Nick Nanton » branding strategies

Personal Branding Experts, Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq., Offer Helpful Personal Branding Tip

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:47:36 +0000

Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent, along with JW Dicks, Esq., The business strategist and personal branding expert, offer personal branding tip: forget what YOU know.

Orlando, Fla. – August 27, 2010 – Co-founders of the Dicks and Nanton Branding Agency and best-selling authors, Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent and JW Dicks, Esq., America’s Foremost Expert on Personal Branding for Business Development, were recently named Top 10 expert bloggers onFastCompany.com.

In one of their recent blog posts, titled “Personal Branding Tip: Forget What YOU know,” Nick and JW discuss the value of forgetting what you know, and start thinking more about what your audience knows.

“What I want to encourage you to do is forget what you know and start thinking about what your audience knows–their knowledge set is very different from yours. You don’t know where to begin because you think everyone knows what you know, it feels like common sense you know it so well, but it’s not,” write Dicks and Nanton.

“The most profound information is the stuff that’s simple, basic and easy to comprehend and most likely, you’ve forgotten about it because you know the basics so well,” continued the authors.

To read the entire post, visit http://www.celebritybrandingagency.com/blog/personal-branding-tip-forget-what-you-know.php

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick’s expertise on branding and marketing has been sought out and featured in the Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, The California Chronicle, DailyMe.com, FastCompany.com, USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

JW Dicks is one of America’s leading experts on using personal branding to build a business. JW emphasizes branding, and the importance of online marketing and social media to his clients and gives them strategies to expand their business in the current economy.

For more information on JW Dicks, visit http://www.CelebrityBrandingAgency.com

To learn more about Nick Nanton, visit http://www.NickNanton.com

About Nick Nanton, Esq.:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

Nick serves as the Producer of America’s PremierExperts® television show and The Next Big Thing® radio show, both designed to recognize the top Experts in their field and bring their solutions to consumers.

Nick is an award winning songwriter and television producer and has worked on everything from large scale events to reality tv pitches with the likes of Bill Cosby, President George H.W. Bush, Superbowl Champion Don Shula, Legendary Basketball Coach Bobby Knight and many more. Nick is recognized as one of the top thought leaders in the business world and has co-authored the best-selling books, Celebrity Branding You!®, Big Ideas for Your Business, Shift Happens and Power Principles for Success and has interviewed the top business leaders in the world, including Donald Trump, Richard Branson and Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. Nick also serves as editor and publisher of Celebrity Press™, a publishing company that produces and releases books by top Business Experts. CelebrityPress has published books by Brian Tracy, Mari Smith, Ron Legrand and many other celebrity experts and has published books for more than 60 best-selling authors. Nick has been featured in USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, Newsweek, The New York Times, Entrepreneur® Magazine, FastCompany.com and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX television affiliates speaking on subjects ranging from branding, marketing and law, to American Idol.

Nick is a member of the Florida Bar, holds a JD from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, as well as a BSBA in Finance from the University of Florida’s prestigious Warrington College of Business. Nick is a voting member of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS, Home to The GRAMMYs), a 4-time Telly Award winner, and spends his spare time working with Young Life, Florida Hospital and rooting for the Florida Gators with his wife Kristina, and their two sons, Brock and Bowen.

To find out more about and Nick Nanton, please visit http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com andhttp://www.NickNanton.com

About J.W. Dicks:

J.W. Dicks, Esq. is America’s foremost authority on Personal Branding for Business Development. He has developed some of the most successful mass media and multi-channel business marketing campaigns in the country and built multi-million dollar businesses on the back of them – to the tune of more than $500,000,000 in sales.

J.W. represents some of the top marketers and professional experts in the world in the growth of their businesses using online and offline business development systems, social media, multi-dimensional marketing, franchising and strategic legal structure to accomplish their goals and capitalize on the assets they create.

A “Best Selling” author with more than 14 published books, and hundreds of articles, J.W. has also been quoted or appeared in Newsweek, The Wall street Journal, USA Today, NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX affiliates as well as Entrepreneur’s Start-Up Magazine, Forbes.com, CNN.com, and many other national and local media outlets.

In addition to coaching and consulting for clients nationwide, J.W. is also a successful entrepreneur living in the trenches himself. He has built his own businesses, with annual sales exceeding $35 Million, developed real estate in excess of $200 Million and created and sold intellectual property rights for as much as $1.8 Million.

J.W. is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason College of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, NASD, National Association of Realtors, the Florida Bar and the Virginia Bar.

J.W.’s business address is in Orlando, and his play address is at his beach house where he spends as much time as he can with his wife of 37 years, Linda, and their two Yorkies. His major hobby is fishing… although the fish are rumored to be safe.

JWDicks@DicksNanton.com • 800.980.1626
http://www.DicksNanton.com

Personal Branding Experts, Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq., Discuss Lady Gaga and Personal Branding

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:56:59 +0000

Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent, along with JW Dicks, Esq., The business strategist and personal branding expert, recently discussed Lady Gaga’s Personal Branding.

