Personal Brand: What Is It, Why You Must Have It, and How You Can Get Started
Today’s competitive digital landscape compels you to have a personal brand to succeed. Personal brand, it’s the hottest buzzword on almost everyone’s lips these days. It is something you must invest in if you want to reach the level of success that personas like Oprah Winfrey, Simon, Sinek, Gary Vaynerchuk, Russell Brunson, Warren Buffett, or Arianna Huffington have achieved.
It’s important because it defines how others perceive YOU in real life and what value they get from interacting with or learning from YOU. But what does it really mean? Why is it valuable for individuals, business owners, social media influencers, and solo professionals to get personal branding? How can I build a personal brand for myself? If these are questions that interest you, we’ve got all the answers here!
In today’s blog post, we’ll take a plunge at what personal branding is, its importance, and how you can accomplish it for yourself. Plus, you’ll get an understanding of why knowing your special strengths and identifying your target audience moves the needle. So let’s get started – building an impressive personal brand awaits!
What Is Personal Brand? And Why is it Essential for You?
A personal brand or self-branding means having a distinct combination of characteristics, skills, and experiences that makes you, you. This involves an intentional effort of discovering what makes you different, stand out from the usual, and how to best communicate yourself to potential employers, customers, and partners.
It involves identifying your passions, your values, goals, and purpose in life – as well as the skills you bring to the table. Having your own self-brand sets you apart from the average person in terms of your abilities, skills, values, and thoughts. It’s an important tool for success in the modern world – and essential if you want to distinguish yourself from the competition.
It reflects how you present yourself both online and offline. People may see your personal website, or social media accounts and may describe you as one thing. That’s the beauty of having your own personal brand, it sets your target demographics to an impression.
You get to let your potential customers, clients, and even competitors see you for what you are as what you intend yourself to be. The emergence of influencers, coaches, freelancers, and individually-owned businesses made having a strong personal brand an ultimate need. As everyone vies for attention, few people stand out as they executed personal branding right.
Why is personal branding important today?
Implementing personal branding is essential for anyone looking for professional success. It is a public perception you create for yourself that helps you stand out from others in your field. By targeting a specific audience and gaining a competitive advantage, you get to become a thought leader in your right.
Personal branding involves self-promotion: crafting a pitch that emphasizes your strengths and achievements, making sure potential clients, employers, or colleagues know who you are and why it should be you than the other candidates. Building a personal brand is more than just networking; it’s the process of carefully curating your experiences and skills into an irresistible package that showcases your unique qualities and allows you to have control over how people perceive you.
Having this control over your personal brand is increasingly important in today’s digital age where first impressions matter more than ever before. Whether it be through social media, job postings, or even interviews, having an effective personal brand can take you places.
Difference between Personal Brand and Personal Branding
Let`s add some clarity between the two notions: personal brand and personal branding.
Your personal brand is what you want people to think about you when they hear your name – your unique style and personality, values, abilities, etc.; it’s how you want to be perceived in the world. Personal branding is the process of creating, refining and maintaining this image.
In other words, a personal brand is a final goal or objective, whereas personal branding is a process and strategy which you execute to achieve that final goal.
A personal brand is a well-recognized and consistent perception or impression about an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions, and achievements within a community, industry, or marketplace.
Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning themselves as an authoritative figure in the industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, increase the circle of influence and have a larger impact.
Personal branding is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining an impression and a reputation of an individual, group, or organization.
Difference between Personal Brand and Reputation
Personal brand and reputation are not one and the same. We often confuse these two concepts, which solve different problems.
- Everyone has a reputation as it`s based on a person’s past experience. Not everyone has a personal brand.
- Your reputation is made up of the opinions and beliefs people form about you based on your past actions and behaviors, while the personal brand is focused on future perspectives and opportunities.
- Your reputation is what people think about you, whereas your personal brand is how you want them to think, it`s all about consciously managing other people’s perceptions about you, taking control of what impression you make on those around you.
- Reputation can be based on facts or perceptions and might not always be positive. On the other hand, your personal brand should only reflect a positive image of yourself and the attributes that make you desirable in a professional space.
What are the 5 A’s of personal branding?
The five A’s of personal branding are
Authenticity
This is the cornerstone of successful personal branding. Being authentic means staying true to your values, strengths, and passions. It’s about being yourself and sharing your story in an honest and transparent way. Authenticity creates a reputation with your audience and helps you stand out from others who may be trying to create a false image. You’ll want your label to be seen as what you intend it to be based on what your audience finds online.
Affinity
Affinity is about understanding and connecting with your ideal audience. Discover who your ideal audience is, what they need, and how you can help them. By developing an affinity for your audience, you can create content that meets their needs and create a stronger connection with them. Strong personal brands often succeed because they know deep down how it feels to be in their crowd’s shoes. For them, it’s more of a “you” thing than about “them”.
Authority
Authority is the perception of expertise and knowledge in your field. It’s about establishing yourself as a reliable expert in your niche. You can demonstrate your authority by sharing your knowledge, crafting and sharing valuable content, and engaging with your audience. By establishing your authority, you can increase your credibility and trustworthiness.
Aspiration
Aspiration is about setting high standards and goals for yourself. It’s about inspiring and motivating others to pursue their dreams and aspirations. By sharing your own journey and successes, you can show others what’s possible and inspire them to take action. Aspiration is essential for building a strong personal brand because it shows that you are committed to continuous growth and improvement.
Accountability
Accountability is about taking responsibility for your actions and being honest with yourself and others. It’s about walking the talk, accepting criticism, learning from mistakes, and making sure that you are constantly striving to improve and do better in the future. By consistently holding yourself accountable, you can create a strong personal brand that displays integrity and trustworthiness.
What Is a Personal Branding Statement?
Your personal branding statement is what people think of when they hear your name or see your face. It comes in handy when you show up in search engines during a background check. And truth be told, before a potential client or employer gets to work with you, they always check who they want to work with. So it’s a no-brainer that you need to ensure that your brand is strong and reflects the best of your reputation.
Your personal brand statement ideally must be strong, descriptive, short, and catchy. It can also be a combination of words and phrases that help people remember your brand.
A personal brand statement could be: “I’m an experienced digital marketing consultant who specializes in helping small businesses develop effective strategies to reach their desired audience. I combine data-driven insights with creative solutions to drive results.”
Another example could be: “I’m an experienced software engineer who loves building intuitive applications and solving complex problems. I specialize in creating robust and efficient code to power the latest technologies.”
“I help busy professionals improve their productivity and achieve their goals through personalized coaching and time management strategies.” This message conveys the value that the individual can offer to their target audience and highlights their expertise in productivity and coaching.
By crafting a unique personal brand statement, you can establish your reputation as an expert in your field and you’ll be well on your way to standing out among other professionals.
Conclusion on Personal Branding
Whether you’re looking for a career promotion or more clients for your business, personal branding is more important than ever. You don’t need to be Oprah or Richard Branson to have a successful personal brand.
It’s just a matter of continually crafting and curating your visibility, maintaining consistency, and most importantly, being real in what you do and say! Your honesty, transparency, and authenticity are what will differentiate you in the long run.
Now more and more people are building their personal brand to hopefully get noticed from the chaotic ooze of people competing for the same opportunity.
Want to Kick Off Your Personal Branding? Your Personal Branding Level Guide Awaits!
Let’s get real. When it comes to developing your personal brand, it’s unavoidable to feel bewildered and lost. Good news – you can make the very first small step towards your goal right away.
Download the Personal Brand Level guide to learn what level you own now and what you`ll need to move to the next one.