BY JEN AUH
Building a strong personal brand allows you to stand out in your industry.
Personal branding is about maximizing the strengths, leadership, and skills to make a great impression. It is the mixture of your talents, skills, values, and specific goals projected to become your own brand. A personal brand brings both personal and professional success.
In today’s competitive and globalized world, it is important to show the best version of oneself. New opportunities in business and social fields are being created. Nowadays, it is essential to have a personal brand that represents you, both offline and online.
WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING?
Personal branding is a concept that was mentioned in 1997 by the writer and businessman Tom Peters. Considered one of the gurus of business literature, he coined this term to make clear the importance of leaving a mark on a person’s mind.
Seeing yourself as a product or service that must be promoted to sell more is the key to success. This is achieved through actions such as improving the presence on social networks, attending events, or promoting content that aims to be recognized as an expert in a very specific market niche.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A PERSONAL BRAND
The personal brand is the best tool for professionals to define, publicize, and sell what they do well as experts, which they love and enjoy. It is the differential factor that allows you to position yourself in your field in a visible way. Specialization is the basis of becoming an expert in a specific field.
Everyone can transform their talent into their brand in an engaging way. You just need to detect what you do best, in which area, techniques, methodologies or activities in which you have a high level of experience.
Developing a personal brand is not only about gaining visibility and showing professional strength, it involves getting to know yourself better, setting goals, developing your own identity, and showing a competitive advantage from it.
Personal branding is made up of three main characteristics, they are:
Attitude: This factor is part of your personal brand and allows you to differentiate yourself from others through your energy and behavior.
Image: It includes the way you dress, groom yourself, and even the photos you choose for your social networks and resume. That is why you must align it so that the brand image is the same both in the online and offline world.
Communication: Just as an image says more than a thousand words, actions too. That is why the best way to project a strong personal brand is to talk and express well. Always be genuine, honest, and charismatic.
6 KEY STEPS TO BUILD A STRONG PERSONAL BRAND
You can be an expert in something, but not work on your personal brand, and not be known to the audience. So, work every day to build a personal brand by being faithful to your values, ideas and skills, in all aspects of your life.
Find out what makes you stand out
Make a list of your personal and professional skills in which you excel. Then, narrow it down to a number of between two and four skills that you know you are very talented in.
Create an attractive website/blog
With social networks within everyone’s reach, the possibility of creating a website or blog to spread knowledge, almost everyone has at their fingertips to create a personal brand. Now, you have to be constant and have a digital strategy to rely on.
You need a personal page where you post your experience and talk about your projects. Show the world who you are. Another way to make your page stand out is to include a blog that keeps people coming back to discuss interesting topics.
You will need a brand image that responds to your personal brand. Choose the logo and colors that suit your own identity and style. That way, you will promote yourself according to your values and purpose.
Handle a single message
Consistency is the most important thing for a successful personal brand. It is what will generate credibility in the long term. Keep this point in mind when defining your story and your personal brand goals.
Build a strong network
Contact people daily to expand your opportunities. Let the whole world know you. Attend events and fairs of your professional branch. Do networking and interact with influential people in your sector.
Determine the social networks in which you want to be present. LinkedIn is almost mandatory for a personal brand especially for business, but also Instagram or YouTube. This is connected to the need of updating, being aware of the latest trends, and being able to share them.
Do something innovative in your field
Instead of being competent, be the best. Invent something new in your field. Do something that you do better than others. The best always have higher revenues and are never short of work.
Exceed expectations
If you always give your 200% and offer much more than what you promised, then your reputation will grow exponentially.
BENEFITS OF THE PERSONAL BRAND
If you want to stand out in this globalized world, you have to do things differently. Ask yourself: “What makes me special? What do I do to make people choose me?”
– Differentiate yourself from other professionals. Stand out from the rest.
– Make your name have meaning and value for other people.
– Gain greater credibility. Show authenticity, coherence and perseverance.
– Build trust and authority. Be perceived as the specialist to count on.
– Increase your network of contacts.
– Improve your reputation.
– Be the benchmark in the sector.
– Diversify services to increase your income.
If you want a strong personal brand that will help you achieve your personal and professional goals, book personalized image consulting services on the STYiLES app. You can find image consultants worldwide who will meet all your needs and book online or in-person consultations.
If you have any questions, contact me at jen@jenauh.com.