Orlando, Fla. – August 26, 2010 – Co-founders of the Dicks and Nanton Branding Agency and best-selling authors, Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent and JW Dicks, Esq., America’s Foremost Expert on Personal Branding for Business Development, were recently named Top 10 expert bloggers on FastCompany.com.

In one of their recent blog posts, titled “Personal Branding Goes Gaga,” Nick and JW discuss the personal branding aspects of Lady Gaga’s ambitions to produce and star in the next blockbuster music movie.

“From our brand positioning perch, we naturally applaud the next expansion of the Gaga brand but would hope that someone in the Gaga camp thinks strategically and doesn’t just jump from project to project without focus,” write Dicks and Nanton.

“There is clearly lots of money to be made from her growing brand and fan base, but at some point you have to make decisions on direction if for no other reason than to solidify what you have. This is not to suggest that Lady Gaga go conservative, heaven forbid the disastrous affect of that. On the contrary, it is an urge to focus and fill in the core of your brand base, making it stronger and ready for bigger challenges,” continued the authors.

To read the entire post, visit http://www.celebritybrandingagency.com/blog/personal-branding-goes-gaga.php

For more information on JW Dicks, visit http://www.CelebrityBrandingAgency.com

To learn more about Nick Nanton, visit http://www.NickNanton.com

About Nick Nanton, Esq.:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

To find out more about and Nick Nanton, please visit http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com and http://www.NickNanton.com

About J.W. Dicks:

JWDicks@DicksNanton.com • 800.980.1626
http://www.DicksNanton.com

Personal Branding Experts, Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq., Discuss Tony Robbins and Personal Branding

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:50:53 +0000

Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent, along with JW Dicks, Esq., The business strategist and personal branding expert, recently discussed Tony Robbins’s Personal Branding “Breakthrough.”

Orlando, Fla. – August, 2 2010 – Co-founders of the Dicks and Nanton Branding Agency and best-selling authors, Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent and JW Dicks, Esq., America’s Foremost Expert on Personal Branding for Business Development, were recently named Top 10 expert bloggers on FastCompany.com.

In one of their recent blog posts, titled “Tony Robbins’s Personal Branding Breakthrough,” Nick and JW explain the personal branding aspects of Tony Robbins’s new reality TV show, “Breakthrough.”

“Tony’s production company has mixed reality with message and created fans instead of buyers. While this may have a slight delayed effect in product sales, that delay will undoubtedly be outweighed by a strong new fan base for the entire spectrum of Tony Robbins Experiences including product sales as well as high end events and personal coaching at price points that might have seemed unattainable prior to the new show’s launch.,” write Dicks and Nanton.

“Make no mistake, this show will be a commercial success–perhaps even on the front end from ad sales, but it will be also undoubtedly be a success for Tony Robbins Productions, the producer of the show, and the mix of Robbins’s products and services that will be revived as well as newly created, all at the same time.,” continued the authors.

To read the entire post, visit http://www.fastcompany.com/1675170/tony-robbins-perosnal-branding-breakthrough

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick’s expertise on branding and marketing has been sought out and featured in the Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, The California Chronicle, DailyMe.com, FastCompany.com, USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

For more information on JW Dicks, visit http://www.CelebrityBrandingAgency.com
To learn more about Nick Nanton, visit http://www.NickNanton.com

About Nick Nanton, Esq.:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

To find out more about and Nick Nanton, please visit http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com and http://www.NickNanton.com

About J.W. Dicks:

JWDicks@DicksNanton.com • 800.980.1626
http://www.DicksNanton.com

Process Yields Progress

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:01:16 +0000

by Nick Nanton, Esq.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu

I am willing to bet that almost every single one of you reading this chapter has read the above quote – or had it quoted to you – in the course of your life. You’re starting college and it’s rough – somebody tells you about that first step. You’re having trouble getting a new business off the ground – somebody tells you about the first step. Whenever you’re at the initial stage of anything – you hear about ‘that thousand miles’ and ‘that first step’.

And to be fair, you can’t argue with it – it’s true. That ‘thousand mile journey’ starts with that first step.

What people don’t discuss, however, is the 4634th step. Or the 5489th step. When you’re so far from the beginning that you’re in danger of forgetting where you’re going – and when you’re still so far from the end, you think you’ll never make it there.

When you’re in the middle of the grind – when it feels like the pay-off will never come – and when you may be so tired you don’t think there ever will be a pay-off – that’s when it can be incredibly difficult (maybe the most difficult) to take the next step.

I firmly believe that when you get to that tough slog where it just feels ‘like you’re grinding it out for no reason’, that’s actually when you’re in the middle of the real hard work that’s going to ultimately validate your efforts. This is when it’s most important to follow through on the process and systems you’ve set up – and not forget what got you as far as you already are. That’s when you need to power through with your process and get what you originally wanted with it.

But let’s not start with the 5489th step. Let’s take Lao Tzu’s advice and start with the first.

