Once upon a time, having a personal brand was a rare thing in the business world. It was an exclusive element of famous or well-known entrepreneurs. These people knew what they were doing and they were right, considering that, today, if you decide to leave your office job for a full-time job as an entrepreneur, you need to build an online reputation to find new clients, it is essential to become an example of personal branding.
In this article, we will explain the importance of building your personal brand, how to create it and make the most of it to broaden your vision of this concept.
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is a set of elements that represent who you say you are as a person, the values you defend, the ways in which you express yourself and the distinctive aspects of your personality that are reflected in the public consciousness.
A clear example of personal branding is that when you hear the name Elon Musk, you probably think about technology, visionary ideas, or electric vehicles. Maybe the name Alan Estrada makes you think of the countries you want to visit and the experiences you want to live through his videos.
However, even though each personal branding strategy is unique and different from the others, they do have some common traits. A study by the New York Times claims that there are six types of personal brands that can be distinguished among content creators.
- Altruistic: They are conversational, public-spirited, compassionate and often prefer actions over words when it comes to inspiring someone. They are admired by audiences for their genuineness and authenticity, traits valued by all types of consumers.
- Specialists: High-level individuals with an entrepreneurial attitude who know how to build and leverage a personal brand. They are likely to share valuable industry-specific information to advance their career and enhance their reputation as industry experts.
- Hipsters: Hipsters are known for eschewing pop culture and embracing the cult of individuality when it comes to developing a personal brand. They often seek to try new things before anyone else and share their unique experience.
- Boomerangs: Boomerangs’ personal branding example often revolves around entertaining their audience by sharing provocative content. Controversy is their middle name.
- Connectors: Connectors enjoy seeing people come together around their ideas, so you can often see them organizing fundraisers, having their own TV shows, channels or podcasts, or starting social media challenges.
- Selective: The selective brand type encompasses brilliant, well-prepared people with a great deal of experience. However, they do not share their knowledge with many, either by their own choice or due to a lack of personal brand strategy.
Now, if you’ve identified with any of these personal brand types, you’re on the right track! Understanding your role and persona can help you shape your personal brand strategy, fine-tune your promotional efforts, and maximize your profits and revenue.
Five advantages of creating a personal branding strategy
The digital world is full of capable and promising entrepreneurs. There is so much talent on the Internet that it is sometimes impossible to list them all. However, not all of them are an example of personal branding, many of them are not developing their full potential or are not taking advantage of the advantages they could gain online.
Let’s analyze the benefits of developing a personal brand that allows you to amplify your talent.
Greater self-confidence
If you love what you do, then you understand that nothing will be more important than doing what you love every day and being admired for that uniqueness. Being yourself and generating income from it is an unbeatable source of energy and confidence.
Creating your personal brand allows you to leave behind that unpleasant impostor syndrome, because it is proof that it was not a matter of luck or that you achieved it with the help of someone else, but rather it is a recognition for achieving it every day thanks to your skills and your authenticity.
Of course, this benefit is more personal than professional, but you’ve probably noticed that most successful business careers start right from this point.
Greater brand credibility
The more visible you are, the more consumers will trust you. Sharing original, information-packed content allows you to highlight your expertise. In other words, it’s the perfect place to showcase your talent and what you’re most proud of through actions.
People trust other people – that’s the rule that many businesses live by, but it’s especially true for personal brands. So make sure your online reputation and credibility isn’t just about you and your product. Using customer testimonials when developing a personal brand can help humanize it and make it more credible.
Greater business opportunities
You should keep in mind that not everyone who follows your personal brand is a potential customer. Companies, organizations, NGOs, bloggers, influencers, journalists, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders like to keep an eye on opinion leaders and build connections and relationships with them.
When you build your personal brand, you never know how many business opportunities are waiting for you around the corner. As more and more people recognize you as an industry expert, you are more likely to be invited to interviews, podcasts, charity events, webinars, joint projects, online courses, conferences, and much more.
More professional autonomy
While other types of branding sometimes require you to compromise your interests by doing activities you don’t enjoy, this doesn’t happen when you develop a personal brand, as there won’t be anyone telling you what to do.
In this case, you will be the one making the decisions, although it is possible and valid to hire experts who will support you and help you build a competitive advantage to make your small and large ideas a reality. A well-executed personal branding strategy is the blessing to be your own boss without having to sacrifice your time and effort on what does not inspire you.
Greater authenticity and value
As the culture of over-reaching and its toxicity becomes less and less relevant, your audience no longer wants to see glossy, perfect content and fake smiles. This is also essential when building your personal brand, as it means being able to feel free to show your mistakes.
Being honest and turning your failures into transparent and authentic business cases is the best way to bring value to others. No matter how competent and experienced you are, it hasn’t always been that way, and it’s natural to make mistakes. So, these kinds of experiences are what really make your content genuine and engaging, not things like bragging about a new yacht or tons of money.
7 steps to build a great example of personal branding
Creating your personal brand is a long, mythical and sometimes unpredictable journey, especially if you have never been able to make your own career decisions before. However, in the end it will be worth it.
Let’s start with the simplest tasks to complete in this process, then move on to the more challenging ones, and finally explain how to create your own brand.
Step 1. Introspect your personality and experience
If you’ve ever found yourself in a restaurant with a dish that wasn’t what you expected or filled with things you didn’t fully enjoy, it’s probably because you didn’t have a clear idea of what you wanted to try.
