter Guide.
And here are some more of my most popular thought leader interviews!
- What Business to Start with John Lee Dumas
- Personal Branding Masterclass with Chris Ducker
- Built to Serve with Evan Carmichael
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Talk soon!