THE FIRST STEP AND WHY IT’S CRUCIAL

Someone who I recently learned of, and am enamored with, has become an inspiration to me and a whole lot of other people, …former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. He always had an interesting first step for his players at his ‘first talk’ of the season. It probably wasn’t so interesting for the seniors to hear the exact same ‘first talk’ they heard when they were freshman – but Wooden was a man who believed in the proper process, which is one big reason he was voted “Coach of the Century” by ESPN.

That first talk of the season was not about the goals for the team, who the captains would be, or any of the usual rally cries of a typical coach, nope, it was all about Wooden demonstrating, in meticulous detail, how the players should properly put on their socks and their shoes. Yes, he would actually show them how to do it. And yes, you usually don’t get that kind of instruction after you’re two or three years old – especially from one of the best college coaches of all time. Frankly, most coaches at any level above elementary school would think it was too trivial to deal with – and college boys should know how to dress themselves!

Wooden, however, knew that most good players ended up on the bench because they ended up with blisters from gameplay. And he knew most of those blisters could be prevented if players would simply take the time and put on their socks and shoes correctly.

Hence the lecture every year – even to the players who had already heard it!! It was a vital first step to Wooden’s process – and do you really argue with a guy who ended up with an over-80% win record? …who won ten national championships? …who is regarded as America’s ‘winningest’ coach? I certainly wouldn’t!

By building from that base, Wooden created teams that knew basketball inside and out. He gave them a process that enabled them to do their very best – and turned him into a legendary coach.

It’s what all of us need to do in our individual businesses. Your first steps, in any venture, should be about finding out what works, from the bottom up. ‘Fine-tuning’ will obviously come as you continue along the way, but if you nail down the process that works for you personally, it’s a template that can take you to where you want to go — if you learn the basics, remember them and continue to implement them.

Some aspects of that process are generic – they’re essential to anyone trying to do what you’re doing. Others are personal – making use of your specific talents and what works best for you. Out of all of it, however, you build your own unique process by seeing what’s effective and what isn’t. Once you have it all put together, you drill that process into your brain at every given opportunity. And you never forget why you use the process you use – because it works …for you. Not for the guy down the street, or somebody two office doors down from yours… for YOU!!!!

And it has to be the process that’s going to serve you all the way down the line. I have to hand it to my four year-old son Brock’s T-ball coach, Coach Will, because he showed me this power principle in action and how it’s relevant at any age.

The kid that was playing pitcher (no, really, in T-ball they have one, they just don’t actually pitch!) in the game ran from the pitcher’s mound to run down another kid running to home plate – and pulled it off. He got the out. But the coach told the pitcher that’s not what he wanted to see. That’s not how the game is played. It’ll work out in T-ball, but that play won’t work when the kids get a little older, and a little faster. He said, “You might get an out this year with that play, but we’re not here to get outs, we’re here to learn how to play baseball.” Wow! Now that’s what I’m talking about! Coach Will wanted them to learn how to play the right way for the long run – now what worked just for now – so as they moved on, they could power through with the proper process.

With any first steps, you should be doing the same thing – finding out how whatever “game” you’re learning works, and how best to play it – whether it’s the game of life, the game of business, or a true game. The principle is the same.

THE FIRST STEP AND WHY IT’S OVERRATED

No, I’m not getting into an argument with myself, it’s true…first steps are absolutely crucial and also amazingly easy!

First of all, people are always incredibly encouraging when you start something new (unless they know you well enough to sense you’re heading for disaster). It’s exciting to them and they live vicariously through you trying something for the first time. Why? Because you have to do all the hard work and all they have to do is watch!

Seriously, how many quotes and advice do you see on beginning something, whether it’s a business or a relationship or just a workout regimen? Whereas, when you’re in the middle of something and whining about it – well, everybody’s in the middle of something and whining about it. And they’d rather listen to themselves whine than listen to you do it!

The first step also often means you’re not putting that much at stake. There’s not a lot invested in it emotionally, physically or financially yet. It’s basically setting a goal and beginning to figure out how you can achieve that goal.

Taking that first step usually means:

• You’re beginning something you want to get done.
• You haven’t faced serious opposition to your goal.
• You’ve psyched yourself up to get going – so you’re ‘pumped’ to see it through.
• Nobody expects a lot from you – because you’re just beginning to find out how it’s done.

In other words, sure, you’re nervous – but you’re okay to start that long ‘thousand mile’ journey, whatever it is. It’s not so bad. You’re choosing to do it. And nobody will be too hard on you about it.

The first step is also generally not that complicated. Remember what the first day of school or a class was like? It was the teacher telling you what you were going to be doing the rest of the semester or year and that’s about it. You didn’t have to worry, at that point, about having homework done or passing any tests. You were just there – trying to stay awake until the bell rang. Hey, even with Coach Wooden, all they had to do was figure out how to put on their socks and shoes the first time he talked to them! Most of us can handle that kind of pressure.

