Have you thought about building a personal brand? You probably know the importance of branding. However, you are not sure if you have to build it, or just having the one for your business.
Our answer is, Both!
In this post, we are going to show you the 9 steps to building a personal brand. Let’s start with the definition.
What’s a Personal Brand?
A personal brand is the craft and promotion of an individual’s public identity.
You already have yours. How people perceives you and your products and services, according to your public narrative and values.
Think of Messi, Chiara Ferragni, or Gary Vee. They all have built their own.
4 Myths of a Personal Brand:
Change your mindset. You are wrong if you think that a personal brand is:
Myth 1: Being narcissistic.
It’s not if you have an ultimate purpose. Show up and deliver ethically and purposely, and you’ll be grounded.
Myth 2: Needing to create a different character.
Your public image shouldn’t be different as you are. We try to build up a solid and authentic one.
Myth 3: Being famous.
You might get famous, but for the right reasons.
Myth 4: Shadowing the company’s brand.
Both brands work wonderfully together. Even though they are different, they support each other.
Benefits of Having a Personal Brand
There are many benefits and opportunities. We can name the following:
- Trust and authority go hand in hand with your presence as a thought leader in your industry.
- Your communication can build confidence.
- Your solid personal brand helps to increase value in the marketplace.
Related Content: How To Promote Your Brand On Social Media: 10 Easy Tactics
9 Steps To Building a Personal Brand
You cannot build it from one day to the other. It requires time and patience. Nonetheless, if you plan and implement your actions, persevere along the way, and share your passion, you’ll definitely create an authentic one.
Here are the 9 steps to building a personal brand:
Step #1 – Identify your objectives and your values.
It’s crucial that you first think of your motivations and write down your skills and values, and how you can contribute. This will help you to understand your objectives, and most important, the Why.
Along the way, you’ll bump into obstacles, and delays, if you have a powerful why, you’ll have the stamina to keep going.
Step #2 – Define your name
Be comfortable with the name choice. You must feel identify by it. Sometimes it’s a nickname; others, the last name, only your first name, or you can make up one.
Step #3 – Create a graphic representation
We recommend you to hire a graphic designer. But if you have a tight budget, then you can do it by yourself with tools like Canva.
Be consistent with your logo, style and colors.
Step #4 – Understand your personality
What’s your personality? It’s important you know yourself. Start by coming up with five adjectives that can define you.
Your personality will determine your message and tone.
Step #5 – Write down your biography
Brainstorm who you are, skills, and achievements. These will be your biography that you will share everywhere. i.e. Your blog, your social media accounts, your dossier, etc.
Step #6 – Plan your positioning
When we talk about planning your positioning, we mean to map out all the channels, content strategy and collaborations you can have to start building your reputation.
Step #7 – Build your presence online
As any company that has its own website, blog and social media accounts, a personal brand should have their own. You must consider it as another entity that works next to your commercial brand, supporting it, but they are completely different.
Step #8 – Provide value
This step will help you build a powerful brand. You must deliver. Which means you must show up, deliver more than expected, be educative, and try to connect and build relationships.
A personal brand is more human than a commercial one. So take advantage.
Step #9 – Monetize your personal brand
Once you’ve created a solid personal brand, it’s normal to think about the ways you can monetize it.
What are the ways to monetize it?
- Sell digital products
- Offer services
- Use banner ads
- Have your online course
- Be an affiliate
- Become a public speaker
- Offer premium content
- Organize events
- Write and sell an eBook
- Have sponsors of a podcast, for instance
Conclusion
You can position yourself as a unique and valuable personal brand in your industry by following the below steps:
- Identify your objectives and your values.
- Define your name as a personal brand
- Create a graphic representation of your personal brand
- Understand your personality
- Write down your biography
- Plan your positioning
- Build your presence online
- Provide value
- Monetize your personal brand
Remember: Not everyone will resonate with you, and that’s okay. In the era of social media, there are many people who try to be someone else, and we are against it. You should build up one that is aligned to your purpose and value. You are already unique. Your authenticity will help you stand out. We are rooting for you!