St. Louis Personal Branding, Digital Branding, and Innovation Conversations: A Recap of Product Camp 2016

Posted on March 01, 2016
Posted by Rahna

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at Product Camp St. Louis, a conference filled with inventors, product managers, project engineers and other entrepreneurs. I actually spoke on three different topics as a St. Louis expert in personal branding, a professional from a digital branding agency, and as a catalyst for St. Louis innovation. The feedback has been phenomenal for all three sessions.

Each session was markedly different. In the digital branding session, I talked about the philosophy of content marketing and how that can drive tangible results for your business. It was so much fun to see how interested people are in learning how to leverage themselves and their companies, as well as how to leverage digital activities and digital assets to promote their  organization. One of the things that I found most interesting about the digital branding session was the variety of perspectives in the room. Some people are very comfortable with the digital space and wanted to hear lots of specifics in terms of recommendations, while others were glad to hear the strategic overview of content marketing and digital branding. Here’s what attendees had to say:

  • “It was interesting to hear the importance of driving potential customers to your website.
  • “Thanks for the informative session.”
  • “Your session was great and great too for me-I’m not a marketing person so I have to learn that plus digital!”
  • “Thanks for your perspectives and strategies on building branding.”

The 2016 Product Camp St. Louis personal branding session focused on individual careers and how to position yourself in your world in a way that allows you to optimize and leverage your talents in the best way possible. I have discovered that most people find that challenging and interesting because most don’t think about their own personal brands. Here are some of the things that we heard:

  • “What was most interesting to me was just the idea that your personal brand should be as easy as breathing. Very insightful.”
  • “I was really impressed with the flow of conversation. I think it helps to have real life comparisons, so the more the better.
  • “It was interesting to me to hear that I need to actively manage my personal brand.”
  • “I liked hearing that I need to invest in my brand.”
  • “ It was interesting to me to hear that effective personal branding encompasses consistency, which is best served through authenticity.”

The innovation session talked about the mindset necessary to find new solutions and was more of a discussion about what is successful in different organizations. A key message in that discussion was the idea that innovation isn’t reserved for a few lucky people who get struck by an idea.  Innovation is something everyone can take part in simply by actively pursuing innovation.  One person commented that the session was inspiring and empowering.  They wrote: “Thanks for the innovation session; it was interesting to hear such a positive message.”  I was also excited to hear what others had to say about this because I will be giving another talk on Innovation Mindset at the end of March at a Public Affairs Conference on Innovation (find out more at www.prinnovatoin2016.com ). I will definitely be adding ideas from this conversation (I invite you to join me March 24-26—it’s going to be great!).

Thanks to everyone who attended St. Louis Product Camp 2016; I look forward to getting to know you all better in the coming months.

Photo credit: St. Louis Makes

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