What Is Personal Branding?
A personal brand isn’t that much different from a business brand. Instead of marketing a store or product, you’re marketing yourself.
In short, it is the practice of individuals marketing themselves and their careers as brands. For many new to business, it may seem to many an exercise in vanity.
But personal branding is not necessarily about self-promotion and being ubiquitous. Instead, I would make the case that everyone needs a personal brand and that it helps you define who you are and the type of person you want to be.
A well-defined personal brand does many things:
Identifies how to showcase your best self.
A common mistake that I see in the online space is an attempt to create an alternate persona for your online personality or business personality. A personal brand is not a persona. Instead, it is an effort to identify who you are on your best day and show up that way consistently for yourself, your audience and your clients.
Helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses.
I am a natural self-reflector and a huge proponent of personal assessments and tools like StrengthsFinders2.0. These are objective tools that can give us language to work with when it feels hard to describe how and why we are good at the things we a natural propensity for doing well. Also, because it is proven and objective, we can feel confident that we aren’t fooling ourselves into being something that we are not.
Makes you stand out from your peers and competition.
Once you find out your unique strengths, stand in them and you’ll find that you stand out. That’ s because no one can imitate you! And if they try to, it appears unnatural. And that advice goes for you too! Don’t try to be someone else that you admire. Be the best version of yourself and you will thrive.
Builds your "tribe"
You may love or hate that term but the point is you will start attracting people who genuinely resonate with you and are more likely to work with you down the road. It will also repel people who aren’t a good fit. Just remember: You can’t be everybody’s cup of tea. And that’s ok.
Allows you to have more meaningful interactions with others.
Personal branding isn’t about you. It’s an invitation to others to engage by putting out the right signals. Clarity on everything above helps you engage in way that feels human and natural, not forced or in a way that makes you inaccessible to others.
Establishes trust and credibility.
It is more popular than ever for potential clients and even recruiters to use social media before hiring. Consistent personality, values, and content is hard to maintain when you are only being a “persona”.
Demonstrates your value through your actions.
In line with the above point, you can demonstrate your authority and value through a portfolio, social engagement, copy, content, etc. You may notice that there is a bit of build up here for the personal brand that starts with a foundation of strengths and niching down back at step 1.
Elevates your social proof.
Once you’ve created the content and proof yourself, it’s time to let others spread your personal brand for you through testimonials, and SEO. You can fake it for a while, but the testimonials and SEO are ways to qualify that others believe in your personal brand as much as you do.
Conveys your message and values.
As an entrepreneur, a well-defined personal brand can also assist in establishing your leadership style and establish how you want to be known both in and out of the workplace. A personal brand isn’t limited to the business space. That’s why it’s important that you aren’t building a persona but that you are building toward consistently operating as the best version of yourself.
Helps you be more confident.
Building a personal brand is often a personal -- and private -- exercise in establishing confidence, credibility, and courage as well as you define priorities and focus on your strengths and the aspects of your life you enjoy most.
For more support with Personal Branding keep following the personal branding series
