How to Build a Personal Brand on LinkedIn | Nicole Ramirez

0:00 Hi, everyone, and welcome. I am your host, Erin Moody, here on behalf of Orlando Insight Group. Each episode, we dive into real conversations with technology leaders, innovators, and experts who are shaping the future of IT, data, and cybersecurity. Our goal is simple, to give you practical insights, real-world strategies, and expert perspectives that you can use to drive smarter business decisions and stronger results for your business. Thanks for tuning in, and let's get started. So today's guest is a little bit different.

0:48 Nicole Ray Ramirez is actually a marketing consultant, personal branding expert, and all-around digital strategy pro. By day, she leads marketing strategy for a national agency. And with years of experience in both corporate and consulting work, she knows what it takes to help people and brands show up on purpose. From building magnetic personal brands to creating content that actually converts, Nicola has helped founders, creatives, and teams tell better stories online. We are super excited to have Nicole on the show today and think that she will provide a ton of value, whether you're looking to grow your career or build something of your own.

1:29 So thank you so much for Nicole coming on the show today. Oh, thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Happy that you invited me. Awesome. So you've worked in both big agencies and small businesses. What's one marketing truth that you feel could apply to basically everyone? Yeah, you know, it's funny, I just talked about this in my post from yesterday. So I'm going to talk about market research, basically, that no amount of budget or strategy will fix a bad business plan or a product. So market research comes first.

2:07 And there has to be a need or a want for what you're selling and providing to scale. And then after that, it's just the right messaging and positioning. And then it takes off from there. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. If you have a product that no one wants to buy, you can do all the ads in the world. Unless you're a LaBubu, which I mentioned in my post yesterday, which is just a flash in the pan, very weird circumstance, but not everyone can be LaBubu. that's hilarious awesome um so we're seeing a lot um of people kind of doing the same thing when it comes to marketing um i think especially with ai we're seeing like posts that sound the same and um just kind of stale and robotic um so in your experience what makes a brand stand out online what could we be doing to kind of set ourselves apart from the sameness that's out there?

3:10 Yeah, I mean, not everyone can be Duolingo, where they are just on the like, forefront and innovation, or like, you know, it's just they're constantly chasing trends and doing all that. It's something that works for them. What I recommend to brands is just consistency with your brand. Everyone is always chasing those trends and regurgitating the same thing, as you mentioned. So sticking with your brand voice, even if you want to jump on some of the brands, as long as it makes sense in your brand tone and your brand mission, as long as you're consistent, you will succeed.

3:45 People want to know what to expect from you and what you stand for. And Duolingo does a really good job of staying in their brand while also being able to jump on every trend, but not everyone's going to be able to do that. So consistency is key. yeah that makes sense just being authentic to to yourself and your brand um it's exhausting trying to keep track of yeah i mean as a marketer to begin with so like god bless them over at do they go where they're constantly on top of it but i mean that's just been their social strategy and they've got a whole team that's doing it a lot of us are one department marketers and we are trying to keep up with everything.

4:26 Yeah. Like that's, that's a great point. Um, yeah, they have a whole team. I'm sure. Um, not all of us have the right ones, choose the right, uh, trends that make sense for your brand and leave the rest. Yeah. Very cool. I love that. Um, all right. Perfect. Um, speaking of trends, is there one that you're loving right now? Um, and on the flip side of that? Is there one that you just would wish would go away? A trend that I'm seeing right now, which isn't necessarily like a TikTok trend or anything, is I'm seeing a lot of employee advocacy really be pushed from brands, which I really love.

5:09 I mean, you got to think there was a time when I was working for a financial institute that they didn't even like that I had social media. Now you've got places like JP Morgan that are hiring for literally someone to come in and teach their C-suites how to be on social media. Oh, that's cool, yeah. Employee advocacy. And so that's a brand I really can get behind. Like this trend that I'm getting behind is this push for, hey, you're going to be talking about work and business and all this stuff anyways.

5:38 Let's lead that conversation and teach you how to do it yourself and be a personal branding. Right. And I mean, all of the trends on TikTok are fun and they're funny to get behind. but like I mentioned just like choose the right ones for your brand voice I hate to see people who jump on a trend that it just does not make sense for their their brand and you just cringe and you're like oh they could they they could have just left that one on the table yeah I I feel like there's always one that makes the rounds and like everyone does it and yeah it's like it doesn't really make sense for you yeah some of those are great like if it makes sense for your brand, you got to look and go, okay, our audience is our audience going to go, Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

6:23 Exactly. Right. Or is it just and it means the same thing with like brand partnerships with influencers and stuff. I'm sure you write that do brand partnerships. And it's like, that makes no sense for the rest of their content. And so I'm really, you know, hesitant to sign on to anything that I'm like, will my audience go? Okay, what does this even mean for her. So I'm very cautious about that too. Yeah, no, that's a good point. I have one that keeps coming to me and they it like a t company and it looks cool Like but I like I don sign up for it Cause I go look at the the the t and I like I would never like, I would look so silly.

