We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robyn Graham a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robyn , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Women often struggle with a lack of confidence, body image, self-doubt, and fear, especially when in front of a camera. “Make me look 10 years younger and 20 pounds lighter”, I heard over and over. “I don’t photograph well.” “I hate having my picture taken.” “I always look terrible in photos.” These are just a few of the statements I heard when booking clients for my branding photography business.

After we worked together, they felt confident and beautiful and emphasized how easy it was to be in front of the camera this time. But they still lacked confidence in how to use their images. In addition, they lacked knowledge of personal branding and business building in general.

I recognized a need that I could provide a solution for. Having built a successful photography business and personal brand, it was easy for me to provide the missing pieces for other brands. As a result, I added image use and personal branding consultations to my menu of service offerings.

To better serve my clients I became certified in brand strategy. Combined with my knowledge of marketing, SEO, processes, and systems, I knew without a doubt I could help women transform their businesses into success with simplicity, ease, and grace.

I believe that when we work together, we can create a domino effect of good in the world. I knew that if I could help my clients transform their personal brands and online presence, I could help change the trajectory of their businesses and therefore, they could have financial security, freedom with their familes, and have a bigger impact on the world.

And best of all, no one else was doing what I was doing. My consultation services became more in-depth coaching. Because of my scientific background as a doctor of pharmacy and years of studying mental health and mindset, I was able to incorporate belief and thought work into my coaching services. Branding photography was my stepping stone to becoming a full-time brand marketing strategist and business coach.

Now, my clients have the luxury of clarity around their purpose so they can create messaging that resonates with their soulmate clients. We use systems, tools, and SEO so that they don’t have to experience the pressures of social media as they start and grow their businesses. When the mind is clear, you can be present in a way that allows you to serve your soulmate clients and have a meaningful impact on the world while making money faster.

Robyn , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My journey has been anyting but linear. I grew up in a very small town in southern Illinois, a farming community. I had big dreams of living in a city, having financial security, and going on adventures. So I went to pharmacy school and attained a doctorate degree.

I worked in corporate and as a consultant for many years. As my kids were growing up and playing travel sports life became a bit overwhelming and the anxiety level in our home was rising. My husband was traveling globally quite often and I too was traveling to meetings with clients and conferences. With no family support where we live, we decided I would follow my passion and use my gifts as a hobbyist photographer to start a professional photography business.

I built a very successful photography business with a focus on headshots and branding photography. Having much experience in marketing from my career in pharmacy, I was became especially curious about branding and using personal branding to build relationships with an audience to attract soulmate clients.

Eventually, I became a certified brand strategist. As someone who loves to learn, I didn’t stop there. I studied coaching and mindset and because of my science background, the miraculous design of the brain has always been an allure for me. Incorporating business coaching and mindset into brand strategy allowed me to connect more deeply with, and better serve, my clients and help them have a more meaningful impact and make money faster.

I fell in love with the process and watching them grow in their confidence, take intentional effective action, and navigate the world of entrepreneurship to start and grow successful businesses.

And that is where I am today.

To build my own personal brand, I started a podcast, The Robyn Graham Show, which I am very proud to say is now a top 1% globally ranked podcast. In addition, I am a #1 best selling author of “You, Me, And Anxiety” in which I share my lifelong journey with anxiety to help others navigate anxiety and life joyful, purposeful, peaceful lives.

In addition, I am on the board of directors for Face to Face Germantown, an orgnazation in the Philadelphia area helping impoverished people and transforming lives.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

So many people say they are intimidated by social media, they don’t like social media, and that they don’t want to be on social media because it overwhelms them.

I used to be of the mindset that I needed to be on social media to grow my business. When I had that thought, I posted to social media consistently. The key was having inspiring, entertaining, educational content that provided value, helped solve a problem, or inspired action. But beyond the content piece, engagement was critical.

My goal was never to get as many followers as possible but to have the right followers. This is where relationship building came into play.

If I learned about someone when listening to a podcast interview, I reached out to them to tell them I appreciated the information they shared and followed them. This opened the door for communication, usually resulted in a follow back, and a relationship began.

Once relationships were built, people began sharing my content and supporting me, like I did for them. This led to more followers.

Taking advantage of PR opportunities, such as being a podcast guest, also opened many doors to connect with people and grow my following.

Like many others, I find social media can be time consuming almost to the point of overwhelming. But to avoid the rat race of content creation I created content a month at a time so that there was not only consistency, but a chohesive feel. Appearance of an Instagram grid does matter. People want to connect with people who appear polished and professional and trustworthy.

At the end of the day, though, the key to social media is building relationships, not follower count.

I no longer believe that to start and grow a business you must be on Instagram or social media in general. In fact, I discourage it until you have built a solid foundation and have content on your website in the form of search engine optimized blogs, have created an email marketing strategy, and have all of your processes and systems in place.

The reason is multifold. First, you don’t own social media platforms. Therefore, if you put all of your effort into growing a fan base and publishing content that could disappear at any time, you risk losing it all. Secondly, social media is full of distractions. It is best to start your business without looking at what other people are doing to avoid comparison, doubt, imposter syndrome, or emulation.

Starting your business without social media allows you to build the foundation genuinely and organically with much less pressure. Once the foundation is built, use social media to grow your community and build relationships.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Your personal brand is what other people think say and feel about you. Branding is how you communicate what makes you unique, what differentiates you from all others in your area of expertise. You get to control the perception others have of you through your personal branding efforts.

And that is how I built my reputation as a personal brand strategist and business coach.

My message was consistent from my website to my social media posts to my PR campaigns and interviews.

The key for my personal brand was becoming recognizable, memorable, and sharable while building relationships by being genuine and authentic, not trying to be something or someone I wasn’t.

I owned my limitations and shared my knowledge providing value to my community and audience, never worrying about how much I was giving away, but focusing on providing what I knew people needed – because I needed that too when first starting out.

If you want to be seen as the expert, the go-to, in your area of expertise, or your niche, you have to communiate that you are the expert. By talking about personal branding strategy consistently and building trust I became the expert in personal branding for women who wanted to start and grow a business.

Believing that you can’t give too much away is a powerful concept. The reality is that no matter how much value you give away, people can’t, or don’t want to, do it by themselves. When you demonstrate your unique personal brand and abilities to solve a problem, people trust you. Since trust determines buying practices, your personal brand is an imperative part of the foundation for your business.

Approachability and accessibility were also a (remove the a) key components to building my personal brand and controlling my reputation, staying humble and never assuming I knew it all.

I built my reputation within my market by creating my personal brand, differentiating myself, and staying aligned with my values, visions, and passions – my purpose, and by being consistent to become recognizable, memorable, and sharable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://therobyngraham.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therobyngraham
• Facebook: https://www.therobyngraham.com/therobyngraham
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobyngraham
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/therobyngraham
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNrxK-44J7YVbM7THDOVJA
• Other: Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/therobyngraham/ Podcast: The Robyn Graham Show – https://therobyngrahamshow.com Book: “You, Me, and Anxiety: Take Action Over Anxiety to Enjoy Being You” – https://youmeandanxiety.com

Image Credits
Aliza Schlabach Photography