What Is A Personal Brand?
You may have heard the term “Personal Brand” but what is it really?
Personal branding is the process of creating a specific image of yourself in the mind of your ideal client, so they can get to know, like and trust you, before they buy from you.
Having a clearly defined personal brand, makes it easy to explain what you do and why they should choose you. In the same way big brands create instant recognition, making it say for us to choose their products, your personal brand makes you stand out from a crowd of competitors.
Selling services is like selling thin air, you need to create confidence that you can deliver on what you promise, in order for you to become the trusted expert.
Your brand can flow over into the brand identity you choose, using colours and imagery to instantly connect with your ideal client.
But personal branding goes far deeper than just your company logo and brand name.
The human brain makes decisions based on memory and emotion and a confused mind will never buy.
Packaging together all of your natural skills and talents, with a consistent message, familiar brand voice and instantly recognised style, makes it so much easier to promote your services in a way that makes sense to your target audience.
And it’s not just about you.
The stand out personal brands we know, also inspire the culture of their business brand to naturally attract raving fan clients.
Oprah Winfrey with heart-centred HARPO, Steve Jobs with innovative, thinking differently Apple, Elon Musk pushing the boundaries with Tesla.
Their own personality has flowed over into the business brand, with distinct and easily recognised brand message and a tone of voice.
Their personal brand speaks for them and keeps the business brand on track.
In this way, your personal brand is like a compass for your business, always pointing you in the direction of your true North, keeping you consistent and avoiding the distraction of “bright-shiny-objects”.
Consistency is the key to creating a memorable brand. Cadbury, Nike, Coca Cola have keep their core brand message the same for many years and now we simply expect them to be the way they are.
If you create marketing and promotion for your business without any set direction, you confuse your customers and run the risk of looking desperate.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon says your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.
It’s all about reputation, recognition and respect.
And it can rocket launch you business, because the best form of marketing is not what you say about yourself.
Word of mouth is free, a 3rd party endorsement that lasts forever, but exactly what do you want others to say about you?
What do you want to be recognised for being the best at?
The first step to developing your personal brand is knowing yourself, understanding your area of natural expertise and defining the unique way you help others. To me, personal branding is the thing you do with ease that others find difficult, that’s why it’s called expert-ease.
Oprah suggests you go back through your life and find the thread that has connected everything leading to where you are now. Of course, she was speaking at the front of her church at 3 years old, and look what became of her personal brand. It’s the same with my clients. Dianne, who loved counting the money after the milk run became an accountant, Michael, who loved painstakingly crafting exact replica model planes and trains as a kid, is now a personal jeweller.
There is an expertise that they were born with, which is used to it’s fullest potential now that they have ‘stepped into their brand’.
The biggest question asked about Personal branding is “how do I do it?”.
Where do you start when you have so many different skills and talents, so much expertise and experience? How do you overcome the fear of missing out (FOMO) with your brand, that causes you to try to help every Mary in the Dairy?
It all starts with you.
Socrates suggested eons ago that in order to make sense of the world around you, you need to know yourself first.
The first step to branding yourself is carved on the ancient Temple at Delphi – ‘Know Thyself’.
Decide what it is that you want to be respected for.
Make it easy for your ideal clients brain to understand what you do and why they should choose you.
It is possible to have a Single Minded Purpose, packaging together every aspect of your uniqueness, so that your personal brand stands out from the crowd.
Consider Virgin. They supply a range of services from Airlines to Trains, to Fitness Centres and Credit cards…yet their brand stand for one thing. Fun.
Richard Branson’s personal brand culture overflows into the business brand, infecting everyone who comes into contact with the Virgin brand, with his zest for having a good time.
So what do you want to stand out for?
What do you want to be recognised as being the go-to expect for?
Personal branding to me is all about finding your expertise. The thing you do with ease that others find difficult. That’s why it’s called Expert-ease.
Because you deserve to be well known, well paid and wanted.