And one last thing about the first step not really being all that bad – you can totally ‘bail’ before the second step. Seriously, most things won’t have horrible consequences if you bail early (guys, this is not an excuse the day after that bachelor party, don’t even think about it!). Maybe you say to yourself, “Hey, I want to learn Mandarin Chinese (I use this example in honor of Lao Tzu).” You take that first step – maybe you get an introduction to a beginner’s Mandarin Chinese book – and then the bolt of lightning hits your brain….“Hey! This is hard! I’d rather spend the effort on __________ (fill in the blank with your next goal).”

What did you lose? …that $9.99 you spent on the book? …and those ten minutes it took you to realize it was hard enough for you to learn English? …let alone this.

Taking one step on the thousand mile journey and changing your mind? No big deal. Getting five hundred miles down the road and changing your mind? Enormous deal. That’s why you can’t…

DON’T JUST MUDDLE THROUGH THE MIDDLE

So let’s talk about being five hundred miles down that thousand mile road. That’s what I like to call the unsung hero of heroic struggles – the middle.

They say the closer you get to the summit, the harder it is to reach it. I’ve chosen to consciously disagree, and you can too with the right mindset – and I talked about this a little at the beginning of this chapter. When you’re so far along, you forgot why you started – but you’re not far enough to see where you’re going – it’s easy to feel like you’re stumbling around in the dark, going through the motions, and completely not getting anywhere.

And that’s where you have to power through with your process. That’s where you have to put your socks and shoes on correctly and keep doing what you’re doing, if you’ve proven to yourself that it works. You may need some adjustments – that’s normal, because the world is always changing – but in general, you have to ‘keep on keeping on’.

I’m speaking from personal experience on that point. For example, a big part of our business involves me speaking at different events all across the country. They are great because they usually generate a lot of interest in our business and we get to build a list of prospects who were interested enough to come out and hear me, and give us their contact information to stay in touch – so it’s almost always a good decision to accept invitations to speak at events. It’s something I’ve learned works for us and it’s definitely a big part of my process.

Well, I was invited to speak at what was billed as a major seminar event in California – and I was told there might be a lot of influential people there that would be interested in doing business, and many of them had very large fan bases (sounds good, but believe me, I’ve heard it before and the delivery of those elements is usually far less than what has been promised). So I thought about it. It was a big commitment (a week in California, away from my family in Orlando), and a big financial commitment (not that it was overly expensive for the trip, but because of my marketing budget at the time, I had to choose between this trip and a new marketing campaign I really wanted to launch).

The California trip, more and more, just felt like a big hassle to me, and an inconvenient one at that. I was ready to skip it, when I remembered that this kind of thing – speaking at places where I could widen my circle of influence and boost my network – was really a vital way that we grow our business. So, I agreed to it.

When I got there, I was amazed at the number of top-tier speakers and writers that were in attendance – it was a room of about 100 people who were all seven figure speakers and authors. I won’t drop names, but I would be willing to bet you’d know at least half of the people in the room. We’re talking about men and women who literally fill STADIUMS with rabid fans wanting to hear them speak, and others who had collectively sold over 100 MILLION books! It was insane! Don’t get me wrong, the seminar was hard work – sessions night and day – but out of that came lots of things, including an invitation to speak at another event which proved to be a huge windfall, and there are many other opportunities still being fleshed out, all because I didn’t forget my basic principles, even when I was reluctant, and I powered through with my process.

PROP-UP YOUR PROCESS WITH PRINCIPLES

When I was thinking about whether or not to accept that speaking engagement, I didn’t think about making important new contacts or generating more business. I concentrated on the expense, the work and the inconvenience. Obviously, big mistake on my part.
Fortunately, I got back on my thousand-mile road because I remembered that the process didn’t exist for its own sake – the process brought results!!!

And that’s what we all have to remember. We must continually perfect the process – and sticking to that process is more important than anything else…because the process gets us to the goal line.

When Coach Wooden gave his annual “socks and shoes speech,” some older players would start to feel insulted that he was still teaching the ins and outs of footwear. They didn’t want to listen to it all over again.

But consider this – do you think Coach Wooden really wanted to tell players how to put on their socks and shoes every single year?

Don’t you think maybe one season, he said to himself, “Maybe I don’t have to do this anymore. Maybe these college kids can figure this out for themselves.” I’m willing to wager he did – and that he also went back to doing it because he once again realized that this was his process, it worked and he should stick to it. …and because it was also important to his players’ process.

After the newness of whatever you’re in the middle of wears off, it’s tempting to forget all the building blocks that got you there. It’s easy to be distracted by turn-offs on the thousand mile road and take another route …that will take you somewhere you really don’t want to go.

Both behaviors are dangerous to your business. Sticking to your the principles that you used to develop your process helps you avoid them. Maybe you have a choice between a lunch with somebody you like but isn’t going to do much for your operation – and somebody else you don’t know that well but could do an awful lot for you. You’re better off seizing the second opportunity, even though you’ll have to invest some time and energy in getting to know this person and selling them on you and your business.

Making productive choices that will further your process means you’ll keep getting the results you want. And, hey, you can always have lunch with the other friend on a day when there isn’t a conflict.

