APersonal brandand theaccepted public perceptionof an individual whileself promotionis the intentional process ofCreateOPrint. Personal branding is the result of personal branding efforts to position and communicate that person's credibility as a thought leader.
self promotionit's what it says about you based on your experience, knowledge, core values, and key differentiators. Personal branding helps you be seen as an industry authority, build and grow trust with your audience, grow your business, and ultimately make a difference as a mission-driven thought leader.
Who needs a personal brand?
Anyone looking to grow their business, attract an audience, or advance their career would benefit from personal branding.
While there's an argument that almost everyone has a personal brand, whether it's created on purpose or grown organically, there are people whose professional success depends on it. These people include:
- Director general
- entrepreneur
- Political
- Autonomous worker
- The creator
- man of influence
If you are part of an organization, want to build a career, need to stand out from the competition, or simply want to be perceived as authentic, you need a personal brand.
Why is it important to have a personal brand?
Today's attention economics assumes that attention is a scarce resource that must be constantly fought for. Now combine it with the vast amount of digital information available on multiple digital platforms. You don't need to run algorithms to understand that capturing and retaining the attention of a limited audience is harder than ever.
Here are three more reasons why personal branding is important.
1. It gives you a competitive advantage
There are thousands of people competing with you in the short attention span economy. People compete for the same clients, the same jobs, and the same audience.
Having a well-defined personal brand that differentiates your value and what you bring to the table helps you stand out from the crowd, even when you're not in the same room.
2.Personal brand builds trust
Humans are cognitively wired to interact with people based on their level of trust. You choose who to trust or leave based on who you trust and avoid those you don't trust.
The same applies to buying behavior. People buy, buy, and are loyal to personal brands that they trust.
Consistent personal branding messaging, imagery, and overall online and offline presence let people know you as an expert in your field. They expect that consistency and feel that they have a relationship with you that builds trust.
3. Helps you achieve your business goals
In accordance with B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report 2022Created by Edelman and LinkedIn, "Thought leadership is one of the most effective tools a company can use to show its customers its value in a tough economy."
The report also finds that quality thought leadership has a greater impact on 50% of top executive decision making during economic downturns than in better times.
Whether you're in B2B or B2C, establishing yourself as a thought leader through your personal brand opens the door to lead generation, speaking engagements, job opportunities and more.
What is a brand audit?
Creating a personal brand or evaluating your current personal brand begins with conducting a personal brand audit. A brand audit is a review of everything that defines how your audience perceives you. This includes your professional bio, social media, website, photos, blog, and videos. It also involves looking from the outside in at your digital footprint to see what people find when they type your name into a search engine.
A Personal Brand Audit gives you the opportunity to ask yourself:
- How did I position myself?
- Have I differentiated myself in a way that is authentic to me?
- Does my current personal brand reflect how I want to be seen?
- What is missing from my personal brand?
- Is there anything I need to address in my digital footprint that could harm my brand's reputation?
By conducting an audit, you determine if your personal brand is current and unique to you. You can also create your own personal brand if you don't already have one.
How to perform a personal brand audit
Answering the following personal brand audit questions allows you to analyze the current state of your brand. It also gives you the opportunity to create your own personal brand.
These questions show how you present yourself online and how you are perceived. Ideally, they will match, but don't be surprised if they don't. This applies if your personal brand isn't established yet or if you haven't had an audit in a while.
personal brand positioning
Personal branding is all about building the perception of your personal brand in the minds of your audience. Having a deep understanding of where you stand is the first step in conducting a brand audit.
Answer the questions yourself, then invite people from your past and current professional network and trusted advisors for feedback. Ask people who are honest with you, not people who will tell you what they think you'd like to hear.
- Who are you?
- What is your mission
- What are your core values?
- Why should people believe you?
- Do you have a product or service?
- Who are your competitors?
- What are your key differentiators compared to your competitors?
- What are your professional and personal goals?
- How do you describe yourself? (Authentic, friendly, objective, humorous, etc.)
- Who is your audience?
- Would your online audience, friends, and followers describe you in the same way?
- What comes to mind when they think of you?
- Would your audience or professional network ask you to contribute content to their podcast, blog, or newsletter? Why or why not?
- What results do you get when you google your name? How do they represent you? Does this representation reflect you, your mission, core values, value proposition, and goals?
Evaluation of brand values.
Assessing your brand and marketing values ​​allows you to verify brand consistency in everything from messaging to graphics.
- Do you have an up-to-date and consistently reported bio? Do you have a one line, short form and long form version?
- Do you have a professional portrait or an entire library of images? It's updated?
- Do all of your marketing and brand assets look and sound similar? Could someone look at your print or digital marketing or brand assets and recognize them as coming from the same person?
- Are all your materials up to date?
- Have you published content on other platforms like LinkedIn, Medium or Substack? Does it match your personal brand message?
Determine voice and tone.
Think about how you sound to your audience. This is what they hear audibly and in their minds when they think of you.
- Do you have a defined personal brand voice? Can your target audience describe you?
- Is your personality accurately reflected in the voice and tone you use in your brand values?
Creating a visual identity
Graphic elements, including logos, images, and fonts, also represent your personal brand.
- Do you have a logo?
- Is it consistently used in the same way in all of your materials?
- Do you have visual branding guidelines?
Creation of a personal website
A personal brand site is your foundationown content. Here he will find his target group, the media and associations will confirm his role as a thought leader and organizations will hire him to speak.
- Do you have a personal brand website?
- Are you easily found online when people search for you?
- Does your message align with other personal branding materials?
- If you have visual branding guidelines, are they used?
- Is the call to action you want the site visitor to make easy to understand?
Presence in social networks
Please check yourPresence in social networks. Use the following questions to understand how others view and interact with you.
- Do you use social media platforms?
- Are they up to date? Are your bio and photo up to date?
- Do you post content regularly?
- Do you have a social media strategy designed to grow your audience, brand awareness, and thought leadership?
- Do you provide a mix of content types (video, short posts, longer articles)?
- What demographics are you most interested in? Are they your target audience?
- Why are you getting quotes?
Which are the next steps?
Once you've completed your brand audit, analyze the results, looking for similarities, patterns, and misalignments. You can tell if your target audience sees you the way you want them to see you, or if your personal brand still needs work.
You can also assess whether your personal brand aligns with your short- and long-term goals. For example, if you're applying for a C-suite role, you'll quickly discover if your current personal brand positions you as a credible thought leader.
From here, you can praise yourself for having a strong personal brand that aligns with your goals. Or, you've already laid the foundation for developing an authentic and effective personal brand.
final thoughts
While personal branding is time consuming, it's worth it if you want to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Your personal brand will also be reflected in any blogs, articles, or other content you create, including books.Learn more about creating thought leadership articles on our blog.How to Write Successful Thought Leadership Articles.
Are you interested in developing your personal brand thought leadership through authoring?Find out if you qualifyBecome a Forbes Book Author. Our consultants can help you develop a strategic book plan that will enhance his personal brand and build his authority.
Are you interested in building your personal brand through means like B. PR, thought leadership, and content marketing? Our team can help with that too. plan afree consultationLearn more.