Whether you like it or not, people are making assumptions about your personal brand. Your product, service, customer experience and online presence are factors in driving consumer perception.
But it is so much more than just that.
Your personal brand also includes the reputation and relationships you have built over time.
This includes your conversations, daily actions and interactions, and of course, all of the super-duper awesomeness that makes you so wonderfully and delightfully you.
So how do you translate that into a personal brand that attracts, engages and inspires potential customers?
Below are 7 tips to spark creativity and help you build a sensational personal brand that is strategically and thoughtfully designed!
1. Define What Makes You Shine
Defining and consistently sharing your unique message creates differentiation. It is an identifier, relaying the special skills, talents and magic that is the brand called you.
Whether you are a writer, a marketer or a small business owner, controlling that perception is vital. Begin to develop your personal brand by asking a few questions:
- What is my greatest strength/weakness?
- What unique ability do I bring to the table?
- What differentiates me from my competition?
- Am I innovative or traditional in thinking?
- How do I prefer to communicate?
- What are the needs of my consumer that I can solve?
2. Create a Credible Website
A website can help establish credibility and should be hub or center of your online presence. With it you can showcase your individual talents and provide insight into who you are, what you are passionate about and what niche or group you and your business serve.
Allow your website to complement all that you are doing both offline and online. Add it to your marketing, newsletter, email and any other location where you are eager for consumers to find and connect with you.
Your website is establishing your reputation. Do not miss the opportunity to create thought leadership through your content, design and branding.
3. Embrace Social Media
As the use of social networks within business continues to evolve, having an established social media presence that connects with potential customers is a crucial element to building your personal brand.
Gain a voice in the over-saturated online world by getting involved in the conversation. Determine where you can share and discuss topics that matter most to your business and potential clients.
To begin building a presence across various social networks, consider these tips:
- Spend time identifying where your target market spends their time. Is it Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or Pinterest? Once you know where they want to receive your message, then begin to craft it.
- Take time to determine what you will talk about. This is not a time or place to be spammy or promotional. You want to offer insight and give away your knowledge freely to begin boosting personal brand awareness and establishing a solid reputation.
- Like, circle or follow competitors and other local businesses. This is a great way to elevate the conversation and create strategic relationships, even with your competitors. As the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies (aka “the competition) closer.
- Ask questions! This is a quick and easy way to find out what matters most to those connecting with you online.
4. Merge Offline with Online
While business seems to be more Internet-based than ever, you never want to neglect your offline efforts. Merging your offline and online is a perfect way to take an established reputation and introduce it to your new online audience.
Take your brochures, email marketing, flyers and direct mail campaigns and repurpose the content across your social media channels. You can also take much of that content and turn it in to blog posts.
Did you answer a question or solve a problem in your latest email? Expand upon that and post it to your blog.
Don’t forget to include links to your online profiles within your traditional marketing to cross-promote your online networks. You want to make sure that no matter where your audience spends time, they can find you!
5. Invest In Your Brand
Whether it is time spent creating content or an investment into a new marketing tool, investing in your personal brand provides growth opportunities.
Spending money on the development of your brand can also build credibility, boost visibility and create a higher overall perceived value.
For example, spending money on your look and feel – a logo, custom website and branded social media channels tells your story and sends a consistent message to potential clients.
6. Set Measurable Goals
Setting periodic goals for your personal brand is a good way to analyze your achievements and adjust your strategy as necessary. Set daily, weekly and monthly goals that support your dream.
What is it that you want to achieve? Once you decide what you are working towards, put it in writing.
For example:
Are you looking to sell more product? Determine how many people you will need to get in front of to meet your goal. Then analyze what your conversion rate is and what the cost is to market to each individual.
This will help you begin to formulate the cost of your time and resources.
7. Stay Fresh and Relevant
Keep your personal brand fresh and exciting. Consistently take stock of your marketing and your message. Ask yourself who you are marketing to and whether your content is what they want and need.
There is no sense in putting yourself out there if you are not willing to go the extra mile.
Stay on top of trends and make sure your personal branding is relevant, but also a reflection of all that your business is and is striving to be.
Ready to Learn More? Additional Resources to Keep You Going:
5 Keys to Building an Addictive Personal Brand
Invest Long-Term In Your Brand
50+ Tips to Brand Yourself Online
How To Brand Yourself: 6 Tips On Branding
Hi there friends, nice paragraph and nice urging commented here, I am truly enjoying by these.
Too many folks drop the ball when it comes to the passion, purpose and personality behind their brand. While visuals and aesthetic branding guidelines are important they’re certainly not the end all be all in creating a powerful personal brand…the keyword being “personal”!