When the pay-off isn’t necessarily in sight, you simply have to trust that what you’re doing will work – and that your process will, in fact, see you through to the other side.

I will leave you with some very wise words from Coach Wooden: “Don’t be too concerned with regard to things over which you have no control, because that will eventually have an adverse effect on things over which you have control.”

You have control over what you do and how you do it. You can’t control the outside factors. Even if you’ve made your process the most powerful it can be, it still won’t work every single time. But if you fixate on the things that could go against you, you’ll have a hard time achieving what you want to achieve.

Life is all about making the odds work in your favor – and having a process that will allow you to power through to the end of whatever road you’re on – means that chances are you’ll get what you’re after.

So pull on those socks and lace up those shoes the right way – so you can win the game!

Personal Branding Expert, Nick Nanton, Esq. Featured on MelRobbins.com

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:18:47 +0000

Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent, one of America’s leading personal branding experts, was recently featured on MelRobbins.com about his latest blog for FastCompany.com and his latest best-selling business book.

Orlando, Fla. – July 29, 2010 –Nick Nanton, Esq., one of the country’s leading marketing and branding experts, known as The Celebrity Agent, was recently featured on MelRobbins.com. Mel Robbins, a no-nonsense life and career coach and syndicated radio and TV personality, featured Nick’s latest blog for FastCompany.com, “Display Your Expertise.” The post also contains a video by Nick Nanton that reveals the secret to displaying your expertise “to rise above the sea of others in your market and dominate your competition.”

In the FastCompany blog, Nick Nanton wrote, “A huge part of building your personal brand is creating expert status. The big mistake that most people make is they make a very wrong assumption: that people know you’re an expert. Even if your clients and prospects know you’re an expert, they don’t know how much of an expert you really are.”

Mel Robbins also mentioned and praised Nick’s latest book, “Power Principles for Success,” which is a compilation of the thoughts of over 30 of America’s PremierExperts®. The book is loaded with practical, proven success principles you can use immediately to move ahead faster and achieve a life of greatness.

“Nick doesn’t just talk a good game, he puts his money where his mouth is. Yesterday, his latest book, Power Principles for Success, hit Amazon and became a best-seller in one day. We were lucky enough to get an advanced copy and it’s worth every penny of the $20 you’ll spend on it,” remarked Mel Robbins.

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick’s expertise on branding and marketing has been sought out and featured in the Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, The California Chronicle, DailyMe.com, FastCompany.com, USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

To read the entire post, visit http://www.melrobbins.com/your-brand-display-your-expertise/

To learn more about Nick Nanton, visit http://www.NickNanton.com and http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com

About Nick Nanton, Esq.:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

To find out more about and Nick Nanton, please visit http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com and http://www.NickNanton.com

Personal Branding Experts, Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq., Discuss Harry Potter and Personal Branding

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:53:43 +0000

Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent, along with JW Dicks, Esq., The business strategist and personal branding expert, recently discussed the staying power of the Harry Potter Brand.

Orlando, Fla. – July 29, 2010 – Co-founders of the Dicks + Nanton Branding Agency and best-selling authors, Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent and JW Dicks, Esq., America’s Foremost Expert on Personal Branding for Business Development, were recently named Top 10 expert bloggers on FastCompany.com.

In one of their recent blog posts, titled “Harry Potter and Personal Branding,” Nick and JW discuss opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, Florida, and how Universal is expanding the Harry Potter brand.

“While all looks great with Harry Potter and the investment Universal made, the naysayers have been wondering out loud if Harry Potter will indeed have legs for years to come, after the last movie is out,” write Dicks and Nanton. “Just because J.K. Rowling doesn’t want to write any more books, doesn’t mean she won’t license different forms of Harry Potter adventures, from cartoons to video games. All of this brand continuity is up to Universal, who has both the burden and the opportunity, to make the Harry Potter brand stay fresh and make its product line continue to flow,” continued the authors.

“The lesson in all of this for us is to remember that we too must be vigilant with our own brands and work to keep them fresh with new ideas and expanding products that not only grow in number, but also lead into new business verticals and opportunities,” conclude the authors.

To read the entire post and learn more about these strategies in detail, visit http://www.fastcompany.com/1671298/harry-potters-personal-brand-profits

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick’s expertise on branding and marketing has been sought out and featured in the Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, The California Chronicle, DailyMe.com, FastCompany.com, USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

For more information on JW Dicks, visit http://www.CelebrityBrandingAgency.com
To learn more about Nick Nanton, visit http://www.NickNanton.com

About Nick Nanton, Esq.:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

To find out more about and Nick Nanton, please visit http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com and http://www.NickNanton.com

About J.W. Dicks:

JWDicks@DicksNanton.com • 800.980.1626
http://www.DicksNanton.com

Tony Robbins’s Personal Branding “Breakthrough”

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:39:14 +0000

This blog was originally posted and featured on FastCompany.com. The original post can be found here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1675170/tony-robbins-perosnal-branding-breakthrough

By Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq.

