One of the most effective marketing tactics that we have discovered is- Personal branding.

When it is done right, personal branding can help to boost the effectiveness of all your other marketing efforts.

Think of personal branding like your overall marketing strategy. This is because having a personal brand helps to drastically improve the performance of your digital, social, and content marketing strategies.

It has long been believed that personal branding was just for the rich and famous and top companies with lots of money to throw around, but the reality is that we all need a personal brand.

No matter how shy you may be or how behind the scenes you want to stay, your business needs a personal branding strategy in order to thrive.

As the online content platform Elite Daily states-

“We often think about personal branding as something done only by large corporations, but everyone has a personal brand.”

When you reflect on it, you may be able to see the truth in this. Thanks to the digital age, we all have a personal brand and this brand is what will help us to draw in clients, draw in new customers and become more successful.

In fact, having a solid personal brand can help you to grow quickly, gain credibility and increase your influence in your industry.

Even though there are incredible benefits to having a personal brand, establishing one can also be tricky.

Personal branding efforts often take a while to build and it is often a process that you have to be in for the long term.

If you want to grow your personal brand but are not sure where to start, then you have come to the right place as we are going to take you through an easy to follow tutorial that will guide you to setting up your personal brand.

This guide is designed to be used with your own marketing efforts and can be adapted to any type of business.

By establishing your personal brand, it will drastically help to increase your reach and over time, it will help your business to stand out from the crowd.

So, if you are ready to get started with creating your very own personal brand, here is what you need to d0 –

Step 1: Be Honest and Authentic 

The first thing you need to consider when it comes to creating your personal brand is authenticity.

Customers can smell “fake” from a mile away, so make sure that when you build your personal brand it is done with the right intentions.

Having a personal brand is all about being “personal” with your customers and clients, so think about what that may mean for your business.

What level of personal are you comfortable with? What do you want your brand to be known for?

All of these questions will help you along the way and will ensure that your personal branding efforts are aligned with the authentic theme and mission of your brand.

Step #2: Create a Mission Statement 

The next step is to create a genuine and honest mission statement for your brand.

What would you really like to achieve? What do you want your business to be known for?

Keep your mission statement focused on your business but also on the bigger picture goals.

Your mission statement should not include “making profits” but instead, should highlight to your customers the bigger-picture purpose behind your business.

Is your business a passion project or has it been in the family for many years? Does your business donate money to research, or is your business focused on improving the environment?

These are all things that you want to include in your mission statement. But again, just make sure that whatever you write is authentic.

It doesn’t matter if you are not a charity, what is more important is that you are genuine.

Step 3: Showcase Your Expertise

The next step to developing a personal brand is showcasing your expertise. What is your brand known for? What is your brand good at?

It is all very well to write in your mission statement what you do, but you need to take this one step further. You need to prove to your audience and the world that you are an expert in your field.

There are a few ways you can do this but the best and most effective way is through content marketing, and lots of it.

This includes having a blog, creating online videos, making infographics and so on. The more content you can create and put out there, the better and this is a sure fire way to earn yourself a solid reputation.

Of course, when it comes to the content you are writing, you want to ensure that it reflects your voice, your style and your expertise.

When clients, customers or leads read your content they have to feel connected to you in some way and confident in the information you are sharing.

If you keep this in mind through all of your blog posts and content creation, you will eventually start to establish yourself as an authority.

Step 4: Appeal to Your Target Audience

Another important step to consider when establishing your personal brand is that you need to work out who you are going to reach.

There are billions of people in this world but chances are you are going to have more success in marketing your brand if you focus on just a small percentage of the population.

This is of course, true for all marketing efforts and personal branding is no different.

Think about your most ideal audience and then focus all your marketing efforts in that direction.

Think about what they would like to hear about, what common issues or complaints they have and become an advocate for them. Become like a guru for your target audience and very soon you will have their respect.

Another important thing to keep in mind is adjusting your target audience to keep up with the times. Every year or so, your brand should be analysing and assessing any changes to your target audience and any new trends that could affect how your audience is responding.

For example, as the population begins to age it is becoming more and more important to focus on marketing to millennials.

Millennials are very quickly becoming the biggest spenders and will very soon dominate the consumer space.

In fact, millennials already have a purchasing power of $1 trillion per year and this number is only set to increase in the next few years.

To ensure that your business stands the test of time, it is important that you start catering to this demographic and learning their likes and dislikes.

While every demographic is slightly different, in a general sense millennials are very tech savvy and put a strong emphasis on social media and online reviews.

Consider making your brand as millennial friendly as possible, and keep an eye on any upcoming trends so your business can always be a step ahead of the curve.

Step 5: Use Strong Imagery and Consistent Colour Schemes

Another important component of establishing your personal brand is the images and colour schemes that you use.

This includes your logo, your website design, your social media pages and so on. In fact, the use of strong and consistent imagery should be upheld across all of your platforms and even your marketing emails too.

When it comes to creating a personal brand, you need to have an instantly recognisable theme to all of your content, whether it is posted on social media, on your website and so on.