7:09 We do use in our daily basis. Does it make sense for the content we share? So it's like, if you're coming to me and it's like, Oh, protein shakes. I do drink a protein shake every morning, which is right. Does anyone on LinkedIn give a crap that I drink a protein drink every morning? Probably not, because I'm not a fitness influencer. I'm on corporate Facebook, as I like to call LinkedIn. Right. Doesn't really make sense. Like what does this protein shake teach me about B2B marketing? Yeah, exactly.

7:42 That's so important. And it goes back to what you said at the beginning, You have to have that vision. Like, who are you? Who is your brand? What makes sense from that standpoint? So, yeah, that's very important, I think, for people to hear. And some people listening are probably breathing a sigh of relief that they don't have to follow all the trends. I promise it actually hurts you more to do it all. So, like, tell your boss that whoever's listening. It hurts you more to have to do it. And every social media manager is like, I've been screaming this forever.

8:22 That's funny. And I love what you mentioned too, about the kind of the evolution. When I started on LinkedIn way too many years ago, I worked for an investment bank and it was a similar situation. Like nobody told me not to post, but at the same time it was like, am I allowed to do this? but now yeah now my last corporate job was in recruiting and it's like well of course a recruiter is going to post all the time like you should be posting all the time on LinkedIn it's free advertising for the company um so he's embracing it because I mean for years it was like oh well what is she saying on LinkedIn is it gonna hurt our brand all this stuff and then there's so many companies that are looking and going oh well this presence that this person one of our employees has is actually helping our brand and really, you know, leaning into it.

9:18 And I love to see that because, you know, it's just, it's an untapped resource that so many companies aren't using right now. Right. Totally agree. All right, cool. So kind of moving on in that same kind of direction, talking a little bit more about personal branding. Anybody can create and should create a personal brand. It's only helpful. It helps you get out there, whether you're looking to just stay in corporate, having that presence is super important, especially right now because the job market is not the best.

9:57 Yeah. So those that have that personal brand, it's advertising for yourself in a way. But for maybe somebody that hasn't ever done it before, it can feel overwhelming. So if someone listening today is like, yeah, I get what you're saying. I want to get started. Where should they start at like square one? If it's the most important of your opinion. Yeah. I mean, the thing I say all the time is like your personal brand is already out there, whether you like it or not, like what are you telling that story?

10:32 What are you putting out there? It's if someone comes to look at my LinkedIn, I have written the story I want them to see. I have my own brand. And so where I started, which is funny, I just posted about it today, because I was laid off from Forbes about a year ago. And I took a step back in my career and went, okay, what do I want to do? And I was scrolling through LinkedIn. And I was seeing all these thought leadership posts and things. And I was like, you know what, I would like to start building my personal brand.

11:01 And here we are a year later. And it's just been an incredible journey. And where I started was I just started posting and it was, I needed, I, my biggest advice is to post what you needed to hear a year ago. So like for me, I recently posted about late being laid off and like what I needed in that moment that I wish I would have been scrolling LinkedIn and saw someone say, hey, a year ago, I was laid off. Here's what I needed to hear. That's the best part to see. What does someone in a position six months ago, a year ago that you were in, need to hear that you can now talk about?

11:39 Start there. And so it's, you know, you don't need a content calendar or Canva templates yet. You just need clarity on your perspective and willingness to show up and be a person, talk. I always say, write like you talk. That's exactly where to get started. Don't overthink it. You don't need to have it perfection. It's just talking to people and telling you. Yeah, I think that's great advice. I do that now. When I'm posting, It's typically because I've learned something or I was reflecting, like you said, on my story and, you know, how it can resonate with other people.

12:26 And I think a lot of people are doing just what you described. There's unfortunately a lot of layoffs happening. They've always been there. I used to work in HR and unfortunately had to do the layoffs. So it's been going on. A lot more people are talking about it now, though. I feel like it used to be such a hush hush. Like, you know, I don't want people to know that I was laid off. What are they going to think of me? I think I wasn't good at my job. And it is really scary to talk about. I mean, if you would have talked to me a year ago, it wouldn't like, am I, should I even say anything?

12:56 Like, and now I'm very comfortable being like, this was a pivot for me in my career. It's such a turning point in my career that I do talk about it because it was such a thing. And now I have people in my DMs going, thank you for saying something. I was laid off three weeks ago and I have been quiet about it. I felt the same way. I felt the same devastation, et cetera, et cetera. And that means so much. And you have a story to tell and there will be people in your DMs going, I needed to hear that.