If you missed Tony Robbins’s new mainstream premiere of Breakthrough, his new reality TV show, you missed the evolution of the blending of infomercial, reality TV, and soap opera.

While these adjectives describing Tony Robbins’s new show could be viewed as negative, we don’t intend them that way. It is the representation of the re-launch of Tony’s career in personal development and the launch of a new and powerful blended medium. Had this show been an infomercial, there would have been a strong call to action for viewers to buy the hot product Tony was selling. This may have resulted in successful front end sales followed by following up the sale with offers for additional products and services under the traditional infomercial format.

In the new media, Tony’s production company has mixed reality with message and created fans instead of buyers. While this may have a slight delayed effect in product sales, that delay will undoubtedly be outweighed by a strong new fan base for the entire spectrum of Tony Robbins Experiences including product sales as well as high end events and personal coaching at price points that might have seemed unattainable prior to the new show’s launch. Make no mistake, this show will be a commercial success–perhaps even on the front end from ad sales, but it will be also undoubtedly be a success for Tony Robbins Productions, the producer of the show, and the mix of Robbins’s products and services that will be revived as well as newly created, all at the same time.

First, from a reality TV test, the show was good. Great production, good story and the people were unquestioningly real. From Tony’s prospective, he too is to be congratulated because he recognized that in the new economy (arising post Great Recession), the focus will be on credibility as much as celebrity. People are tired of what they see in the news and the “BP BS lie detector” will become a new method of judging what people and companies say about their products and services. If you aren’t transparent from today on, you won’t pass the public BS lie detector test and you will get raked over the coals by your prospects and customers for anything your try to “sneak” by them–publicly we might add. On the other hand, if you are able to pull off what Tony Robbins did last night, which is to set up the next sale at the expense of a short term gain, the world will be your oyster.

Throw The Book At ‘Em!

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:46:44 +0000

By: Nick Nanton, Esq. & J.W. Dicks, Esq.

I entered the huge chain bookstore, hoping my guilty expression wouldn’t give me away. Then I furtively disappeared between two large shelves of books in the back, making sure no store employees were looking at me.

I eyed the area around me one more time – no one in sight.

And then I pulled the brand new copy of my latest book out from under my jacket…headed to the nearest open cashier…smiled to myself as she scanned the book’s ISBN bar…and I paid $21.95 for a book. A book I already owned.

My name is Nick Nanton…and I am a reverse shoplifter.

Why am I committing a crime against myself? I’ll explain a little later…but first, I want to tell you that this may be one of the most controversial chapters in this book… And not because I’m moving around in bookstores in a clandestine manner.

It’s because I’m about to advocate something that I believe delivers one of the biggest ROIs of anything out there today. But it’s also something that many people regard as being as dead as the dodo.

What am I talking about?

Well, I’m talking about what you’re reading right this minute.

A book.

A book can be an amazing platform for your business – it’s got prestige, it’s got impact and, most importantly, you can market yourself and your business through it in a ‘whole bunch’ of different ways. Because, to be honest, it doesn’t do you any good to write a book and then just put it on your shelf next to that dusty dictionary. It only makes a huge difference when you use your book proactively to expand your circle of influence, build your reputation and impress current and prospective clients.

Look at the super-successful people who put out books on a regular basis – people like Donald Trump. He doesn’t need to write books to prove himself any more – he can make as much money doing a couple of speeches here and there. No, he – and mega-motivational stars like Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield – create books for the above reasons. It’s not about getting paid for the book – it’s about growing their brands.

Just look at what happens when “the Donald” writes a book. Suddenly you see him everywhere – Larry King, Fox News, even The View. It gives him a whole new set of talking points and a reason to put himself out there. He knows that the ROI on a book is unlimited – as long as you realize it’s not just a book, it’s a gigantic marketing tool. That’s why it’s something I advise all my clients to do.

I’m going to detail in this chapter just how you can make your book go to work for you in a variety of ways. First of all, let’s talk about the book itself.

MAKING YOUR BOOK HAPPEN

The first thing you should do is be realistic. You’re probably not creating a New York Times Bestseller here – that’s not even what you’re really after. You make money from having a book – not from book sales. This is meant as a marketing tool to sell yourself and your business. Put your book together with that in mind.

As with any marketing tool, you want your book to be an attention-getter. That starts with the title – finding a way to put the concept of the book in a short, ‘punchy’ and powerful statement that taps into something people want to know.

Simple is very important. Has there ever been a better title than “The Secret?” Well, there haven’t been many better-selling titles, anyway. At the same time, it’s a gutsy title – because without the multi-million ad campaign for the book, its generic title could have left it lost in the shuffle. Since you’re mostly going to be sharing this book with clients and prospects, and not trying to sell it to the general public to a great extent, you can get away with that kind of approach.

Of course, you’re thinking, the title is the easy part – what about the content? Well, that might be easier than you think as well. Do you give seminars or create instructional materials? Have you given speeches about your business? That’s content – content you had to think about and structure accordingly. By getting these materials transcribed, you could already have the bare bones of your book content.

