Having a strong personal brand will help you to progress in your career. This is because potential employers will be able to see what kind of person you are and what your skills are. Therefore, it is important to make sure that your personal brand is positive and professional.
What is a personal brand? A personal brand is how you sell yourself to the world. It’s how you present yourself online and offline. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Why is it important to develop a personal brand? Your personal brand is your calling card. It’s how you differentiate yourself from others in your field. It’s how you attract opportunities. It’s how you build trust and credibility. I believe that everyone should develop a personal brand, regardless of their profession. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or a CEO, you have a personal brand. It’s important to develop a personal brand because it’s a way to sell yourself, differentiate yourself, and attract opportunities. A personal brand is how you present yourself online and offline, and what people say about you when you’re not around. Everyone has a personal brand, whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or a CEO.
What is a Personal Brand?
Your personal brand is about who you are as a professional. It is the reputation you create for yourself based on your career goals and accomplishments. Your personal brand is what sets you apart from other professionals in your field.
A personal brand is similar to a consumer brand in that it communicates your story and sets you up for future success. A personal brand goes beyond a resume to give a full picture of your professional self.
Why Do You Really Need a Personal Brand?
As I mentioned above, a personal brand is more imperative than you may think. Here are just a few reasons why you need to develop your personal brand:
Employers Search Online to Investigate Their Candidates
There are a lot of examples of qualified candidates applying for jobs and getting turned down because they ignored their online image. Almost 80% of employers search for job seekers online before inviting them to an interview. This is the most important reason to have a personal brand. Employers will search for you online.
Take Charge of Your Message
When potential employers go online to research you, having a strong personal brand can help ensure that they find the image and reputation you want them to find. You can control and influence how they perceive you.
Develop a Clear Vision
Creating a personal brand can help employers learn about your passions, see what excites you, and even envision where you would like to be in the future.
Boost Your Expertise & Authority
Constructing a personal brand will not only make you appear more professional, but will also communicate to your potential employer what your passions are and what your skills are. Once you have developed a concise picture of your brand, people will begin to associate you with being an expert in that field.
Assuming control over your personal brand is one of the most crucial things you can do for your digital notoriety. It may require some serious energy and more than a little exertion, yet at last, you and your vocation will be more grounded for it.
Top Tips for Creating a Personal Online Brand
Now that you know why a personal brand is important, here are some tips on how you can start developing it:
1. CREATE YOUR BRAND
The first step is to determine how you want to be known as a business. What do you want your company to be thought of when you come to mind? Are you an expert in your field? Are you one of the best at what you do? Or is it more about the experience of working with you that should stand out? Define these aspects of your business as clearly and concisely as you can and put them into words that anybody from your intended audience will understand.
2. DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE
People in marketing and sales might want to know their audience better so that they can more efficiently and precisely direct their marketing efforts. Knowing things like the age, occupation, and hobbies of potential customers can help businesses focus their efforts and make the most of their time and money.
3. DEVELOP A STRONG, PROFESSIONAL, AND SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
It is important to choose social media platforms that are appropriate for your business. LinkedIn and Twitter are good platforms to start with, but a Facebook business page and Instagram may also be important. Instagram can be a great platform if your work can be represented in a visual way. The best part about social media is that it is free, until you get into paid advertising, but that is not necessary right away.
4. HACK CULTURE AND BUY ADS TO DISTRIBUTE CONTENT
I find it hard to remember and dwell on my mistakes and regrets when people ask me about them. The only thing I regret is not spending enough money on Google Adwords.
I used Google Adwords to help my dad grow his liquor business from three to $60 million. I bought keywords like “wine” for pennies on the dollar when they were underpriced. If I had spent more, I could have grown the business to hundreds of millions. Now, Facebook and Instagram are the underpriced platforms. It’s amazing to me how many people aren’t taking advantage of the opportunity.
If someone were to ask me about any mistakes I’ve made or things I regret, I would have a hard time coming up with good answers. It’s not that I don’t make mistakes, I just don’t focus on them or dwell on them once they’re made.
5. DOCUMENT OVER CREATE
If you want to be successful on social media, you need to post a lot of content. This means publishing a long-form vlog or podcast at least once a week, and posting on Instagram and Snapchat at least six to seven times a day.
This may sound like a lot, and it is. But here is some great advice that will help: document instead of creating.
One is more practical to create, while the other takes some creativity in coming up with stories. The first is easy for most people to do, while the second is harder. You can make up stories about your life online to make yourself seem like an expert, or you could just be yourself.
One of the mistakes people make when creating their personal brand is acting like they are better than they are. It is more helpful to discuss the journey than the destination.
At the end of the day, the game is easy. Be an expert on your topic, create content about it, and then promote it with ads. See what happens to your personal brand / business.
