Strategies to build a personal brand
A personal brand is a recognizable name of a self—made person. By examining the personal brands of influential figures such as Seth Godin, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and Taylor Swift, we can gain valuable insights into what it takes to build a successful personal brand. If Pavel Durov starts selling smart coffee machines tomorrow, and Elon Musk sells healthy food, these products will immediately become highly demanded on the market.
What’s the point of a personal brand?
Each personal brand is based on three pillars: professionalism, popularity and reputation. A personal brand means being recognized for your unique self and skills, it helps to increase your visibility, access to opportunities to develop connections, attract new partners and investors, and earn additional profit. In almost every area of business – marketing, medicine, psychology, fitness and sports, charity, etc. – a strong personal brand helps the company to stand apart from competitors and grow faster.
How to start building a personal brand?
It is important to set goals, create a roadmap and determine what human and financial resources you are ready to use to build a personal brand. To start building a personal brand, answer a few questions:
- What difference would you like to make to the various audiences that are important to you, personally and professionally, and what values would you like to embody as you do so?
- What makes you different from your competitors?
- Who is your ideal client, and why would he/she be interested in your expert opinion?
- What do you want to achieve with a personal brand?
Your answers will help you to set the focus of further activities, create a description of your ideal client and choose a platform to reach your target audience.
How to develop your personal brand?
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop” Confucius
There are various tools available to promote your personal brand: social media feeds, personal blog, website, PR coverage, integration into business agenda of conferences and exhibitions and so on.
Here are some actionable tips:
Know your core competitors: Identify 3-5 of your competitors, or choose the brands you like. Analyze their work and marketing channels. You may find some useful ideas to promote your personal brand.
Be authentic: Stay true to your values and passions, but also consider the impact of your words and actions on others. Stay recognizable: choose fonts, colors, graphic elements, and keep an eye on literacy.
Stay consistent: Follow the schedule and time of publication. Keep track of everything that is happening in the industry and respond quickly to information flows. Analyze which type of content (cases and customer reviews, tips and recommendations, reviews of interesting research on your topic, reviews of interesting books or films, photos of work or personal moments of life, etc.) your audience responds better.
Show not only expertise, but also personality: A personal brand is not only about your knowledge, it is also your personal story. People trust a person with similar values: family, lifestyle, hobby and so on. Tell about yourself, where you go, how you spend your weekends, what you read or watch on your days off.
Use multiple digital channels: For a successful development of a personal brand, it is essential to have several platforms, for example, an account in social networks and a website, a website and a blog. Your target audience always has its own set of information sources. The more points of contact you have with your audience, the higher the opportunity to increase your reach.
Get more PR coverage: Write a column for an online media, offer yourself as an expert for a comment. Invest in good photos. This is essential for your social media platforms, media mentions, guest blog bios and conference speaking agendas.
Collaborate with other opinion leaders and brands: Build smart integrations with other entrepreneurs, bloggers, or brands. Engage with them regularly on their platforms, show appreciation for their content to expand the reach and attract more audience.
Measure and analyze: Evaluate the effectiveness of your actions in order to optimize time and financial costs and improve the result. Track the dynamics of subscriber growth in your channels, their engagement and reaction to different formats, monitor the number of clicks on your site/ blog to understand which marketing activity increases a number of visitors (advertising, media coverage, paid promotion and so on).
Building a strong personal brand is essential to differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace. The process takes work. But it can help you improve your career prospects, increase your earning potential, and build a loyal and engaged audience. Beyond these practical benefits, personal branding can also contribute to personal development and self-awareness, building confidence and trust.
As marketers, we have experience in creating business and personal brands. Contact us if you need professional advice how to build your personal brand and grow your business at e-mail: info@marketentry.agency.
