In the red corner weighing in at 600 pounds we have the hulking behemoth.

The heavyweight champion of the world.

The undefeated challenger - THE BUSINESS BRAND. 

In the blue corner we have the new comer - lightweight and agile only 5 wins so far but all by KO.

Look at them as the flip into the ring, such grace and poise.

The crowd goes wild, it's - THE PERSONAL BRAND

I know which one my moneys on.

And it’s not who you think.

You see, slowly but surely personal brands are winning over bigger traditional brands.

Lets take a look at a well established brand like Nike and the Athletes it sponsors,

Nike has 8.7m Twitter followers, compared to the sports people it sponsors that’s a drop in the ocean.

Serena Williams has 10.7m Twitter Followers.

LeBron James has 50.1m.

and Christiano Ronaldo has 94.5m followers.

Nike is eclipsed by these titans of sport.

On social, personal and people matter more.

Which is why you have the power as a company or brand to take your respective employees and give them a voice.

Let’s take a look at some stats around this as well.

In 2021 Havas wrote this -

Only 36% of respondents feel satisfied with companies' actions to "make the world a better place;"

75% of brands could disappear overnight and most people wouldn't care; and

Only 47% of brands are viewed as trustworthy. 

Stephanie Nerlich, CEO of Havas Creative, said that the survey "uncovered deepening cynicism alongside a growing expectation gap in consumers’ relationships with brands and businesses".

The digital marketing institutes research shows us 

82% of People Trust Social Networks to Guide Purchasing Decisions

42% of Customers Use Ad-Blocking Technology

The influencer marketing hub shows through their research 

83% of firms take their influencer marketing spending from their marketing budget.

67% of brands are concerned about influencer fraud.

Big brands are aware of the problem and they think the answer is to throw more influencers at the issue. 

It isn’t.

The answer is more obvious than that and has been there all along.

And it's right in front of you.

You should be championing your workforce to be your internal mini brand champions and influencers.

Don’t leave it to chance.

Everyone from the C suite down has the opportunity to have their voice heard and become an influencer and a voice of authority in their space.

And be more trusted as a result.

Social media is the great leveller and the brands and businesses who understand and are leveraging this are winning long term over the more traditional marketing, advertising and sales route.

By building out an army of influencers you have a team of people who are that much more contextual with the audiences they are building.

Something old school brands will never be able to do.

Engineers speak and understand the language of other engineers, marketing teams across companies aligning with each other and discussing trends in their space.

By building out an army of influencers you have a team of people who are that much more contextual with the audiences they are building.

It’s beautiful to watch as your entire team across the board becomes social and starts to build real, genuine meaningful relationships with your potential buyers.

No advertising spend or influencer marketing budget can hope to compete with this.

And the best part is.

IT’S ALL FREE!

You just need to invest the time and discipline to become a truly social organisation.

And that doesn’t happen overnight with a 2 day training course.

Real digital transformation comes from consistency and sustained effort which leads to habit formation and that takes time.

And it needs to be lead and championed throughout the company from the top down.

And it’s not for every organization.

Those with toxic work cultures are out. The thought of social terrifies them.

But those with humans and heart at the core of what they do.

Will trounce their competition in the long run.

The road will be hard and long, but the destination will transform the way you build digital and real relationships.

That is the fundamental difference.

So enter the Dojo and begin!

"Don't fight for victory--fight to improve yourself. Victory will come."