6. SHOW DIFFERENT SIDES OF YOUR PERSONALITY
Most influencers get commoditized because they only share one side of their personality. For example, if an influencer is an attractive fitness model on Instagram, brands looking to sponsor them will see them as interchangeable with all the other attractive fitness models on Instagram.
Many influencers are afraid to show different aspects of their personality for fear that their posts will not receive as much engagement. If their followers are only following them for one thing (e.g. fitness), they may not appreciate it when the influencer posts about other topics, like food, travel, or business. However, this is something that can help to shape your personal brand.
If you want people to be more invested in your journey, try showing different aspects of your personality. This will help your audience get to know you better and may even make some of them look up to you.
The key to successful branding is to create a unique image that sets you apart from your competitors.
7. PRIORITIZE YOUR BRAND OVER SALES
My company may not look like a wise investment on paper, but it’s actually very successful. Our VaynerX machine- PureWow, One37pm, and everything else- is doing much better than it appears to be. This turns out to be very helpful for my short-term finances.
I’m an entrepreneur in my 40s, and I’m currently in the prime of my career. I started building my dad’s liquor store in my 20s and grew it into a $60 million business. I also grew VaynerMedia to over $150 million in revenue in a short period of time. I’ve been disciplined in spending my late 30s and early 40s building a “framework” for the rest of my life, even though the economy has been good for the last decade.
I should’ve made more of an effort to make money from my audience, like selling courses or starting a mastermind group. I don’t do this because I know it’s more important to focus on building my brand, which will bring me more respect, admiration, and wealth in the long run.
I encourage all of you to spend time on branding activities that bring you zero ROI in the short-term, such as doing podcast interviews on other people’s shows, hosting events, and more.
8. BE YOUR 100% AUTHENTIC, TRUE SELF. DON’T “WATER IT DOWN” IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM
I grew a YouTube show called Wine Library TV in my 30s. On that show, I talked to people about wine and described wines in ways that nobody else did at the time, for example saying that a particular wine tasted like someone opened a racquetball case. This way of describing wines lowered the amount of “reach” I had with Wine Library TV in the beginning, but it was me.
I still don’t take advantage of all the moneymaking opportunities available to me because I care more about being genuine than making a quick buck. The fact that I use profanity in many of my videos limits the number of speaking engagements I can get. But I’m from New Jersey; using profanity is just part of how I talk – so I refuse to censor myself.
People who are inauthentic will never be successful in the long term. This is similar to hip hop artists who only have a few big hits before they disappear. It is also like entrepreneurs who call themselves CEOs, but don’t have the skills to run a successful business.
The best way to build a personal brand is to be completely yourself without changing anything about your personality.
9. OFFER HIGH VALUE CONTENT
This means that when you are creating content, you should be focused on creating something that will be valuable to your audience. This could be something that educates them, inspires them, or entertains them. Whatever it is, it should be giving something back to the people who are taking the time to consume your content.
The best way to provide value to your audience is by listening to what they say and paying attention to their needs.
When you don’t take the time to consider what other people value, you end up just giving them what you think is valuable. This is not actually providing value, because it’s not based on what they want or need. Anyone building a personal brand or business should ask themselves what social listening is and why it’s so important.
10. JOIN GROUPS AND VOLUNTEER TO HELP OTHERS
If you want to become more relevant, be active and contribute your advice. Find posts that you have a personal connection to and comment on them. Find ways to help others in your field or in a complementary field. Ask and answer questions and encourage your followers to reach out to you.
11. DEVELOP YOUR STORY
If you want to create a strong personal brand, you need to have a compelling story. This is especially important if you work in multiple disciplines, as it will help to tie everything together. Some examples of people with strong personal brands include Martha Stewart, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson.
Should you develop a strong personal brand? Yes, and here’s why: potential employers will look you up online. So it’s important to control what they can find about you. Even if you’re too busy to have a website or social media channels, make sure your message is always clear.
12. BE CONSISTENT
A lot of people have a tough time creating a successful personal brand, not because they can’t do it or because their content is bad or because they don’t have anything valuable to share with the world…but because they’re not consistent. Can you commit to doing the necessary work? Can you commit to putting in the effort?
If you want your brand to succeed, you have to put in the work. That means showing up every day, not just once in a while or every week. With so much competition for attention these days, the brands that stand out are the ones that are consistent in their presence.
TAKEAWAYS
I understand that there was a lot of information in that last blog, but these are recommendations that I have had success with in the past. I hope this blog will give you some ideas of what you can do to create a strong personal brand.
If you’re looking to build your brand, social media is the perfect platform to do so. However, this opportunity won’t last forever, so make sure to take advantage of it while you still can.
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