Without the personal {unique} perspective all you’ve got is design, not branding.
This is a great personal branding checklist to work from Rebekah!
Thanks for your advice and the post. I think a self-analysis is key to building a strong foundation. Discover who you really are and begin to brand yourself. Merging offline with online is also a unique idea – take what you have found to be effective and share it through other platforms and channels to create traffic.
Hi Jimmy! Yep, why reinvent the wheel? You’ve already established your business offline, just take that and translate it online. Social media doesn’t have to be difficult. 🙂
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Hi Rebekah,
Awesome tips for people who want to improve their online reputation. I like your number 5 tip. Most people think that just because they are setting up a website, they don’t have to invest in anything.
I personally think that it’s vital to continue to educate yourself on your business. Plus it helps us grow and be able to expand our business further.
Thanks for sharing these tips, I hope you have a great day.
Excellent tips, Rebekah! I agree, whatever you share online reflects your personality and branding so be careful with what you’re sharing. Make sure it has value and can help others solve problems, or at least something inspiring or motivating…
Hi Rebekah,
Branding is something that big corporations have been doing for a long time. I am glad that even solo business owners can embrace this concept now.
As Donna mentions, many people are watching us on. More and more people will come online to find out more about us after they have met us offline. What you mentioned about online presence and investing in our brand are important. What good is it when there is online presence but no online reputation? Ryan Biddulph is spot on. He is building a personal brand as someone who always gives values. When we provide value, we will make an impact.
The ultimate goal of personal branding is to make sure that others know what we have something that can impact on others lives. For someone who is not our ideal client, the goal is for them to feel great about referring others to us.
Thanks, Rebekah, for this awesome post!
Viola Tam – The Business Mum
You are absolutely right, everyone is watching making it crucial for small businesses as well as solopreneurs to differentiate and build their own unique brand. Thanks so much for stopping by Viola!
You’ve given us a real foundation for developing a great personal brand, Rebekah.
Our personal brand is critical to getting our message out in “the over-saturated online world”. The trouble is, so few people know how to go about creating one.
You give some great snippets of advice here, but also make it clear that there is a lot of work involved. It’s no hit and run campaign, but a long-term, sustained and dedicated one.
Great benefits are sure to come to those who take the time, and persevere in implementing the strategies you give here, Rebekah.
Excellent post Rebekah!, I think in order to help others, you must know and understand yourself first. Doing this you will be in better position to organize your business to perform better. Thanks for your tips
Rebekah, I like the way you suggest we support and promote our competition, that’s a good idea. Also, branding ourselves with a good website, something that shows off our brand is sensible. Thanks for sharing all your tips.
I completely agree! A good website is vital Julieanne. It’s more than likely the first thing people will see when researching you and your business online. It should clearly express who you are and what your brand is all about.
Hi Rebekah,
Everything begins with the niche and those questions from point no.1 are a good starting point. In my opinion, this is the most difficult thing to do when you start online. It requires special abilities to analyze yourself and it is indeed very difficult to do it right.
Another important point is that most of the blogs are full with generic content that teaches you what to do and how to do it. At least, this is what they say. When you analyze the message you realize … they don’t say much. Just recycled tips like: write stellar content, use beautiful pictures, establish a social media presence etc. This type of advice it is extremely appreciated but, at the end of the day, it doesn’t help you much.
I am glad that you tried to bring examples to the table, to illustrate how to do this and that. This is the real way to help people.
Have a wonderful day
Ack! I’ve done a terrible job of paying attention to what makes me “shine” I also haven’t really figured out what I am trying to offer. So far I have a nice site with some interesting content but no real reason for folks to come back and/or continue to engage with me… Great post. Thanks for the nudge!
I don’t think you’ve done a terrible job at all Kathy! It just takes a little bit of time to pull everything together.
Most of us get started online and then begin to create our unique look and feel. We go about it backwards, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it happen! 🙂
Hi Rebekah,
Deffinately want to do some soul searning on what makes you stand out from the crowd. I think this is the hardest part. When you follow waht others are doing, or try to be like others things mat not go so well. So what is that one thing that you do differently than anyone else … then go for it!
Very nice blog …
Soul searching is a great way to put it Lesly. It’s super important to know your why and your what as you determine how you will present your offline persona to the online world. It’s fun, but can be a little time consuming. As you said, started with that one thing that sets you apart!
Hi Rebekah,
This post is totally on point! We must keep in mind that people are watching us all the time. From our blog to all the social media sites. This is why we need to keep our communications going, especially when it comes to the social networks.