13:26 I felt that way. You put into words what I couldn't. That's awesome. And I totally agree. I think everyone has a story to tell and it, you never know who you're going to reach and who you can help by, by just talking about it. And also how you said, just get started. That the hardest part is literally hitting posts the first time And then just crossing your fingers and closing your eyes being like no one going to see this And that okay I you know some posts are just going to be quiet especially when you first start It's just got to build up to it, but it's getting started.

14:05 You, you're not going to get to where I am now. If you don't like, I didn't post that first year ago. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I think in a way it's kind of nice because people probably won't see when you first start posting. It's actually okay. You don't want your first post ever to go viral. That's probably.

14:29 That's so funny. Yeah. So if you're listening to this and you've been thinking about it, go post something this afternoon and just get started. You'll learn along the way. You'll get feedback from people. Um, and it's going to help someone out there just talking about your story. Um, and it's going to help you. It's going to put you out there. It's worth it. If one person slides in your DMS and says, I needed to hear that today, that makes that post worth it. It doesn't go viral. You don't need to touch on a thousand lives.

15:04 One person might need to hear one person could be me a year ago, scrolling through LinkedIn going, what am I going to do next? and seeing that it's all going to work out. And here's why. Okay. I needed to hear that. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Awesome. All right. Perfect. Um, so kind of moving on, let's say you, maybe you are a person that is posting, um, you know, three, four times a week, um, and you're not getting a lot of traction. Um, so in your opinion, what's the difference between, you know, just posting more and having an actual real brand presence online?

15:44 Yeah. So the difference between just getting started and posting that first one and then just posting to post is such a difference. Like you need to posting gets you seen, but having a brand that you stick to gets you remembered. So, you know, when people say, you know, need to know what you stand for, what you talk about, why they listen to you, that's your presence. So that goes back to the consistency. So no matter if you're a big, large corporation brand or a personal brand, it needs to be consistent.

16:12 One of the things I did when I started was I decided what my content pillars were. And when I do a lot of my LinkedIn speeches, I talk a lot about this, that this is your first step. I went, okay, I'm a human made up of a thousand different interests, but what are maybe three of my main things that I can consistently talk about without burning out, without getting over the subject. And then you have your sub pillars. There are other things that make me up who I am. So like my three pillars are marketing expertise.

16:43 I've been in marketing for a very long time, 15 years. I talk about that. Tips, stories, campaigns I've worked on, et cetera. My second are personal and career growth stories. I have been in my career for a long time. I've seen some shit. I have been around to literally see things that have great bosses. I've had bad bosses. I've had toxic work environments. I've had great work environments. I talk about all of that. And what have I learned from each thing? My third, if you can't tell, is humor.

17:19 I am very upfront about the fact that I am just, you know, I like to make people laugh and it gives a little like light to your day. And so I knew that would be one of my pillars, especially like corporate humor and millennial humor. And it helps me connect with people. I always say like, come for the laughs, stay for the insights. I'm also a mom. So that is something I talk about every while again. It's not a main pillar of mine because it's not my main content, but every once in a while, I knew if there are things that hit on multiple pillars, that's your sweet spot.

17:56 So I'm supposed to go mega viral about marketing. Motherhood is just marketing. And I talked about how my son won't eat fish, but he'll eat chicken. So now this is beach chicken. Oh, beach chicken. I love it. And I said, know your customer. And this thing went insanely viral. I mean, I ended up on the Today Show. I ended up on Newsweek. I mean, it was insane. And it was just, I mean, it was so funny. Some of these headlines were like, born to controversy. Is she lying to her children? Like it was so controversy.

18:37 And it was just so funny, but it was one of those things that touched on multiple pillars. It was humor. It was my motherhood. That was a sweet spot for my content. And if you can get it to hit on multiple of those, you're still staying consistent and you're able to talk about different things. But I recommend staying in those content pillars so people know what to expect for you. When they see my name or my little picture come up on LinkedIn, they know I'm not going to just be jumping in and being like today on, you know, Bitcoin.

19:09 Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. And I think one reason why that's, well, there's a few reasons why that's important. Number one, you know what you're going to be talking about all the time. It helps with like deciding what to post. So you don't have like that blank document, but also it, I imagine your pillars would be things you're passionate about. So it's just aligning, you know, why you do what you do. And all day on a phone call with your friend. When your friends or colleagues are calling you for advice, what are they calling you about?

19:50 Right. Exactly. Awesome. That's great advice. So thinking through that, let's say we had someone that maybe they have a full-time job, but it's not their passion and they want to start a business. But you and I both know it takes a long time to build a personal brand. So if they wanted to start it while they were working a full-time job, do you have any advice for them? How would you recommend that they go about doing it? Yeah. I mean, building your personal brand isn't going to happen overnight.

