What’s a Personal Brand?
If you’re not sure what a personal brand is, it’s what you’re known for. It’s how people remember you. It’s what they think of when they think of you and your business. Having a personal brand is important, because it can help distinguish you in your business.
If you’re looking to create a personal brand, the first thing you should know is that it’s not something that will happen overnight. It will take time for you to create, and will also take time for others to realize that you have a brand and see it. Putting the work into building your brand is worth it, as over time it can help you reach your business goals as well as grow your business.
Why Build a Personal Brand
If you want to be known for your business, a personal brand can help with that. A personal brand shows your values and what you’re about and stand for. It highlights your strengths. When a prospect looks you up online, your personal brand can give them a good idea of who you are and what you represent. By looking at your personal brand, a prospective client can see if you’re someone they want to learn more about, and possibly work with or follow.
It’s also a good way of expressing who you are and your long-term vision. When your personal brand resonates with you and your values, you attract people in your inner circle whom you connect with.
By having a personal brand, you’ll be able to make it easier for people to know if you’re what they’re looking for. They can decide if you’re the type of person that is like them, and if you’re someone that they want to learn from. They’ll know if they should read your blog, follow you on social media, buy your courses, or if they should look for someone else.
By building a personal brand, you’ll also build your community. Now that they know what you stand for, the people who want to learn from you and be more like you will start to follow you. By doing this, you’ll also gain more authority as well.
The work that you put into building your personal brand can help you over the long term. Once you build it, people will start to reach out to you knowing what you’re about. If you launch your own products, these people will already know that they’re interested. If you promote other people’s products, they will trust you enough that if you say they’re good, they are. They’ll go out of their way to read what you write, and follow you on social media to make sure they don’t miss anything you say.
Here are some things you can do to build and grow your personal brand
Start with a story. Everyone loves stories. They drive our world. They evoke feelings, and help others feel closer to us. How did you get to where you are today? What’s your “why”? Why did you get into your business? Tell a story people will resonate with and they’ll feel closer to you. If you think about the people you follow, you most likely know their story. You know how they got where they are, and why they do it. You also know other things about them as well, and feel closer to them because of it.
Create a brand promise. A brand promise is a statement that lets your followers know what they can expect from you whenever they interact with your brand or company. It can turn into a tagline on social media or even on your own site. Regardless of the businesses you start or products you launch, what is the brand promise that will tie those things together?
Be Genuine. If you’re saying things to get people to follow you and possibly buy from you, they’ll realize it. You can’t pretend to be someone else. Be genuine. When you say something, mean it. Will everyone like what you say? No, but it’s important to be genuine as that’s who you are. People will appreciate that, and will trust you and follow you more because of it, even if they don’t agree with every single thing you say.
Build your online presence. You might have a website already, but are you on social media? Are you other places that your audience can find you? It’s hard to grow if you’re no where but on your own website. Find places that your audience hangs out, and go there. This way they’ll stumble upon you online, and learn more about you. If no one knows who you are or how to find you, you’ll never grow your business.
Make sure you’re visible. Besides posting on your website and on social media, how else can you be seen? Well, many people like to associate a face to the person. Are there pictures of you anywhere? Can they see a video that you’ve created? People will feel a lot closer to you if they’ve seen and/or heard you online. If you’re not comfortable showing your face, would you do a video with your voice and the computer on the screen? Would you consider doing a podcast or other audio? Any way that people can “see” you better will help them trust you more and will build your brand more.
Be focused. It’s fine (and expected) to talk about multiple topics, but make sure you’re still staying focused on what you’re about. People want to follow you because of certain things. It’s OK to go off topic once in a while, but if you’re continually all over the place, people will notice.
Adjust your brand as you grow. As time goes on, you’ll grow and change. Not only is that expected, but you should hope that you grow and change as you work in your business. But as you change, adjust your brand so that it aligns with your new values and beliefs. That way there is no disconnect.
Through creating recognition, branding can be the way that you start achieving your goals. Just remember to still be yourself!