What is Personal Branding?
The simple answer to this is you! Personal branding is your effort and conscious choice to promote and share who you are with your audience. You show your unique skills, experience, authority, story, and personality, differentiating your business from others. Your audience will get to learn what makes you and your company unique and valuable.
Another way to think about personal branding is as your image and how people see you in everyday life. How you choose to brand yourself will externally affect how people view you in the media and the way they draw conclusions from the information available online. There’s a flipside, too: how you see your personal brand could be completely different from how your audience sees your brand!
When you take the time to understand your personal brand, you are able to make meaningful decisions in your marketing, communication, and positioning. This will allow you to manage the perception of how your personal brand is communicated to the public.
Why is Personal Branding important?
In today's society advertising and marketing can be tricky as savvy consumers look for honesty and trust in businesses. People want to feel as if they “know” you and have a personal connection with the person behind the brand. Here are a few reasons why personal branding is important:
Control of Your Narrative
Your personal brand is your opportunity to make sure people are seeing you the way you want to be seen. With a strong personal brand, you are able to have a stronger influence and authority in your field of expertise.
When you don’t have a personal brand, you leave the window open for others to make assumptions about you and perceive you in a certain way. So, ask yourself, how do I want to be perceived?
What story do I want to tell? What are my strengths and weaknesses? How can my journey and background relate to others? What type of audience do I want to build?
Take the time to answer these questions and understand your audience as this will ultimately help you stand out from the crowd.
You Build Trust and Confidence
People want trust! You want people to look at your name and think, “yes, I trust them.” Establishing this emotional connection is the first step towards a decision to buy. Your personal brand acts as your platform of trust and confidence. When you have credibility, people are more likely to do business with you.
People don't want to waste their money! Today’s consumers choose to support businesses and individuals that stand for something and keep their word. Think through why people should trust you. What credibility and authority do you have in your field?
Once you're able to define those things, you can start shaping your platform and brand. You can find your voice and image that will attract the right audience.
You Build Consistency
You always hear, “consistency is key.” Well, it's true for your personal brand as well. It’s important for your personal brand to build consistency in your tone, messaging, content, voice, and overall image. These are all aspects of your brand that you will need to know as it will help you control your narrative and create trust.
The more you can define and narrow in on your personal brand the easier it will be to create the marketing and communication you want for your business. People will start to recognize you for something in particular that you represent. You will be able to relate to your target audience. Learn the messaging that they respond to the best and move in that direction.
How Do You Create Personal Branding?
Defining your personal brand can take time. The best place to start is with yourself. Creating your brand requires self-awareness and thoughtful positioning. Ask yourself these questions:
- Who am I?
- What are my skills?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses?
- What about my experience makes me different?
- What perspective can I bring to this field?
Think about your style, humor, view point, empathy, and write it all down. There is no one else on the planet like you, so bring it to the table. When you start to see the big picture you can then narrow down what you want to share with your audience.
Once you have an idea of how you want people to see you, it’s time to think about your audience. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Narrow down your audience and create content just for them.
Now, it’s time to start forming the base of your personal brand. This includes…
- Mission Statement and Vision
- Establish Target Market
- Visual Identity
- Voice
Learn more on these by checking out Startup Branding: What it is and how to do it in 2022
Your personal brand isn’t about deceiving anyone or appearing a certain way. This is your opportunity to showcase your image, story, and life. Don’t be afraid to be authentic and genuine. You don’t have to lay everything on the line, but a personal brand is something you live out and fits your world.
If all this sounds a little overwhelming (and this is a fairly basic overview), the team at Trajex has years of experience creating branding for dozens of companies. We’d be honored to help your startup launch in the best way possible with high-quality branding at a price you can afford. Shoot us a message any time, and good luck!