A personal brand or Personal Branding is the concept that develops people as would be done with a trademark. It began with a technique to facilitate the job search, but nowadays, it is almost essential for any entrepreneur.
A personal brand requires a strategy that seeks an advantage or quality that separates you from the rest. This is accompanied by a concept of the individual: style, appearance, online presence, etc. Personal brands, as well as trademarks, have:
- A defined communication tones
- Objectives to be achieved
- A portfolio of products and services
- Differential values that allow you to stand out from your competition
Why should I develop my brand?
Due to the generous offer in the market, we must use all the tools that we can count on to boost our business or company. The personal brand is just that, a tool that will help us position ourselves as opinion leaders on a particular topic. Being the representatives of our company, we will be another attribute for it.
What qualities should I have?
An entrepreneur looking to create his brand must have the following qualities:
- Patience: the process of creating a personal brand takes time and is continuous.
- Planning: it must be very organized and constant.
- Responsibility: there will be deadlines, projects, and tasks to fulfill.
- Perseverance: a brand is not built overnight, and if you make a mistake, you must know how to take a step back to continue on another path.
- Passion: a person passionate about what he does can easily share it with others.
Steps to follow:
If you are interested in developing your brand, this is an idea of the steps you should take to ensure success.
Define your goals and expectations
Choose a name: will you use your full name, or would you prefer to choose a nickname or just your first name? Choose several keywords that define you as a brand, and remember to guide your actions under them.
Define the message to be transmitted: maybe you are a finance expert or know all the details about creating an advertising campaign. Choose a topic you know that is not yet thoroughly discussed in the market and about which you have something to say.
Choose the tone with which you will communicate with others: you can be yourself and use a conversational tone, or perhaps the theme requires more formality.
Select your media: maybe you start with your social networks, create a blog, or a microsite within your business website. Whichever channel you choose, you must be consistent in developing content for them.
Create a calendar: it establishes the dates on which you will perform specific actions such as writing an entry, scheduling your messages on social networks, giving an online conference, participating in a work table, etc. Define detailed steps: this can range from writing a book to organizing an event.
What will be the result?
If you remain constant in developing your brand, you will gradually become a place in the niche of professionals in your field. It will bring benefits for your business because by establishing yourself as an opinion leader, you can talk about the products and services of your company, knowing that whoever reads or listens to you will take your opinion as valuable and essential. It will also bring new personal and job-level development opportunities and allow you to grow your business.
Top considerations while developing your brand
- Figure out everything about you for building your branding identity in the market.
- Identify the reason behind your popularity in the market. If you want to understand your current competencies, assess your strengths and skills as they relate to whichever industry or career you wish to break into next.
- Describe everything about your audience, such as how much you would want to target them. In which category is your audience falling, and what are their needs? Only definite research can help you in getting answers to all of them. You will need to add your brand’s story that wishes to tell them. There are many platforms online by which you can quickly get access to your targeted audience, primarily social media platforms. Around 92% of people use social media channels for recruitment purposes.