What is personal branding?
Personal branding is creating a professional image that conveys the idea that you are an exceptional individual. Personal branding can help you market yourself as someone with skills and a personality that companies want to hire or work with. The goal of personal branding is to make people want to engage with you.
Why build a brand?
So you want to build a personal brand for yourself. Good for you! You're about to embark on an exciting journey that will help you grow as a person and achieve your goals in life.
Let's look at some of the most common reasons why people choose to build a personal brand:
They want more visibility in their field of expertise to make money
They want more job opportunities or better opportunities
They have something valuable they would like to share with the world
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is developing a unique and authentic personal image that will help you stand out from the competition. It's important to be authentic, as there is no reason to try to create an entirely new identity when your existing one is perfectly fine.
Let's break down the phrase "personal branding" even more. Personal means it is about you - you as an individual. In contrast, branding is the process of establishing trust and increasing awareness and recognition. If you put those two definitions together, you created personal branding, which describes the process of positioning yourself as someone knowledgeable and influential in your niche.
But a brand is also a promise. It's a promise to your consumers that you will deliver on quality, consistency, and authenticity. When people see or hear your brand, they should think, "I know what this person is all about because I know who they are and what they stand for."
Your personal brand has to be consistent with the message you want to convey online and offline – even when it comes down to something as simple as which colors you use on social media platforms. Everything has to be consistent.
How to define your mission
The first step to building a personal brand is to define your mission. Your mission should be clear and concise, easy to remember, and reflect the qualities you want to be associated with yourself. Start by crafting a mission statement. A mission statement is a small paragraph (about three lines). Your mission statement can change over time so don't overthink it.
If you start seeing your brand as an extension of yourself, you'll pay more attention to the small details like your color scheme, voice, and logo.
Once you have established this, people will start associating images or ideas with your name when it comes up in conversation or online searches.
Personal branding may be a new idea to you, but it's not anything new
The idea of personal branding is not new. If you are watching [reality] TV or movies, you might recognize that it has been around for ages.
Whether you are watching reality TV (I admit I love reality TV) or following your favorite baseball team, you want to keep up with the "stars" even if you are not watching them on TV. So you start following them online and quickly become even more invested in their life.
Why do we "love" that character and want to follow them on their journey? It's because they have a brand! They know who they are and what they stand for. We connect with those values, so we want to follow them everywhere.
Getting a job
You don't have to have the goal of running your own company or becoming an influencer to care about your personal brand.
Personal branding is much more than just wanting to be influential online. You can also use your personal brand to score jobs.
There is a good chance someone has done their research on potential candidates before extending an offer to ensure a good fit into the company culture. Chances are they look for your social profiles online. Be active online. LinkedIn is a great place to start. Fill out your profile, ask *former* colleagues for recommendations and start connecting with people on the platform. Use social media outlets to show what makes you stand out from the crowd to score your dream job.
Be authentic
Your personal brand is all about honesty. Be who you are. Don't pretend to be something you're not because that's the easiest way to lose credibility and trust. If people can learn one thing from consuming your content, it should be that authenticity is key in every aspect of branding, from messaging and marketing materials to social media posts and blog articles.
Be true to yourself, even if it means sharing some less-than-perfect moments along the way! Those imperfect moments build long-term relationships because people have an easier time identifying themselves with you.
They'll see you as a real person, just like them. That's why authenticity is so important. It helps people connect with your brand on a deeper level—one that goes beyond the surface and allows them to see how much value you can add to their lives.
Build your personal brand
Building your personal brand takes time and effort. It's not an overnight process, but it's worth it!
Consistency and persistence are key to building a personal brand. You need to start working on an online presence, which can be achieved by constantly publishing content across multiple channels. One blog post and a post on Instagram won't move the dial.
Start the process by creating a website, it doesn't need to be fancy, but it needs to showcase what you are all about. Post weekly blog posts and use social media to create awareness around your brand.
Create a free ebook, roadmap, or cheat sheet to grow your email subscriber list and use video wherever possible. Nowadays, it's easier than ever to create videos (just grab any smartphone), and post them directly to YouTube.
Focus on building relationships with people in your field, don't listen to non-believers, and think long-term! Being an entrepreneur and building your personal brand also requires flexibility, so if something doesn't work out, try something else!
Everyone has a personal brand, whether they realize it or not
You might think, "I'm not an entrepreneur or business owner. I work a regular job." It doesn't matter. If you work in an office and aren't actively trying to promote yourself, then it's that much more important for you to understand your personal brand.
You have a personal brand, whether you realize it or not. As humans, we constantly communicate through body language, spoken words, and tone of voice. These things are part of what makes up our personal brands. Even if someone doesn't know anything about you, they'll still judge you based on your interactions. The judgment can be both positive or negative.
Most people think branding only works for companies or products. The main goal of a company isn't just selling products. Their goal is to create a relationship with you that would turn you into a brand advocate.
For example, apple products are more than just products - they are a lifestyle. You don't buy an iPhone for the sake of having a phone. If you only cared about the utility, you would buy a cheap no-name brand. You buy an apple product because you identify with the company, the messaging, and the feeling of belonging.
The same goes for personal branding. Of course, you want to "sell" yourself in the form of products or services, but you also want to build credibility and following.
It is all about standing out from the crowd. As a potential employee or entrepreneur, you want to stand out among hundreds of others.
Conclusion
Start by defining your brand and thinking about what makes you unique. Focus on building your online presence with social media profiles, blogs, or websites devoted entirely to your personal brand.
Finally, ensure that everything you do reflects your brand—from how you dress to how you communicate with others (including potential employers).