Please raise your hand if the idea of building your personal brand makes you want to gag. After all, who wants to create a fake persona that indulges in shameless self-promotion to anyone with a bellybutton?
Thought so.
Well, there’s good news. Developing your personal brand doesn’t have to be false. In fact, finding out who you are and what benefits you bring to your work are key to your success as an entrepreneur. With a genuine understanding of what makes you tick, and a willingness to communicate consistently and clearly in the industry you work so hard in, you will build your business by building your personal brand.
Keep reading and we’ll look at how a strong personal brand can help you create dynamic, sustainable shift in your business. There are also 12 tips to get you started on building your brand, as shared by personal branding experts from around the world.
How a strong personal brand helps you
- Who you are, rather than what you do is increasingly becoming the source of sustainability in the world of work. Think about it, the marketplace is changing so rapidly that the service and products we’ll be promoting in 5 years’ time haven’t even been invented yet. Your business brand is temporary; your personal brand is forever.
- When you show the personal side of your brand, you’re making it easier to build trust and develop stronger relationships with those around you. People do business with people. As Simon Sinek put it, “The goal is to do business with people that believe what you believe.”
- As an entrepreneur you want the freedom to move seamlessly from one project to another. You want to be able to sell one business and start the next. Your business brand dies or changes hands with your last project. Your personal brand moves with you.
You can leverage personal branding to keep ahead of the competition because personal branding elevates your status as a subject matter expert. As you share your expertise, people in your influencer group start to identify with you and respect your opinion over that of others.
- Your business can’t operate in isolation – success comes from who you know. People buy into your personal brand and you need their support to grow. Aligning with others that share your beliefs will intensify your exposure and elevate your personal brand.
Tips for creating your personal brand
- Understand what makes you you, and then be your complex, colourful and interesting self. Personal branding is about being real, not an idealistic version of someone you want to be.
- Understand who you want to appeal to and build your brand around them. You are not there for everybody, so finding out about your ideal customer allows you to be specific about how you position yourself.
- Be single minded. Pick the one thing you are best at and want to be known for and then make sure you find ways to communicate it clearly and compellingly.
- Be consistent. See point 3.
- Network. Dedicate time to get to know other people. Meet them in person, comment on their blog posts, introduce them to others who can help them. Your network of people is one of your most valuable assets.
- Learn as much as you can. Become a sponge for information about your industry and be willing to share it for the benefit of everyone.
- Create content on your subject of expertise. Do this with a laser-like focus to establish thought leadership in your industry. Pick the channels you’re most comfortable with.
- Speak publicly. This is probably the most powerful tool available to create authority. Find out where your audience is and make a plan to get in front of them. Every time an entrepreneur with a strong positive personal brand speaks, he promotes his business. Think Steve Jobs or Richard Branson.
- Be of service. People are hungry for reliability, truth and connection. Look for opportunities to show people that you care.
- Deliver on your commitments. Do what you what you say you’re going to do and if you mess up, own up.
- Over-deliver on value. Think about how you can give as much value as possible to your customers, with no immediate expectation of anything in return.
- Say thank-you as often as possible.
Understand the value you bring to the table and why people support you. Your business is about products but your brand is about passion. You need both to build a successful business.
Your personal brand sells you and it sells your business. It’s yours and it’s free.
Why wouldn’t you use it?
