Ash Jones is the Founder of Great Influence, Europe’s biggest Personal Branding agency for entrepreneurs and business leaders. With a decade of experience in helping entrepreneurs build their personal brands, Ash has led strategy, social, and content for some of the best in business, including Steven Bartlett of Dragon’s Den and Diary Of A CEO, ex-Manchester United player Gary Neville, best selling authors Matthew Syed and John Amaechi and leaders at the likes of Booking.Com, Huel and Grenade.

What is your definition of ‘Personal Branding’ and how did you get into this industry?

For me, in its simplest form, personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort to build your network and reputation. 

I got into this industry because I saw Steven Bartlett speak on stage in 2012/13, before YouTube had taken off in the way it has now and I said to him, you should do that and put it on YouTube. Then we got into ‘what could a YouTube channel be about?’. And it was just a bit of a passing conversation, we didn't have a reason to really do it until Social Chain started in 2014, then there became a legitimate purpose to doing not just YouTube, but content in general, which was helping drive business for Social Chain and using Steve as a marketing channel for the agency. Essentially we were able to win new business and attract the attention of clients. So that's how I got into it. And my role was originally Marketing Director at Social Chain, and my job was to funnel opportunity into the business and raise awareness of the agency amongst the industry and amongst potential client base - the highest ROI way of doing that over time, we realised was through Steve as the founder. I was still ‘Social Chain’s Marketing Director’, but under the guise of Personal Brand Builder for Steven Bartlett.

What do you think is the biggest hurdle for people who are thinking about personal branding but haven’t taken the leap yet?

The first is not knowing what to do. I’ll often hear people say that “I don't have a plan” and they don't know what to speak about. And I think it's less about they don't know what to speak about, and more that they're not confident in a plan that will see them be consistent. I think people tend to have one off ideas and not much more than that. So if you give them a plan, they're able to get behind something that is mapped out over time and it feels consistent, they know what they're doing and they know how they're going to turn up consistently, rather than in these one-off moments.

I actually think people are quite good at turning up in one-off moments, when there's a campaign that they've worked on to talk about, or when they've got a new job, people seem to know what to do, but it's more the…how do you create a consistent voice / profile / personal brand, however you want to put it, that's something people struggle with. 

The other thing I know people struggle with is doing something that they've never done before when they are already many years into their careers. I’m really seeing this with people that are relatively early in their careers….they’re picking up personal branding as a concept and platforms like LinkedIn and Tiktok, from a career perspective, really, really easily, because they've got nothing to lose. They've not got a reputation built already so they're very willing to do these things. Whereas people that have been in their jobs and careers for 10-15-20, years, the barrier is, “Oh my God, I've got to do something that I've never done before, and I've got to not be great at it straight away and I might not be. People might see me not being good at it, or they might judge me differently from how they've judged me before”.

What’s one thing people aren’t thinking about around personal branding that they should be?

Just how much of a positive reputational impact and top-of-mind effect it can have working for you at all times. There's a book called The Psychology of Money, and it talks about how you think of making investments - think of them like soldiers who are going to war for you every single day and every single night, when you're sleeping, your army of soldiers is working for you in the background to help you build wealth. And it's the same concept…but with reputation instead of wealth. And the content that you produce and the presence that you have on social channels can be the proverbial soldiers that are going to war for you every single day. The war that they're fighting is to create a positive reputation for you in your career and keep you front of mind with your network and a potential wider audience, to bring in opportunities that might be relevant for you, plus an entirely new network that you've never even reached before.

Who do you think is nailing personal branding at the moment and why?

I think George Heaton of Represent, a Manchester-based clothing brand run by two brothers, George and Michael Heaton. 

George Heaton, the co-founder, has really nailed personal brand through the lens of being a brand ambassador for Represent. If you broke down the values of the brand to the customer, the identity, the behaviours and traits that are aspirational for the brand, George is the human embodiment of those traits, behaviours, characteristics and values. 

If you’d like to discuss personal branding and Great Influences services further, get in touch with the team directly at Great Influence via claudia@greatinfluence.co.uk.