This analogy may seem a bit absurd, but it actually perfectly illustrates the need to fully understand your professional and mental situation. To begin with, the lack of self-knowledge leads to the creation of a false and inadequate persona. So your duty will be to eliminate this possibility.
To do this, you can start by reflecting on the following points to find out how to build a personal brand that is a reflection of your true self:
- What activities bring you joy?
- Are you good at them? If not, what else are you good at?
- What tasks are usually assigned to you?
- What tasks do you constantly need help with?
- Does your view of your strengths match that of others?
- Is there anything you talk about constantly that makes you lose track of time?
- What functions are most energetic for you?
- What roles do you find boring and stressful?
Step 2. Define your target audience
If you have that feeling that you are doing the kind of tasks that a therapist gives you, it is because you are actually doing that. The mindfulness you have acquired will also reinforce the process of identifying your target market.
However, you shouldn’t focus solely on professional interests either. For example, a community college art teacher who isn’t interested in the world of computers might not be a follower of your programming blog. With the right audience, attracting interested techies is possible even if there’s already a lot of content in the area. To that end, your personality is an important factor that can help you determine how to build a personal brand and turn it all into gold.
It doesn’t matter if it’s your social or economic status, your extroverted or introverted nature, a particular experience you share, your involvement in a certain group, or many other things. Use all of these to find the audience that fits you and who will enjoy just watching or listening to you speak, no matter what you have to say. Your natural charisma and the way you present your ideas will captivate certain types of people.
Step 3. Develop your persona
Once you have explored your target audience and your professional and personal strengths, it is time to fine-tune your public image. At this stage, you need to decide on:
- Your tone of voice
- The ideas you defend
- The ideas you denounce
- The key characteristics that define you
Try to focus on the cues and aspects that reflect your personality when shaping your personal branding strategy. If you are a relaxed, friendly and teachable person, make sure that this is the first thought that comes to mind for a visitor to your website or someone who sees it for the first time.
Stephanie Gilmore’s website reflects her adventurous and daring personality as a surfer, and is a wonderful example of personal branding. She uses the visual power of landing pages to show what her life is like and attract more visitors.
While building a personal brand requires authenticity and relatability, it doesn’t mean you have to share every detail of your life. If your content focuses on your real experience, there’s no reason to hide any information. However, you can keep some moments of your life private if sharing them makes you feel exposed or isn’t aligned with your corporate-style personality.
Step 4. Be a storyteller
When developing a personal brand, entrepreneurs often craft a narrative that will launch their career and make their idea evolve. For example, think about what motivates you when you root for a character in a TV show. Or better yet, reflect on what you find compelling enough to sometimes empathize with a villain. In both cases, the answer is their backstory.
Large corporations and businesses strive to appear more human and gain the trust of their customers. In your case, you don’t need to go to great lengths to achieve the same goal, since you already have a story to tell. Everything that has brought you to where you are now, the failures, the triumphs, and your inspirations are your starting point. All you have to do is express them using the tone of voice you have already established to start building a complete example of personal branding.
Step 5. Keep your social media profiles and website updated and current
We know that an Instagram profile full of photos of flowers and your pet is very cute and aesthetic, but that won’t cut it as a personal branding strategy. Combining the personal aspects of life with business is nothing new, so that should be your goal.
In addition to landing pages and email campaigns, here are some other mediums you can use to build a personal brand:
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Quora, among others.
You can start building your online reputation by commenting on other influencers’ posts, helping users with industry-related questions, giving sneak peeks at your new projects, and making meaningful connections that can help you figure out how to reflect your individuality and become an example of personal branding.
Make sure that all the communication channels you use, especially your website, include your personal details, social proof, certificates, awards, and more. This way, anyone who wants to see some solid proof of your expertise won’t have to go to great lengths to find it.
Placing your personal branding strategy around growing your online audience can help you find active people you can truly connect with. To do this, you can add a chatbot subscription widget or a link-in-bio page to your social media profiles to ensure people can follow you on their preferred platforms.
Step 6. Develop a content plan and strategy
Once you’ve developed your personality, your original tone of voice, and your sincere narrative, it’s time to incorporate all this effort into your content. At this point, the most important thing is to continue publishing regularly to live up to your audience’s expectations.
One of the most effective ways to consistently add value through relevant content and to resonate with your audience at all times is to plan ahead. Evaluate new trends on your topic, check out what other experts in your niche are posting, analyze your audience’s preferences, and finally, shape the personal branding strategy you’ll stick to. Doing thorough research and planning beforehand will ensure that you never run out of ideas to post, especially when you need them most.
Step 7. Be consistent and visible
It’s often said that a great start is a job half done. However, sometimes keeping up the pace and doing the other half of the job is even harder, especially when it comes to content marketing. To achieve great results, you need to be consistent and patient with your personal branding strategy.
Remember to always maintain the same tone of voice, incorporate the same communication style and defend the same values across all communication channels. Consider guest blogging and participating in events both online and offline to stay in the public eye. In this regard, having a detailed content plan and a personal branding strategy will keep you from straying off track.
To finish
It is impossible to deny that the task of creating your personal brand is a process that is as complex as it is fascinating, as you discover aspects that you may have been unaware of. However, even though this activity is entirely personal, you can trust that asking for external help with content planning, promotion or design is also an excellent way to elevate your brand to achieve that authentic and original element that will make you an example of personal branding.
You can also rely on Enjoy Minder to design your landing pages, email campaigns, and subscription widgets and boost your strategy to the max. You’ll just have to focus on building that connection with your audience while doing what you really enjoy – we’ll take care of the technical part!
