5 Reasons To Kickstart Your Personal Brand Today!
Personal Branding became kind of a buzzword during the last 5 years. Suddenly everybody and their moms is telling you to build your personal brand. Is the hype real? What is all that buzz about and is it really worth investing your time and money in building your personal brand? Is brand building only for the big companies? Is it about a fancy logo or about printing your name on a t-shirt or is there even more magic involved.
Why The Heck Should I Invest In My Personal Brand?
Personal branding isn’t about coming up with a complicated strategy. Rather, it’s about knowing who you are and what you stand for, and then finding ways to make that visible. It’s also about being very clear about the people you wanna have a conversation with, your so called target audience. Who’s interested in what you have to say and what kind of people you really want to help with your expertise?
So let’s dive into the 5 reasons why it makes sense to build a strong online brand.
1. You Already Have A Personal Brand
Like it or not… You already have a personal brand. It’s always been with you and it’s always been ingrained in those who know you best, the people around you at work and in your personal life. If you’ve been in the world for a bit longer than just your toddler years, you have a reputation. Your brand is all about that reputation. We’re all known for certain things like our passions, strengths, values, skills, personal attributes, etc.
If we break it down to the bare minimum Personal Branding is about to 2 things. Defining who you are (how you perceive yourself and also who you want to be), and being strategic about how others others perceive you. People who already know you and even more important – people who don’t know you yet. It’s about getting clarity who you are and then aligning your image in the outer world with your inner identity.
I’m pretty sure you already have a Facebook profile or a LinkedIn profile like me. Chances are high that you’re posting stuff on Instagram here and there or that you’re using one of the other zillions of social media platforms. Or have you ever tried to google your own name? You would be surprised.I hope you agree that you can already be found online. Your Facebook profile and all your other social media profiles are a representation of your personality and also a part of you personal brand.
So how do you want to be perceived by your peers and by potential customers and business partners? Be strategic and conscious about defining your personal brand online. As soon as you’re curating one channel online you are in control of how people perceive you.
2. People Work With People They Know, Like And Trust
I’m always preaching: “People work with people (and not with companies). People work with people they know, like and trust.”
But how can people know about you when they can’t find you online? How can they know that you’re the best coach, consultant or entrepreneur out there – if you don’t talk about your journey, your failures and success stories. What happens if somebody googles your name? Will they find your homepage? Your private facebook profile? Is your LinkedIn profile optimised to establish an emotional connection with your audience?
So that’s an important step. If you want people to know about you they definitely have to be able to find you somewhere. And a good way to start is to show up online. Because nowadays, if people can’t find you online you basically don’t exist.
The next step is that people have to like you if they find out about you. Let’s assume they open your website. Do you present yourself in an authentic way? Do you have some good professional photos presenting your true authentic self? Let’s assume you dress casual 95% of the time, even on conferences giving a keynote etc. But on your website you’re wearing a suite because your photographer recommended it to you. Do you think that’s an authentic image you’re presenting here?
How’s your written text? Is it authentic? Is it similar to your spoken word? Is it YOU speaking or is it some kind of corporate voice you think makes you sound more professional?
Be authentic.
3. Increase Your Perceived Value
Why does Starbucks sell a cup of coffee for $5 if you can get the same coffee down the street for one dollar? Right, they have a pretty strong kickass international superbrand, they have a fancy coffee place, great interior and a global reputation.
Translate that to your brand. Do you want to be the $5 coffee or the $1 coffee. What does your website look like? How’s your reputation and are you part of a global network and conversation? Are you a part of the global cocktail party on social media (Gary V. Quote).
Investing in your personal brand definitely helps you to charge higher prices and to have a much higher perceived value for your customers. You are someone! You are the go-to authority in your industry if you brand yourself the right way.
4. Create Multiple Streams Of Income
Having a strong personal brand gives you the opportunity to generate multiple streams of income based on your personal brand. You can give talks and keynotes, do workshops about your focus topics, write a book, create an online course, give 1:1 coaching or consulting and much more.
People already love you and your brand. So why not give them more of your great stuff.
5. AI Won't Replace Your Personal Brand
There’s a lot of discussion about AI replacing most of the workforce in the next 20 years. Start creating your personal brand today and you can be sure that no AI will replace you. So far I haven’t heard of an AI building it’s own personal brand and establishing an emotional connection with it’s ideal customer.