Building your personal brand can be one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself personally and professionally. Branding is what makes the difference between Elon Musk with Tesla and the next guy who is making electric vehicles.
Branding isn’t exclusive to just businesses. Personal branding can also generate significant returns for individuals looking to take the next step in their personal or professional careers. In fact, 92 percent of individuals trust personal recommendations over brands, even if they don’t know the individual personally.
Keep reading to learn how to start building a personal brand for yourself and begin seeing the incredible benefits it can bring.
- Determine How You Want to Be Perceived
First off, you’ll have to determine what you’re going to be known for and how you will go about portraying that image. You can begin by asking yourself:
- What’s your passion?
- Do you have particular expertise in a certain area?
- What can you offer to people?
- Do you have something that makes you unique?
The secret is to stay authentic and true to yourself. You don’t want to project an image that doesn’t really represent your true self. Building your personal brand is about highlighting what you can uniquely offer to individuals to create value, rather than trying to act like someone you’re not.
Being your authentic self and creating value for individuals can be the foundation for creating a personal brand that drives revenue, learn more here.
- Develop Your Unique Value Proposition
Just like businesses have a unique value proposition (UVP) that explains what they do and how it benefits consumers, individuals can also have a UVP describing how they can create value for their followers.
Your UVP doesn’t have to be a book – it can be as simple as one sentence like a mission statement. For example, “I help people develop their unique value proposition so they can build a personal brand and live out their dreams.” It’s simple but explains what you do and why people should follow your journey.
The UVP should draw people in, let them know what you’re all about, and help distinguish yourself from the competition.
- Grow Your Online Presence
Growing your online presence is a must if you are considering building your personal brand. The reason is that nearly everyone is online. In fact, in North America alone, over 90 percent of the population uses the internet.
Your online presence will be a critical factor in the branding experience as users will be looking you up online. When they come across your personal brand website, they will judge you based on the website alone, which makes it essential to have a website that represents who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish.
You should also work on building up a social media presence. Social media is where you can share content with your followers, and if they share it with their friends, it opens up a massive network for you to capitalize on.
Learn More About Building a Personal Brand
If you’re thinking about building a personal brand, it will take time, hard work, resources, and a bit of creativity. But, if you are consistently providing value in a way people can understand, they will follow you, helping to build your brand. Once you build a base of loyal followers, they will share your information with their networks to expand your brand’s reach.
For more information on personal branding and other marketing tactics, head over to our blog!
