What is a personal brand?
Your personal brand is how you “market” yourself as an individual. This consists in building a strong reputation and image vis-à-vis the general public. Essentially, your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not there.
It’s not always easy to see yourself as a brand, but in reality, everyone already has a personal brand! What are people saying about your work? Are they positive or negative? Your brand is also visible online. What do people say about you on the internet? It’s up to you to actively build your personal brand or let it build itself.
By taking matters into your own hands, you have the opportunity to tell the story your way, establish yourself as an expert in your field, and connect with your customers beyond the simple transactions you make together.
But how o you create your personal brand, exactly? Here are the 5 steps to follow:
Identify your reasons for building a personal brand
Identifying your goal will help you achieve it . Via Jean-Frederic Fortier
While you may have already understood the importance of having a personal brand, do you know what it will help you with, exactly? Why exactly do you want to create your own brand? The answers to these questions will help you define the different steps you will need to follow.
Personal branding for freelancers
Personal brand example: Screen shot of Freelance to Win website
Daniel Margulies built his personal brand as a freelance writer on Upwork. He was so successful that he no longer accepts assignments and now coaches other freelancers
As a freelancer working project after project, having a personal brand is absolutely essential. This will help you gain exposure and build credibility and trust with the public. Thus, more and more customers will use your services. In short, a good personal brand will allow you to attract customers instead of chasing them, which will save you time and money.
Personal branding for entrepreneurs and business leaders
Marie Forleo ‘s success is entirely based on its quirky branding, which can be seen on marieforleo.com. She even created her own TV show.
As a business owner, you should already have created a branding strategy for your brand. This must include your main objective, your values, your assets and your differentiators, that is to say what makes you unique compared to your competitors. Your branding should also include the tangible elements of your brand: your logo, your color scheme, and your fonts. But behind your corporate brand, there is also a personal brand: yours!
Take the example of Richard Branson who has 11.3 million followers on Twitter. Now look at the number of followers of his companies: Virgin Atlantic (556,000), Virgin Galactic (171,000) and Virgin Media (225,000). On his profile, he describes himself as an “adventurer, philanthropist and troublemaker who hates ties and believes in bringing ideas to life”. Branson uses his personal brand to support his various businesses and get people to buy the products they offer.