20:29 So it's going to take time and that can be a slow journey. So if you pick just one platform is what I recommend. Like you can diversify channels later, but pick the one platform that makes sense for you. If you it very if your personal brand is very visual travel things like that beauty fashion you probably not gonna wanna be on LinkedIn That probably not the platform Instagram TikTok things like that Pick one You don need to be across the board right away and post like once or twice a week. Treat it like a digital journal meets your portfolio.

21:02 Share what you're learning, what you're seeing, what you care about, and you don't need to go viral. You just need to start making a foundation for it later. So that's how you get started. And like I said, just posting. I mean, if it's like me, I knew that my brand didn't make sense on Instagram or TikTok. I mean, TikTok, maybe I could probably get on and do this. I don't have a passion for video. So it's just not what I love to do. And you can burn out so easily by doing that. I'm a former journalist.

21:33 So writing was my passion. I knew that I could write a post every single day and not burn out. Think about what's going to be something that you can talk about all the time consistently and not go, okay, this is now a second job. This is a chore. Yeah. I think having the self-awareness to understand what you like, not just what's popular because yes, you will burn out so quickly. Yeah, everyone wants to have TikTok and especially like they've got the creator funds. If you like have so many followers, you start making money for it.

22:13 LinkedIn does not have that, unfortunately. And so you have the creators, that makes sense for people to wanna be there, but is it gonna start turning into a, I have to. Oh, this is a job. It's a chore. I don't even want to get up and do this today. Like I enjoy when I, when I wake up and I'm like, Oh, I get to like write my post or like post something. I am excited because I get to talk to my community and I love sharing insights. So it hasn't ever felt like, Oh, I have like, I, I have to go do this.

22:45 And if it does start feeling like that, then take a break from it. Right. Don't need to just show up and burn yourself out. I know plenty of people. I mean, when I did my move, I moved from Austin back to Pittsburgh, which is my hometown a couple months ago. I took a couple of weeks to only post one or two times a week, which isn't like me. I usually post almost every day, but I needed to take that time for my personal life. And I said, this will be here when I get back. Yeah. That's a super important to point out.

23:16 Cause even like, even if You do love it. You have a life and life gets stressful. Life gets in the way. And you have to build your personal and your online presence in both aspects. And one of them isn't going to give to the other. You need to make sure that you're balancing it correctly. Yeah. And I will say, too, sometimes I think people get scared. Oh, if I don't post, I'm going to lose my traction. and it's all the algorithm. The algorithm hates me, which I can't lie. It does. I'm not going to lie to you.

23:51 It does show up, but you'll get it back. I mean, it's a week or two for the algorithm to forgive me. I had to beg for forgiveness, but it comes back around. You might have a week where the algorithm's mad at you and being stubborn, but it does, you will pick back up. I promise. Right. Love it. Awesome. All right. So we just have a few minutes left. So maybe we could end with one thing you wish more people knew about marketing. So many things. But I think the biggest thing is that a lot of people think marketing is just about selling, but it's not.

24:37 It's about translating. And what I mean by that is you're taking something that might be complex or unique or even boring. I mean, we both worked in the financial space. Like there's, you know, that's not the most exciting thing you'll ever talk about, but what we were doing is turning it into something people can instantly understand and want. And that's where the magic is. We're taking something that might need education behind it. It might be a story and we're telling that story. And I think that's the beauty of marketing.

25:08 Yeah. I love that. Um, I know some people, you know, probably think, oh, my business is so boring. Maybe I'm an accountant or whatever. But like you said, you can make it interesting. And it's obviously interesting to you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing it. And that you make so creative with it. I mean, when I was working at a financial institute in banking, it's not just, okay, take out this loan, open a bank account, open this. It's, okay, what are people doing when they do that? Oh, they're buying a new home?

25:41 lean into that. Oh, come expand your family. Oh, you're going out and you have your first job. You need a checking account. Tell that story to pull on the heartstrings, even if it's the most boring product. Awesome. All right. Perfect. So for people that want to follow you, connect with you, what is the best place for them to do that? Yeah. LinkedIn, corporate Facebook. That's where you can find me. And I'm there always. So follow me at Nicole Ray Ramirez. So LinkedIn slash Nicole Ray Ramirez. And I am there sharing insights and humor and just all about my life pretty much every day.

26:29 Awesome. And also with the event, you should be able to click on Nicole's name and it should take you directly to her profile. So definitely go follow her and keep getting all of the great advice that she provides on LinkedIn. So thank you so much for joining us today. Great conversation. Lots of very interesting little nuggets. So appreciate you coming on. um yeah um so that is it for today guys um i am so happy that you joined us today if you enjoyed our conversation and you want more ideas and insights like this make sure you follow our company page at orlando insight group we're always sharing um new information there and highlighting um the guests like nicole that we have on here about every week um so definitely go follow us.

27:29 All right. Thank you so much, Nicole. Thank you. Bye, y'all.