What happens next depends on your available time and your level of confidence. Let’s start with time – most entrepreneurs and business people just don’t have enough hours in the day to run their businesses and their lives, let alone try to write a book. It’s time-consuming and requires a lot of thought. Many who try it simply give up and don’t finish.

Then there’s the confidence factor – you may be intimidated by the thought of even trying to write a book. Most people don’t even like to write a short blog – and then there are those wouldn’t be ‘caught dead’ even trying to put together the 140 characters or less that go into a “tweet.”

That’s why most business people will use a ghostwriter to get their book down on paper. You can find excellent ghostwriters on Elance.com (where they’ll bid for the chance to work on your book), or you can ask business associates if they’ve worked with someone they like and trust.

It’s easy to work with a ghostwriter – you either give them the kind of transcripts we talked about earlier or you can talk through the main points of the book with them. The important thing is to end up with something that you can feel good about. If you’re going to use a book as a marketing platform, you want to make sure it’s professional, informational, and represents you and your business in the best possible light.

THE THREE STAGES OF MARKETING YOUR BOOK

Once you have your book finished and published, it’s time to really go to work. You can maximize your marketing punch not only when your book is published, but also before and after. Again, authoring a book is impressive – so make the most of it!

1) MAKE PRE-LAUNCH A PRIORITY

You definitely want people to know your book is coming out in advance. Begin by creating a website about the book before it comes out – offer a free portion of the book (a “sneak peek”) through an ‘opt-in’ box that will allow you to capture leads. You can even feature a “countdown” to the publication date and time to generate more excitement.

When the website is up, put out a press release announcing you’ve got a publishing deal, making sure you have links back to your website. Syndicate the press release and post it on all the social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Also consider doing a podcast by having a friend interview you about the book and put it up for download on iTunes.

2) GENERATE PUBLICATION PUBLICITY

Once your book is published, you can now use it to your advantage to get booked just like Donald Trump does. You probably won’t make it to “Larry King Live,” but you have a ‘good shot’ at some local air time at the very least.

Next, send out copies of your book to local radio and TV stations, as well as print publications, and offer to be interviewed. Also put in a listing in Radio-TV Interview Report (find out more at RITR.com) to make yourself available for national interviews. You can also mail copies to your top clients, send them out to get yourself booked for speaking engagements at business and civic events, and host a book signing event at a local book store.

You can also continue to produce podcasts for distribution through iTunes with a theme of something like …“Beyond the Book,” offering additional/updated information and conversation about topics you cover in the book.

And remember my “reverse shoplifting” at the beginning of this chapter? Here’s why you should consider taking a copy of your book into a bookstore – and buying it there!
As long as your book has a legitimate ISBN number and is available from a major distributor, two things we always do for our clients’ books, the bookstore clerk will simply scan the book’s barcode, a price will come up and you can purchase it, even though the store never stocked it in the first place. Best of all, the bookstore’s computer system will register that somebody bought your book and that they’re now out of stock – meaning they just might order more copies of your book to sell on their own!

3) CREATE A LONG AFTERLIFE

Now that you’re an author, it should become an important part of your professional profile. Make sure it’s added to your official bio and possibly even put the name of the book in your email signature for a limited time.

You can also break down a chapter and make it into a free ‘special report’, available on your website through an ‘opt-in’ box. Other chapters can be turned into online articles that you can syndicate, or you can rework the material into speeches or seminar material for your personal or recorded appearances.

Your office should also reflect your author status. Put a framed copy of the cover of your book on the wall in your reception area or office – it’s easy to do through canvaspop.com. Also, leave copies of your book on the coffee table in your office with “Take Me” stickers on the front. You should also donate copies to the local libraries in your area. Make sure your contact information is contained in these copies – either put a business card in the book, or have your info stamped on the back page.

At our Celebrity Branding Agency®, we take this process through another, very powerful step. We’ve created a foolproof way to make our authors’ books best-sellers in certain Amazon categories. We then honor them by placing them in our National Academy of Best-Selling Authors™ – and send out another round of press releases noting their honor and best-selling status, which opens up a whole world of marketing opportunities for the same book.

They say print is dead, but, thanks to Kindle, iPad and other electronic devices, it’s not really. It’s just migrated to LCD screens. The fact is that nothing conveys authority and credibility more than having a published book with your name on it. Publishing a book and marketing it correctly puts you and your business up more than ‘a few notches’ against the competition – and isn’t that what it’s all about?

And, best of all….reverse shoplifting is NOT against the law!

Personal Branding Experts, Nick Nanton, Esq. and JW Dicks, Esq., Discuss How To Display Your Expertise

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:24:35 +0000

Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent, along with JW Dicks, Esq., business strategist and personal branding expert, recently offered eight strategies that can enable businesses to display their expertise.

Orlando, Fla. – July 28, 2010 – Co-founders of the Dicks + Nanton Branding Agency and best-selling authors, Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Agent and JW Dicks, Esq., America’s Foremost Expert on Personal Branding for Business Development, were recently named Top 10 expert bloggers on FastCompany.com.

