The importance of the personal brand has exploded in the world of modern business. There are so many massive companies where the owner or a significant figure is the flagship for the company. Think about Elon Musk, or Richard Branson for example, the mercurial billionaire. You may not know all of his companies, but you definitely know him! There are other examples to this point, such as the social media business influencer Gary Vaynerchuk. Ultimately, businesses and business owners are now trending towards creating personal brands for their most influential figures and themselves. It’s not just industry giants that can make use of the personal brand, it’s also the little guys like you and me.
In this article, we’re going to go over some of the most important things about having a personal brand. These are things like what a personal brand actually is, the benefits of using a personal brand, how to create a personal brand and the challenges you may face when creating a personal brand. If you already know some of this information, then feel free to skip forward, although I don’t actually recommend this. Stick around, you may learn something new!
What is a Personal Brand?
Building a personal brand is the process of making an intentional effort to build the credibility of an individual within your business. The most common instance of this is when a company’s founder needs to be seen as an authority in their space. This, in turn, makes the founder more credible and will increase the likelihood of sales for the business. This type of personal branding also makes for a great differentiating factor between you and your competition. You want to help the viewer to create a positive mental image of you as a person. People buy from people and if you seem trustworthy, you’ll find that your business will improve.
The importance of creating a great personal brand can be understood. Consider the fact that relationships with customers are constantly changing. Your business may take a reputational hit at some point and having a good personal brand can help with this. As a well-known and respected individual, you can personally address the issues facing your business. Your voice will be heard and there is a greater chance that you will be able to salvage the situation. Think about your personal branding and what the current state of it is before changing anything.
What Are The Benefits of Having a Great Personal Brand?
There are so many reasons why creating a great personal brand is beneficial for you and your business. Firstly, building a good personal brand will help you in the future. You may not stay at the same company for your entire career and how are you going to be known if you’ve only been pushing the business brand? Personal branding will help you to further your career by making you more well-known when you move on. You can leverage this reputation in your future endeavours. As previously stated, your business will also be soon to be more trustworthy. This is because customers can put a human face to the business. People buy from people after all.
You will also find that personal branding allows you to exert more control over your public image. If you don’t take control of your own personal branding, people will jump to their own conclusions about you. This isn’t always a good thing, so you need to make sure that you’re controlling the narrative. Additionally, you will develop your own abilities. Being front and centre can be daunting, but by creating a personal brand, you will get more experience of being in the limelight. This will only continue to help you as your career develops.
Furthermore, your business and yourself will both be more visible. For your business, you will find that you’ll have more prospects and leads. From this, you will be able to convert them into sales and find other methods to leverage your improved standing. Finally, people are more likely to recognize you in person, which can help you when meeting potential clients and going to physical events.
How to Create a Great Personal Brand
The mission of creating a great personal brand is going to be different for most people. Despite this, there are still a few bits of general advice that can be given. Firstly, you’re going to need to make sure that you’re posting the right content on the right platforms. You should consider trying to do collaborative content with other figures of authority within your sector. This will help you to generate more awareness and credibility.
Use Your Personality
There’s power in personality, people don’t want to buy from corporations anymore. The cold unfeeling mass of the machine has been replaced by personable, kind service. This is why it is important for you to identify both your identity and the identity of your business. You will then need to begin thinking about the type of content that will best display your personality. You should also think about the kinds of content that build authority within your niche. Of course, you need to present a good appearance for clients, but you should also be true to yourself. It’s very easy to spot when someone is trying to be something that they aren’t.
Identify Your Own Strengths and Weaknesses
This is important, especially with personal branding. You don’t want to get a big head and think you’re the best at everything, it’s embarrassing to see and it’s not going to endear you to your audience. In fact, when creating a personal brand, you should actually be open about what you’re good at, and what you’re bad at. This will help you to resonate with your audience on a more personal level as it makes you more relatable. It will also help you to identify the areas that you’re good at and what you may be not so great at. From there, you’ll be able to tailor your personal development to cover your own weaknesses. This will help you to create a great personal brand.
Begin Building Your Online Image
Once you’ve finished all of the planning, you know how you want to present yourself and you’ve covered your bases, you’re ready. Now that you have your plan in place, you can begin posting content that resonates with your personal branding. You should make sure that there is a purpose to everything you’re posting, so you can drive maximum engagement. You don’t want to post content that doesn’t fit in with your general message, or your audience. If you do this, you run the risk of damaging all of the work that you’ve already done. Make sure to think about what you’re posting, how often, and how people are going to react. Consistency is key, so the more you post, the better the results you’ll get.
When Should You Be Careful With Personal Branding?
One of the first things that you need to be careful of when implementing a personal brand is that you need to understand the socio-political stance of your audience. You don’t want to be saying things that are going to cause offence as people are going to have a negative opinion of you and your business as a whole. This also stems from just being a good person, but if you have extreme views, then don’t share them. People are going to hate it. You do still need to make sure that you’re being true to yourself though, as people are going to know when you’re not being genuine.
Another challenge that you need to consider is whether or not you’re involved in the right content. If you’re appearing in content that doesn’t pertain to your expertise, or your industry, the people that see you aren’t going to be relevant to you. So for example, when making interview appearances, podcasts, articles and similar things, you should always make sure they’re relevant. Doing so will make sure that you are targeting the right people in your personal brand campaign.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from reading this article, you should have gotten a better understanding of what personal branding actually. In addition to this, you should also know the ways in which developing a personal brand can help your business and you as an individual. You will get noticed more in your individual career. People are likely to have a better view of your business and you will be able to get used to the spotlight, which can be difficult for a lot of people. These are only a few of the reasons why having a personal brand is so important and can help you to drive success.
You should now also have an idea of how to create a personal brand by identifying which content will work best for you. You should also really highlight the key features of your personality. You should still ensure that you don’t seem big-headed and like you think you’re better than everyone. Finally, there are things that you need to be careful of when you’re implementing a personal brand. For instance, the world is becoming much more sensitive in the sense of what you can and can’t say. You need to make sure that whatever you’re saying does not cause offence to others, or damages your own reputation and that of your business.