377- How to Remain Authentic While Networking- with Kurt Kleidon

Social Capital

Meet Kurt Kleidon

Kurt Kleidon is the president of Kleidon & Associates, a marketing communication agency in Akron, Ohio. Kurt has more than 15 years of experience in marketing, branding and media relations. He also has experience as the founding editor of an arts and entertainment magazine editor and as a college professor.

In his professional capacity, Kurt focuses on marketing strategy and helping his clients find the right balance between digital opportunities and traditional marketing effort. With a background in storytelling, he truly enjoys developing new ways to convey a message within all the possibilities that are possible in social media and digital marketing.

As the host of his own podcast, Three for Three, Kurt interviews business owners on tips and tricks that have helped them build a successful business.

Kurt is avid in his volunteer work in the Akron area and has a passion for helping organizations that aim to improve the lives of children. Currently he serves on the board of a local arts organization that helps artists establish a sustainable brand and business model.

He is a published writer and photographer with more than 100 articles and photos that have appeared in print in various magazines and journals.

When does on-brand come off as artificial when networking?

Yeah, so we work with a lot of different clients to figure out what is their brand. Where should they be positioned? And sometimes when people think about branding, they think just about maybe the visuals of a brand. But of course, everything that comes with that includes things like mission statements and vision statements and a lot of different wording that goes along with it as well. And part of that is elevator speeches. We talk about networking, and how you keep your branding, and feel both on brand but feel authentic, as opposed to just reciting an elevator speech. So the way I put it here is that I think that an elevator speech really has to match the person who's saying it. Have you ever heard a muscle car drive by? You know that sound even if some of that's really loud and something in the background. So whenever you hear that, you look and you're expecting to see maybe a Dodge Charger or a muscle car. But what if you heard that sound, and you looked and you saw a 20-year-old Subaru? Totally mismatches what you're expecting, right? And if you think about that, with networking, there's nothing wrong with being that loud car if that's kind of a metaphor for maybe that elevator speech. There's nothing wrong with being a 20-year-old Subaru either, but they don't necessarily match. So I think it's really important that when you think about how you're talking about yourself, what you do, or your company, that that really matches how you present yourself. Because that's really important for people to make that feel natural. So when you're thinking elevator speech and sometimes love one of our clients, we write that for them, and you're getting to recite that and just make sure that that matches the M image that you're presenting, but also who you're speaking to as well. You think about that same metaphor, it's a, it's a muscle car. And it sounds like the most car looks like a muscle car. But it's, let's say, you know, at a somber event, well, you can't necessarily come with that same presentation for that. So think about making sure that all those brand elements that have worked so meticulously created, match how you're presenting it and who you're presenting it to.

If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of or differently with regard to your professional career?

What I think I would do was tell myself to prepare for any kind of meeting or any type of event. We're able to engage with people with maybe just a little bit of research or maybe timely news. So, I would usually come into conversations blind, and let it guide it as it goes in. I think there's a real benefit to being interesting and to be able to bring something to the table. If it's timely or news-oriented, and talking about more than just the weather.

But let's say you go to an automotive conference. Figuring out something that relates to supply chain or to manufacturing problems that are going on right now. That is really something that can make you stand out, make you interesting and make you look like you know what you're talking about. I would have benefited from having a little bit more time that went into that. I think that also makes it interesting and people appreciate that.

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