Do you have a personal brand? Even if you haven’t worked on it, you may be surprised to know you have one. If you don’t shape your own, others will do it for you. And take it from me, it’s a whole lot better for your business if your personal brand is one you helped create.
Don’t get me wrong, you never have complete control of your brand. People will place their own labels on you and those labels will (hopefully) become part of what you are creating and working toward. However, if you’re not working toward anything, and you’re not putting your own branding efforts out there, the only things being heard will be their labels. And it is a lot harder to rebrand something that’s already been done than it is to start off from the neutral position.
So let’s talk about your personal brand.
What Is a Personal Brand?
A personal brand is a result of marketing oneself as a commodity. You have skills and a knowledge base along with a personality, and marketing those as a package is what creates a personal brand.
Some people don’t believe a person can have (or be) a brand. That’s not the case. Personal brands are what Hollywood careers are based (or ruined) on. How many times have you heard an actor painted as a good guy or a bad one? Someone who’s humble or egotistical? Since none of us actually know that person, it’s safe to say we’re making assumptions based on a reputation or personal brand. And in most cases, at least when we’re speaking of a negative one, it’s not one the actor willingly crafted for himself.
But it’s not just Hollywood.
A business person can have a personal brand too. Think about Steve Jobs and you likely have an idea about him. He’s been gone for years but several words probably come to mind when thinking of him. You likely tie him into Apple but he still has his own brand that lives beyond the corporate references.
Why Do You Want a Personal Brand?
If your personal brand is created by others, why bother? Why would you even want one? As mentioned earlier, in today’s world branding has become very important. If you don’t give thought to your personal branding, others will create it for you and they won’t care about the outcome.
Your personal brand is how people will remember you.
That’s why it’s critical to your success. Do you want to be remembered for something amazing or something awful?
Your personal brand may start in your looks. That’s why some speakers have very unconventional appearances. They may adopt pink hair, for instance. But it has to be more than that or it may turn into a conversation something like this:
“Oh the speaker with pink hair, sure. I saw her.”
“What did she speak about?”
“I don’t remember.”
So think of it as a complete package. Your brand could most certainly start with a look or clothing item that sets you apart from the crowd but if that’s all you have going for you, you need to work on it.
Plus, there’s another reason to promote your personal brand. You’re more believable than your company is. According to a Nielsen Consumer Survey, 33% of buyers trust communications from a company, while 90% trust messages from individuals they know. While you can’t get to know everyone who will buy from you personally, you can make them feel like they know you through your personal branding.
Speaking of which, it’s time to learn how to build an effective personal brand.
8 Ways to Create an Effective Personal Brand
Awesome personal brands don’t just happen. You need to construct them over time. Here are a few ideas on how to do that:
- Change your social media bios to detail what you want to be known for. Make sure your company bio links to (or mentions) your personal one and vice versa. If you don’t already have personal social media accounts, build them…
- Build personal social media profiles and link them to your business ones. Don’t make them all business. Check out Kim Garst’s. She uses both business and personal info on there as it helps her connect with her audience. People look for things they have in common with you so share them.
- Give thought to what your audience is looking for. Know what your audience or ideal customer wants and figure out how you can deliver on that. Is timely their most important concern? Do they just want someone who does what they say they will? What are their biggest complaints when working with other businesses? Become the solution to those problems.
- Use a business card that reflects who you want to be. Get creative with your business cards. You want someone who looks at your card after you leave to remember who it was that gave them the card.
- Join your community. This is my best business secret. I could tell you that giving back is a great marketing tool for your business. But trust me, in giving back you’ll get much more than you ever give. That’s why I’m such an advocate of giving to your community. My motto is “You have to give to get.” Make your investment in the community before you start expecting it from others. Volunteering has been one of the best things I have done for my personal brand. More about that in the next section.
- Be consistent. You must decide what you want your personal brand to be and stick to that messaging. Don’t decide one day humor sets you apart and then the next day that you want to become a serious thought leader. Sure, this is an oversimplification as I stated it. but whatever you decide you want as a personal brand, you have to work on it consistently across all of your online and offline interactions.
- Build a path. If you know you want to build a reputation for a particular skill or method, think of all the avenues you have to play upon that. For instance, if you want to become known as a thought leader in your industry, speak to your local chamber of commerce or industry association to see if they need any speakers or content creators. You need to build a platform around your personal brand and to do so you’ll want to attack it from several angles. After all, you can’t just tell people you are something. You need them to see it in action.
- Amplify those who are talking about you. This may feel a little like bragging but if someone else is saying it about you, it’s not. It’s amplification. If you hear someone complimenting you or your efforts, share those things on social media or on your site. Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there and it’s free. Remember that 90% number from Nielsen? Very powerful stamp of approval.
Speaking of word of mouth, remember one of the best ways to get people talking about you is through giving of your time. I promised we’d get back to that subject. Here’s what I’ve learned over the past several years:
How to Participate in Your Community and Build Your Personal Brand
Becoming an active part of your community helps in many areas of your business. You can:
- learn new skills
- make new social acquaintances
- become a go-to expert for the community for a skill they didn’t realize you had
- work on a team
- recruit people for your business
- meet new customers or find out what people in your ideal demographic want/need
In order to find the most effective volunteering for your personal brand, do what I did and choose to volunteer with organizations that are close to your heart. I chose Visit St Pete Clearwater (VSPC), John’s Pass Seafood Festival, and the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber.
I advocate selecting groups that mean something to you or support a cause you’re passionate about. That way you’re participating in something that has an emotional pull for you as well as simply doing it to increase your reputation.
VSPC is my personal favorite as they are an important force in the community I love. The events that they sponsor are what make up my world: paddleboard races, fishing tournaments, music festivals, golf tournaments, and so many wonderful aspects of life here in the Sunshine State. Giving back isn’t work with this organization. They’re activities I’d be involved in any way, which makes it easy and fun!
Plus, I meet a huge amount of people doing this and it has not gone unnoticed. I’ve made friends, learned about new businesses I’m interested in, and picked up a few new clients along the way. After all, people want to do business with others that they know, like, and trust. Getting involved in your community does all of those for you.
Being a member and now a Board Member (for 4 years) of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber has also helped my personal brand considerably. I love being on the board and serving as an ambassador for the community I love. I volunteer for committees and events and make it a point to be very visible and involved. While I am getting a lot out of it personally because I’m attending events that I enjoy anyway, people now recognize me and know ThinkQuik is an invested part of our community. That means a lot in an industry known for people selling swag out of their closets.
My involvement in the community gives people a feel for what it’s like to work with me and my team. So not only is my personal brand extended further, my volunteerism allows people to know me better. That way they can make their own decisions about who I am. But it also inserts me into the conversation when people are talking about community leaders. This came out of not me bragging about what I can do but through showing people and them making up their own minds.
I didn’t do anything special. I simply did things I loved. You can–and should–too.
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