*collaborative guest post
Some people focus on their business brand but don’t pay attention to their personal brand. That’s because they don’t understand what personal branding is and why it is important.
Even if a person doesn’t try to create their personal brand, it already exists if they have an online presence. Many factors contribute to a person’s personal brand, including the way they communicate with others online, the kinds of things they share and the types of stories they tell. It also incorporates visual elements like the photographs a person publishes and the kinds of graphics they use.
But, what exactly is personal branding and why is it important for you to know about it? That’s what we will enunciate in this article.
Personal Branding
Personal branding refers to how a person promotes themselves. It is the combination of personality, skills, and experience that a person wants others to see. It’s the sharing of their story and how it reflects their behavior, conduct, attitudes and words.
Personal branding allows a person to differentiate themselves from others. Professionally, a person’s personal brand refers to the image people see of them. It can be how the online world or media portrays them, how people look at them and the impression people gain from all the information that is available about a person online.
People can choose to ignore personal branding and allow it to develop automatically, beyond their control, which can have a bad impact on their reputation or they can direct their personal brand to portray the image they want the world to see.
In the old days, a person’s personal brand was limited to their business card. But, that’s not the case today as information about anyone can be found online.
Why You Need to Know About Personal Branding?
If a person wants other people to consider them influential, it is essential for them to establish a strong personal brand. Personal brand can help a person stand apart from others. Personal branding can be used to demonstrate skills and knowledge about a particular area of expertise.
There are thousands of people out there that may have same level of skills and knowledge. Personal branding allows a person to differentiate themselves from others like them.
Most Millennials don’t trust advertisements. But, they do believe the people who they feel know what they are talking about. This is the reason why businesses have begun to rethink the way they market themselves to Millennials. Indeed, this is why the world has seen a shift towards influencer marketing in the last few years.
Businesses are now marketing more through influencers instead of focusing on traditional marketing channels. Personalizing the important people in businesses has become a trend now. Even owners of large corporations are focusing on building their personal brand. For instance, Elon Musk has created his personal brand using Twitter by replying to queries and complaints of customers regarding Tesla and other ventures. Bonding with customers on an individual level allows a person to strengthen their position before they deliver the message of a company.
Building a Personal Brand
Self-reflection is essential to create a strong personal brand. It really helps if a person knows themselves and clearly describes to others what they are all about.
If someone wants to use personal brand to improve their business performance, they must first ensure that they know who their target audience is. Their personal brand must match their targeted customers.
Ultimately, a person must build their reputation as someone who understands the problems of their target customers and cares about them. They must come across as someone who experiences the same problems and issues as their target customers. The thing that differentiates a person who is building a personal brand from their target customers is that they can show to customers that they have found a solution to their problems and they are willing to share this solution with the people.
This, however, doesn’t mean that a person should come off as a salesperson who only wants others to purchase their product. Consumers can see the business that’s only focused on selling. The whole point of creating a personal brand is to step back from selling and making the problems of people and their genuine solution the central theme.
Alex of VM Interactive believes that social media is crucial for personal branding. A person who wants to create a strong personal brand should engage with their audience through social networks where their target audience is active.
By building a personal brand, a person can separate themselves from their competitors and forge strong relationships with customers. So, don’t hold yourself back from creating your personal brand.
