The truth is, we’re spoiled with choices nowadays, which makes personal branding more relevant than ever. Times have changed. Things aren’t quite as simple or as straightforward as before.
For example, in the past, you would show up at an interview with nothing more than your resume and a presentable outfit, and that would pretty much be it. There was nothing beforehand to influence your potential employer’s impression of you.
However, now it’s very likely that people judge you even before you arrive at an interview. Potential employers are looking you up online to see what they can learn about you. How you’re presenting yourself can determine what impression you give off.
The same is true for service-based businesses. It’s no longer just about what is local or convenient. People read reviews, look on social media profiles, and ask friends for recommendations. Here is where personal branding can either help to make or break your business.
Let’s take a deeper look at what personal branding consists of, why it’s essential, and how to do it successfully.
What is Personal Branding?
In simplest terms, your personal brand is your reputation. It allows you to look at yourself from different perspectives. It’s how your audience perceives you. It’s also considered a promise of what you’re doing and who you are.
Personal branding is your intentional effort to communicate your value proposition to others. It’s instilled in the minds of the people with whom you interact. It’s based on their experiences with you and the actions and behaviors you’ve demonstrated around them.
The idea of personal branding is not just to gain many followers on social media, but rather it is a way to grow in your career and create a niche for yourself.
Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room, remember that - Chris Ducker
Building your personal brand lends credibility and authenticity to your business. It takes consistent work, but it's the only way to go if you want to succeed in what you do.
Why Making Your Brand Personal Matters
Unquestionably, there’s now much more focus on what people say about a brand. It’s no longer so much about what the brand is saying about itself.
Indeed, you could be the most outstanding or talented person, but it won’t matter if you don’t have the personal branding to reflect it. Your personal brand needs to be as impressive as the quality of work that you create.
It’s also equally important that your personal brand is consistent and has integrity. It needs to align with who you are. People are looking for a connection. When you create content around who you are as a person, your audience develops a much deeper trust.
According to an article on Entrepeneur.com, surveys have shown that trust in brands and corporations has declined in recent years, and 84 percentof millennials don’t trust traditional advertising.
It’s now more important than ever to count on strong personal branding to create those much-needed connections to audiences.
Personal Branding Done Right
First of all, we recommend answering these key points suggested by Personal Branding Coach Kat Elizabeth to get you started:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Why you do it
- How you do it
- Who you’re trying to serve
Additionally, it’s also equally important to have a strategy around these points. However, you need to consistently deliver your promise to your audience for any of this even to work.
Besides answering these questions, you also need to focus on the technical and the visual. Building a successful personal brand doesn't happen overnight. It needs to be based on what you do daily, so people really get to know you and recognize your work. Your audience needs to know your tone of voice and personality.
Another essential part of personal branding is integrity. People can sense a fake and will run away from that. You need to consistently deliver on what you say you’re going to deliver. Just having nice-looking websites and media feeds isn’t going to cut it. People need to know they can trust you. Your personal brand should speak for itself.
To help you define your next steps, we suggest following these five key elements for effective personal branding.
1. Be authentic.
Always be yourself really does apply to your personal life and business. You can’t fake authenticity. We’re also definitely not saying to promote yourself as being authentic. It simply means that your words and actions should align consistently.
Above all, it’s important to figure what works best for you and to stick to it. Don’t try to fake it till you make it. Your audience will perceive your authenticity and appreciate you for it. Remember, nobody likes a phony.
2. Create your persona and share your story.
Building a persona is a helpful step towards building your brand. It defines who you are, the work you're doing, and why people should be interested in you.
Also, your story is a key part of effective personal branding. Storytelling is effective in traditional marketing because it creates an emotional and human connection.
A great story tells people who you are, what you stand for and how you got to where you are today. - Matt Orlic, Entrepreneur.com
A good brand story should explain your personal brand’s core values and culture. It should also tell the journey from start-up to where you are now.
3. Present a clear value proposition.
Indeed, personal branding cannot be successful without first knowing what you have to offer your audience. You need to be very clear to your audience in what you’re offering them in exchange for their time.
Whether you plan to offer resources for marketing tips, growth hacking advice, or to be an expert on operational efficiency, you need to be able to communicate it clearly to your audience - Entrepeneur.com
4. Build your platform to gain visibility.
Undoubtedly, for any personal brand to grow, it needs to have visibility. You need to build a platform and actively promote yourself. The trick is to get active and do it consistently.
By creating a personal portfolio or a blog you'll be on the right path to making your work known to others and you can also leverage the power of social media to help you with this.- Gift Egwuenu, Building A Killer Personal Brand
Also, you can promote yourself through content marketing, social engagement, interviews, and community involvement.
5. Share your knowledge and expertise.
Without a doubt, sharing your knowledge by blogging about it, making video tutorials, or mentoring others is a great way to build a connection with your audience. Doing this helps to impact people and, in return, your business as well.
In addition, your expertise will make people follow you and remain engaged. The point is to get connected to your audience and to stay connected.
Of course, there are many different possibilities in which you can share your knowledge with others. Try different options and see what works best with the personal branding you’re trying to create.
Personal Branding Is Your Reflection
Above all, remember that your personal brand should always reflect who you are and what you stand for. It can be tempting to only focus on more superficial aspects of your business. However, without authentic personal branding, people will have trouble connecting to you. Be yourself, keep your promises, and people will believe in you as well.
Let’s talk.
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