Personal brands are the new personal names. It’s the new clothing label. The new fashion label. The new brand of choice.
In marketing, a brand is a “name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that: identifies goods or services as those of one seller or group of sellers, and is used to persuade buyers to buy the seller’s goods.” When someone uses a brand name to promote a product, service, or cause, it builds trust and credibility, establishing the source as a trusted source.
Building a personal brand business is like creating your own unique identity in today’s digital world. To make sure you stand out, it’s a great idea to get help from experts (found at sites like conradgolly.com) who know the ropes. These pros can guide you in figuring out what makes you special, who your audience is, and how to tell your story in a way that makes sense. They know all about the latest trends, how to make the most of your online presence, and the best ways to communicate with your audience. With their help, you can turn your personal identity and brand into a strong business asset that makes you memorable and successful in the long run.
That said, here’s how to build a personal brand business:
- Build a plan
Making a plan is important when starting a business of any type. But, how many make-it-up-as-you-go-along plans do we really follow? We want to start a business but find it difficult to set out a plan. We want to start a business and find a plan, but it seems too detailed. We want to start a business, but we don’t have a plan or enough time. We want to start a business, but we have no idea where to start. A personal brand is more than just a great logo or slogan-it’s how you market yourself as well as your brand. In a clothing store, for instance, if you use store fixture equipment to display all your products, your customers might also look at how they are organized. It’s what other people think of you and your brand when they hear your name. It’s how you are perceived. It’s how you get hired. It’s what you are known for. And there’s no better time to establish and build a personal brand than today.
- Assess what you’re passionate about.
It’s time to discover what you’re passionate about. What drives you to get out of bed in the morning? What motivates your desire to earn a living? What keeps you loyal to your business? The answer to these questions can help you realize the answers to other questions: What are you passionate about? What business will best serve that passion? Where do you feel most at home? What’s your story? If you’re reading this, you probably have some kind of business idea floating around in your head, or maybe you’re just someone who’s always been fascinated by online business and entrepreneurship. If so, congrats, you’ve just made one of the hardest decisions of your life: you’re going to quit your job and risk your income, or you’re going to keep your day job and hope you can start an online business like all these other “sales geniuses” out there. The truth is, there are thousands of other people out there who have built successful businesses without quitting their day jobs, many of whom did it because they were passionate about what they do.
- Tell a story.
Building a personal brand can be a challenging and time-consuming task, but is it worth the effort? The decision to build a personal brand is not easy, and many nuances go into building a business from the ground up. To build a personal brand business, you need to tell a story. And the story needs to be interesting so that people will want to listen to you. Try to think of yourself as a storyteller. Consider your life an adventure. Look for situations that have happened to you and apply them to your life. In case you have stories, but don’t know how to tell them, maybe you can consider enlisting the help of a professional storyteller (such as those available in reputed Corporate video production firms).
- Establish your social footprint.
Social media has become a part of our everyday lives, but how do you know how to best use the tools given to you? How do you leverage social media tools to build a genuine and authentic brand image? This is a question that can be answered in many ways, but one that is close to my heart is building my social brand and establishing a personal brand. With the recent increase in personal branding (social media, self-promotion, etc.), it is increasingly important to establish a social footprint. A social footprint is personal brand assets-content, images, pieces of software, etc. For some, these assets are their website. Others have a blog. Still, others have social media profiles. Using the right kind of tools and websites, you can turn your social media presence into a personal brand and business. How? By promoting yourself in your various social networking profiles. You can either do it yourselves or hire a personal reputation management service to provide to take care of your social profiles.
In the online world, a great personal brand is one that people are devoted to. A personal brand must be built up over time. A blog a day, a video a day, a new video every week, or a tweet a week, creates a constant flow of content that keeps people coming back.