In their latest blog post, titled “Display Your Expertise,” Nick and JW provide eight sure-fire strategies that businesses, small and large alike, can use to display their expertise. The post also contains a video by Nick Nanton that reveals the secret to displaying your expertise “to rise above the sea of others in your market and dominate your competition.”

“If you run a printing company you’re only ever going to make a limited amount of money printing paper,” write Dicks and Nanton. “But, if you can become an expert on how to print the paper, or more importantly how to create mailing campaigns that help people maximize their return on investment, you’re always going to get paid more money. So you have to become an expert,” continued the authors.

“We all think that our clients and prospects can see inside of our heads, and they know exactly what we’re thinking. Obviously, that’s not true. So…we’ve got to display our expertise,” write the authors. Nick Nanton and JW Dicks delve into eight different strategies that are highly useful in doing just that. Some of these strategies include getting into social media, starting a blog, writing articles, issuing press releases, providing newsletters for clients, writing books, offering special reports and providing other information products.

To read the entire post and learn more about these strategies in detail, visit http://www.fastcompany.com/1673255/display-your-expertise

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick’s expertise on branding and marketing has been sought out and featured in the Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, The California Chronicle, DailyMe.com, FastCompany.com, USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

For more information on JW Dicks, visit http://www.CelebrityBrandingAgency.com
To learn more about Nick Nanton, visit http://www.NickNanton.com

About Nick Nanton, Esq.:

Nick Nanton, Esq. is known as “The Celebrity Agent” for his role in developing and marketing business and professional experts into Celebrity Experts in their field, through personal branding, to help them gain credibility and recognition for their accomplishments. Nick is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at the University of Central Florida. His book Celebrity Branding You® has been selected as the textbook on personal branding at the University.

Nick is an award winning songwriter and television producer and has worked on everything from large scale events to reality tv pitches with the likes of Bill Cosby, President George H.W. Bush, Superbowl Champion Don Shula, Legendary Basketball Coach Bobby Knight and many more. Nick is recognized as one of the top thought leaders in the business world and has co-authored the best-selling books, Celebrity Branding You!®, Big Ideas for Your Business, Shift Happens and Power Principles for Success and has interviewed the top business leaders in the world, including Donald Trump, Richard Branson and Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. Nick also serves as editor and publisher of Celebrity Press™, a publishing company that produces and releases books by top Business Experts.
CelebrityPress has published books by Brian Tracy, Mari Smith, Ron Legrand and many other celebrity experts and has published books for more than 60 best-selling authors. Nick has been featured in USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, Newsweek, The New York Times, Entrepreneur® Magazine, FastCompany.com and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX television affiliates speaking on subjects ranging from branding, marketing and law, to American Idol.

To find out more about and Nick Nanton, please visit http://www.DicksNantonAgency.com and http://www.NickNanton.com

About J.W. Dicks:

JWDicks@DicksNanton.com • 800.980.1626
http://www.DicksNanton.com

Harry Potter and Personal Branding

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:47:53 +0000

This Blog originally appeared on FastCompany.com. — Original post: http://www.fastcompany.com/1671298/harry-potters-personal-brand-profits

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at Universal Studios Orlando June 18 and the studio is reporting rising attendance and guest spending. This is of particular significance since Universal’s theme park attendance had been hurt by the global recession and travel slowdown. The opening of the new attraction had been a long awaited event for Universal and Harry Potter fans, so the news of positive performance brings a welcome sigh of relief for the hefty $250 million bet Universal placed when they went after the Harry Potter attraction and scooped it out from under Disney who resides only a few miles away.

While all looks great with Harry Potter and the investment Universal made, the naysayers have been wondering out loud if Harry Potter will indeed have legs for years to come, after the last movie is out. After all, J.K. Rowling has said she will write no more Potter books and she certainly has enough money (Forbes estimates her net worth at more than $1 billion) to make that statement believable.

First, it will be a very long time before all of the Harry Potter fans even have an opportunity to go to the attraction. By then, many of the readers will have had more of their children come of reading age and turned into Harry Potter fans. And at some point, the books will pass down to the next generation. Additionally, just because J.K. Rowling doesn’t want to write any more books, doesn’t mean she won’t license different forms of Harry Potter adventures, from cartoons to video games. All of this brand continuity is up to Universal, who has both the burden and the opportunity, to make the Harry Potter brand stay fresh and make its product line continue to flow.

The lesson in all of this for us is to remember that we too must be vigilant with our own brands and work to keep them fresh with new ideas and expanding products that not only grow in number, but also lead into new business verticals and opportunities. Like Universal, most of us have invested lots of time and money to build our brand and in doing so have secured a bit of intellectual property that we have that is unique. While our brand may not have the value of Harry Potter, it doesn’t have to for it to be an opportunity to create more jobs, economic growth contributions, and a nice nest egg for ourselves and families. That’s a bit of “Wizarding” magic in and of itself.