When done right, developing and promoting an amazing personal brand can open you up to incredible opportunities. You can establish yourself as an expert in your field, create your authentic voice, stand out from the crowd and become a trusted leader for your community. In this article, we’re going to share some simple (and super effective) tips to help you develop and promote your personal brand.
But first, you may be wondering – what is a personal brand and is it really important?
Your personal brand is all about how you present yourself and what you become known for. It is a representation of your knowledge, beliefs, skills, passions and personality; everything which makes you, you. For example, Marie Forleo is often regarded as a bubbly, fun and business-savvy leader, while Gabrielle Bernstein is known for being soulful, compassionate and open about her personal experiences.
A personal brand is a statement of who you are and what you stand for. It’s not just about your name or your face, it’s about creating an identity based on the skills you have to offer, your values and vision. Having a personal brand helps differentiate you from others, and can be incredibly powerful when communicating with customers and potential employers. In today’s digital age, having a personal brand and expressing yourself authentically are essential if you want to thrive in both professional and personal spheres. Ultimately, developing a strong personal brand gives individuals control over the way the public perceives them, and allows them to establish a deeper connection with their target audience.
Take a moment to think about the people you admire – it’s likely that you appreciate specific things about them, from the way they talk to how they make you feel.
According to Forbes, having a weak personal brand will hold you back because your community (and potential customers) won’t know who you are, which makes it more difficult for them to actually trust you. On the other hand, creating a strong personal brand will draw like-minded people towards you and allow you to create a business which thrives on authenticity and honesty.
Developing your amazing personal brand
Step One: Know your story
Knowing your personal story should be an integral part of developing your personal brand. It helps you to know who you are and how you want to be seen by others. Your personal story gives you the opportunity to shape your own narrative, personalize it in your own unique way, and grow from it. Knowing your personal story allows you to develop meaningful personal relationships with people around you and build authentic connections with them.
Understanding yourself gives you a sense of purpose which is essential for living a fulfilled life. So make sure to take the time to really get to know who you are and craft your personal story accordingly; it’ll take you places!
It’s important that you take some time to reflect on who you are and choose how you want to be known. You might like to journal about it or create a vision board which you can refer back to for guidance. Below, you’ll find some prompts to help you get started!
What am I passionate about?
Which colours best represent me (you can use these to create a colour palette for your personal brand)
How do I want my community feel when they see me (or my posts)?
What are my hobbies and interests?
What are my strengths?
What are my weaknesses?
What are some experiences which really helped define who I am?
Step Two: Craft your Personal Brand Statement
This is a statement about who you are and what you do, which you can include on your website and social media channels. It should clearly say who your target audience is, the value you offer and what makes you unique. For example, “My name is (INSERT NAME) and I help people who (INSERT WHAT YOU HELP PEOPLE WITH). I’m all about (INSERT WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE).” You can play around with this template to infuse it with your authentic voice and grab the attention of your target audience.
Crafting a personal brand statement is an important aspect of personal and professional development. It sets the tone for how you want to be known, seen, and remembered by your world. Your personal brand statement should align with your core values and what you stand for as a leader or expert in your field. It should be strong, succinct, and memorable so that it accurately reflects who you are today while still leaving room to grow into tomorrow. Ultimately, your personal brand statement needs to capture the essence of your personal brand and will become the foundation of how you present yourself to others.
Step Three: Choose your channels
There are so many platforms you can use to share your personal brand, but it’s often best to focus on two or three (to start with) and you can build from there. For example, you may want to create a website and share video blogs on Youtube and post daily on Facebook. Or, you may decide to start a podcast and share pins about it on Pinterest. By starting small, you’ll give yourself the opportunity to understand your chosen platforms really well and be consistent, without feeling overwhelmed.
It is important to identify the channels you will use to get your message out. This can be daunting, as there are many different platforms for sharing content ranging from social media networks to personal websites and beyond. However, it is possible to narrow down which channels will be most effective for you by assessing the goals you have in mind and where your target audience is most likely to congregate. Ultimately, choosing the right combination of channels can make a world of difference for getting you in front of the right people.
Promoting your amazing personal brand
Tip 1: Send a weekly newsletter
While it’s great to focus on posting regularly and growing your audiences via social media (or another platform, such as Youtube or Soundcloud), it can also be really important to offer a subscription to your newsletter. There are various newsletter subscriptions services available, such as Mailchimp, Convertkit, Infusionsoft and Ontraport (to name a few) which allow you to email the people who subscribe to your newsletter. It’s a great way to strengthen your relationship with your community, share more of your personality and behind-the-scenes content, and offer real value by sharing free resources, such as workbooks and guides.
This practice helps you remain in the minds of existing contacts, while also connecting with potential new ones. A newsletter can include interesting articles, recent industry updates, personal stories about you and your business, upcoming events, product announcements or special offers. Crafting one on a regular basis allows our contacts to see us as experts in our industry and stay engaged with our personal brand without requiring a large investment of time or money.
Tip 2: Be active on your chosen channels
Concentrate on being consistent with your chosen channels, be it Facebook, a blog, Instagram, Pinterest, a podcast, Youtube, Twitter, Snapchat, or whatever else you may decide to use. Your audience should know when to expect new posts from you and you can encourage interaction with them by asking questions and responding to their comments. It can also help to analyse which posts do particularly well, so you can replicate their success!
Being active on the channels you choose to use for your brand is one of the most important steps you can take in order to ensure success. Your active engagement will help you build relationships with customers, keep them informed about you, engage with potential leads and get feedback from those who have interacted with your branding. Not only will this keep your followers engaged but it can also be used as valuable market research and may lead to unexpected opportunities. Active participation can dramatically increase brand visibility, so don’t let the opportunity slip away. Stay on top of your chosen channels and reap the rewards!
Tip 3: Use video to your advantage
In the last few years, video content has become more and more popular. It’s an incredibly effective way to connect with your audience as it allows them to see who you are, how you talk and what you do in your daily life. Create live Facebook videos, share Instagram Stories or make video blogs to develop an even stronger personal brand!
Tip 4: Share your story
A great way to reach new audiences and promote your amazing personal brand is to seek out opportunities to connect and share your story. Pitch yourself to be interviewed on podcasts, write guest posts for bloggers (or online platforms, such as The Daily Guru!), use well-researched hashtags on social media, collaborate with brands you love, or speak at events. Whenever you share your story with new audiences, be sure to invite them to join you on your active platforms and channels, and don’t forget to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter!
We’d love to hear what you’ll be doing to develop or promote your personal brand, so let us know in the comments below.
Articles written by our internal Daily Guru writers, who are certified & qualified growth & development professionals.