All we need to do is create a time management schedule for ourselves so we don’t end up wasting all our time there. We must keep it positive all the time! Then we can get to speak to people via skype, phone or Google+ chats. I’ve made so many relationships that way.
Also, I am glad you mentioned how it is important to keep our eye opened off line. This is something that had just come to me in the past several months. I had no intention of doing it, but people asked what I do. When I explained, they wanted my help. And that was the beginning of a beautiful business friendship!
-Donna
That is so true Donna! People are watching and paying attention to all that we say and do online 24/7. This is why it’s so important to monitor our posts (never post when we’re tired or upset) and stay true to the brand we’re creating. One misstep can create a world of havoc!
What a great testament to the power of integrating offline with our online marketing! While online marketing might be overtaking traditional, the value of face-to-face will never die.
Rebekah,
it is always a pleasure visiting your site.. love your neat and detailed articles, and yes, this one is a wonderful one… so simple and at the same time so powerful.
As I was reading your 7 tips I keep saying to my self, wow, Rebekah know her stuff and she must be very successful in doing what she is doing.
There is so much more to learn in life, the Internet, off the Internet and every where else we happen to give attention to… but after all that, it come down to what you clearly wrote.. we must build up our credentials as we do all what we do online and offline.. interact, set goals, stay fresh and relevant and so much more.
Thanks so much for a great post once again…
All the best in all you do with heart.
_nickc
What a wonderful compliment Nick – thank you so much for making my day!
Rebecca,
You really have a wonderful upbeat style that I wish to emulate. Your blog is right on. So many employees today spend years and years helping their employer build an incredible brand name, somehow hoping that they will benefit. However as technology, market changes and economic challenges cause these people to lose their jobs, all their work evaporates. It is my passion, and apparently yours, to help people build an online reputation or personal brand before they find themselves on the street.
I applaud your work and commitment. I will be spending more time on your site to learn more. Good job!
Thank you Gary! What you said about all of our hard work disappearing is indeed a very scary thought.
I can tell you are passionate about helping others create and maintain an effective online reputation. It’s something near and dear to my heart as you can tell! 🙂
Excellent post Rebekah! People talk about you based on the perception they have whether you’re involved or not. You need to be sure to give them them ALL the tools and info so they can at least get the details right.
Thank you Josh! You’re exactly right. You need to give as many details as possible so you control the perception instead of allowing people to come to their own conclusions based on a lack of information.
Hi Rebekah! I love this article and I can feel the passion you put into it! Your tips on right on the mark! Your website represents YOU! Yes your website is an extension of your business, it is a part of you! You do need to have a clear message HUH? Thanks for the great tips Chery 🙂
Thank you so much Chery! A website truly is the online image we portray to anyone making to look a connection with us or making a decision whether or not to work with us. It can make or break their decision!
My Google Plus friend Mark Traphagen wrote an excellent post that perfectly compliments your post. You should check it out. http://www.virante.org/blog/2013/09/16/powerful-personal-branding-via-content-social-networking-seo/ I hope you don’t mind links in comments.
Not at all Bobby! Especially when they come from you and Mark. I’ll go read it. He always give me lots to think about!
Hi Rebekah,
Sensational post here.
Build your brand by making impacts. This ties into #1 nicely for me. I comment to make an impact. To help my buddies, to add value to my friend’s posts and to help expand my presence too. Win-win all around.
1 branding mistake I see – and try to guard against – is rushing through the day. Impacting brands take time to become memorable. I can share a 2 line comment or 3 paragraph piece. When people see “Ryan Biddulph” attached to a comment I want them to remember him, and I also enjoy adding value to my fellow blogger’s posts.
Each comment is content. Just ask Google 😉
Thanks for sharing your keen insight Rebekah!
Ryan
You are so right Ryan and proof that commenting is a fabulous strategy as long as you commit to it!
Hey Rebekah…
Its the first time I visited your site and I really liked it…
I am a writer and a blogger and all the points you gave for building a personal brand quite relevant for me…
Thanks for this sharing the thoughts and tips in the post…:)
I’m so glad to hear that Debasmita and thank you so much for stopping by!
I LOVE the merge online and offline!! I am at this point right now and it’s soo super important to do so! My challenge is going from online to offline. At first I didn’t think it was important but as my online presence grows, I find it essential to my biz to do this!
You’re absolutely right Angie – it does need to go both ways. And with the amount of content we’re creating online these days, it’s absolutely possible to take that and integrate it into our offline marketing. Sounds like you’re doing a great job with it!