Having professional images also enhances the look and reputation of your brand and helps you to stand out from the crowd.

This not only includes professional images on your website, but also professional images of yourself and your staff.

The more you can put a face to your brand and the more people can recognise your logo, the easier it will be to establish a personal feel.

Just think about McDonalds and their golden arches. This logo is universal and can be understood in many different languages and spotted in many locations around the world.

While your brand may not have the driving force or budget of McDonalds, you want to aim to create something similar. You want to aim to have your logo instantly recognisable and all of your imagery professional and consistent.

Step 6: Give your Audience Incentives

Offering your audience a freebie or some other incentive is a great marketing tactic but it can also help to boost your personal brand. How?

By building a connection.

When you offer something for free or give away something of value, it helps you to build a connection with your fans. Your fans are then more likely to refer your business to their friends and family, earning you more customers and more profits.

Of course, it may take time for you to reach this level, but by regularly offering your audience gifts and incentives it can help to keep them engaged and in touch with your latest products and services.

It has also been shown that customers that receive free things are more likely to come back to your brand and actually make a purchase. This is because receiving a free item subconsciously makes them feel indebted to your brand in some way.

Offering something for free also helps to establish your reputation and can help your brand to expand their reach on social media as well.

Step 7: Do Something Different, Think Outside the Box 

Once you have started to establish the basics of your personal brand through having a strong mission statement, developing content and having consistent imagery, it is time to think about shaking things up a bit.

What separates your personal brand from your other marketing efforts is that there is something uniquely “you” about it. This is what makes it “personal” and this is what is going to keep your customers interested and engaged in what your brand has to offer.

After all, there are probably a number of competing businesses out there that do what you do, but having a competitive edge through your personal branding efforts can keep your customers loyal for years to come.

It may be tricky to think about what personal flair or personal touch you could add to your brand, but thinking outside the box can definitely help.

Try to think of something that your brand does that no one else does. Try to think about what separates your brand from others.

A good way to do this is to take note of what your customers say about your brand and doing business with you. Do they love that you are straight forward? Do they love your prices? Do they love your hands on approach?

When you can put your finger on what makes your brand unique, you can then intertwine this fact into the building of your personal brand.

Think of this step like you would a business card. You can have a cookie-cutter business card that is plain white card and black writing, or you can have a business card that is made from metal, thick card or even velvet.

The business cards that are different and unique are going to stand out from the crowd and are more likely to be saved by the people who receive them. These business cards are also more likely to be remembered.

Just in the same way, you want to adopt this same mentality when it comes to building your personal brand.

It doesn’t have to be complicated, simply think how you are different and then how you can communicate these differences to your audience through your personal brand.

One example of this comes from the shoe company Toms. For every shoe of theirs that you buy, they donate a pair of shoes to a person in need. This simple act has earned Toms a solid reputation and has made them extremely memorable for consumers.

Step 8: Team Up with Influencers

Influencer marketing is definitely on the rise and more and more brands are turning to influencers to help push their products and services.

Influencers are often experts at building a personal brand and you can piggy back off their efforts in order to build your own.

Consider reaching out to influencers in your industry that have the same target audience as you and then working on a collaboration together.

This can help to boost the profile of your brand and get your message out there to an audience that are already interested and engaged.

Personal branding is also about connecting with others, so by affiliating yourself with other brands and influencers, it can help to create the feel that you are part of a community.

Another added bonus of teaming up with influencers is that very often they become clients and even refer your brand on to their networks.

If your approach influencers as collaborative partners rather than contractors, it can help to build lasting relationship that continues to serve your business over the years.

Conclusion

There are many ways to go about establishing your personal brand, but by following these 8 steps you are going to be well on your way.

Of course, it is important not to forget that establishing your personal brand also requires a “personal” element which means that you have the liberty to make your efforts as personal as you want them to be.

Here is a summary of the main points in the article-

  • Having a personal brand is one of the most important steps to growing your business
  • A personal brand can help to boost and accelerate all your other marketing efforts
  • Building a personal brand takes time and it is something that needs constant building
  • The most important part of building your personal brand is to be authentic and honest
  • To help establish your personal brand, you need to showcase that you are an expert in your field, one of the best ways to do this is through developing content
  • Having a successful personal brand depends on your target audience and how you are able to connect with them
  • Regardless of your target audience, be sure you are also catering to millennials who will very soon be a majority in the consumer space
  • Use strong visuals that are consistent across all digital platforms, be sure that your logo also stands out and is easily recognisable
  • Have a face to your brand so your audience can instantly connect with who you are
  • Offer incentives to your audience such as gifts and freebies in order to keep them engaged and to build connections with their network
  • Make sure your brand stands out from the crowd, try to think about what your brand does differently and then incorporate this into your personal branding message
  • Connect with other influencers in your industry, not just for strategic reasons but to also develop a feeling of community

These steps will help you to establish a strong personal brand so you can gain new clients and grow your business rapidly.