Table of Content
Why do you need a personal brand?
Your personal brand is what you are known for. It is the impression others form when they think of you. Good news: if you work towards building your personal brand, sooner or later it will work for you.
For example, Elon Musk has a well-established personal brand. When we think of him, associations immediately arise in our head: space, innovations, life on Mars, an expert. His personal brand is so strong that Tesla doesn’t spend money on advertising.
Building a personal brand offers a lot of opportunities: you can share your ideas, earn money and achieve goals.
Is it too late to create your personal brand in 2023?
No. Even though this concept has become popular recently, personal brands will always be. Aristotle is also a personal brand, although during the philosopher’s lifetime such a concept didn’t exist. We know who he is, what he did, and we’re sure that he is one of the most important contributions to philosophy of all time.
A woman who is the best seamstress in your area is also a personal brand. You know that she’ll do her job cheaper and better than any atelier, so you’ll recommend your services.
A personal brand is an established public opinion about an expert in a certain niche. Any person who is good at something can be a personal brand, be it a photographer or a politician. The opinion may be negative, but only you decide how to build your brand.
What do you need to understand before you start building a personal brand?
Most likely, you have some expectations and requests regarding how quickly you’ll become recognizable or when you can sell more. It’s important to clarify some points:
1. Start to develop a personal brand when you’ve already become an expert in some area;
2. You’ll probably spend a lot of time and effort on your personal brand development, but it doesn’t guarantee you success;
3. You have to set specific goals that a personal brand will help you achieve.
Yes, a personal brand is a long-term prospect. You can’t build it in a month or two, but when you develop it, you’ll see that the result was worth it.
Where to start?
Before you start building your personal brand, you should answer a few questions:
– what’s my field of expertise?
– how can you differentiate yourself from competitors?
– what are my boundaries?
– what are my values?
– what’s my mission?
Don’t try to predict what your target audience will be. Most likely, you’ll understand this over time. Post the content, and interested people will come to your page themselves.
Also, think in advance about what associations with your blog can be. For example, you are an animal photographer who takes pictures of owners and their dogs. Then, when someone asks friends about a cool photographer who can take pictures of him with Rex, they will turn to you.
What are the key elements of a personal brand?
A personal brand isn’t only your expertise, values and mission – the image is also important.
Visual
Your visual should reflect both your personality and expertise. Tell followers about your favorite hobby, post travel photos or everyday life pictures. By the way, our FILM pack is perfect for such images: use these templates to share beautiful moments. (Minimalism and Film packs are great for such photos).
Don’t forget that users should understand what your area of expertise is once they visit your page.
Texts
It’s better to come up with a content plan – then it’ll be clear when and which publication you want to make or what development strategy you want to implement. Post your own writing, putting your heart and soul in the texts. Thus, your followers will see the real you, not a copywriter. Audience loyalty is the basis for your personal brand development.
How to promote your personal brand?
The main channel of promotion is social media – Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. Your choice depends on the type of your blog and what channel your potential target audience prefers.
Stay visible all the time: posts, stories, reels, or any other forms of communication. Don’t let the audience forget about you, but also don’t be too intrusive.
Include the word that reflects your skills in the profile description. For example, a singer, a dog handler, an actor, etc. If users want to find a certain specialist on Instagram, they’ll tap on your profile.
Advertising and mutual PR are very important promotion tools. Choose bloggers with an interesting and similar target audience. It can be both small and very popular blogs in your area. Prepare an introduction about yourself and send them messages.
Talk to your audience – ask questions and get feedback. It won’t only increase your reach, but also help you better understand your audience and their interests.
But don’t forget about offline events: participating in conferences and discussions is a great opportunity to show your expertise and appeal to a new audience.
Perhaps the most important thing when promoting a personal brand is to be yourself. People follow you and read your posts, so don’t try to be perfect – it’ll push them away. Users will definitely buy your product if they start trusting you as both a person and an expert. Find inspiration in other personal brands and develop yours!
