What is Personal Branding? Have you ever come across this term?
Is your business dying?
Don’t you have an online presence yet?
Has your business stopped scaling after reaching a certain level?
I think I know the problem!
I contacted a few of my friends who are currently running their businesses, but they have stopped experiencing growth for a long time. When we all met and had a brainstorming discussion, we concluded that their presence in the online world was negligible though they had a business.
One of my friends came personally to chat with me after the discussion was over. He was literally in debt. He had opened a marketing agency three years ago. His agency provided all types of digital marketing services. That included website development and website design, SEO, running ad campaigns on social media platforms, etc. And the most tragic part was that he provided branding services to his clients (excluding his own company).
Did you see the tragedy? He was not creating a brand around himself but for his clients. Isn’t that weird?
In fact, when I asked him if he knew about personal branding, not company branding, his answer was as common as most entrepreneurs give. He is totally confused about what personal branding is and business branding.
After 2020, post covid, most of the offline businesses shifted to online. They understood and accepted the change towards which the world was moving. Many young solopreneurs understood personal branding and started working towards it. I came across many students and job holders who started something of their own in this online era.
If these young solopreneurs can build their online presence within one or two years, then why can’t you? Why can’t my friend who is in debt now?
I know you must be thinking, what authority do I have to discuss all these things?
I have been in this online space for the past year, and after a long roller-coaster ride, I have understood the power of personal branding. I have started creating my own personal brand since then. And trust me, if you are a beginner in this online space, you need to read this before it’s too late. Let me take you to all the fundamentals of personal branding and why it is important to build it in this online crowded space.
What is Personal Branding and Why is it Important?
Let us understand what personal branding is in a very layman’s language.
You must have some unique qualities for which your parents know you in your family. I mean to say that your parents must acknowledge some of your qualities before your relatives, right? And also, your friends must have known you for some of your unique qualities. This is what we call a personal brand in front of your family, friends, and relatives.
Personal branding is an image that you create in front of this world. It is how this world perceives you.
Personal Branding is like creating a perception.
It is the way of positioning yourself in the market.
Why is Personal Branding Important?
Without personal branding, your business can’t sustain itself for a longer period of time.
In today’s era, people think that if you need to have your business successful, you need to take care of traffic and conversion.
That’s not true. There are lots of factors other than traffic and conversions.
- Traffic
- Building your prospects list
- Communication
- Nurturing your prospects
- Building a loyal Tribe (lifelong customers)
Here comes the role of personal branding. For building a loyal customer base, you need first to gain their trust. Building trust is only possible through personal branding.
First, you have to build a strong brand in the online space so that a new username to know about you will eventually trust you.
Imagine near your house there is a retail store of household items. That store has been present for a decade. What do you think? Isn’t that retail store already having a strong personal brand? And now you wanted to start a retail business of household items in that area. Imagine how difficult it would be to run your business there. People won’t even come to your store. Why would they? Why would they trust you? You are new in that area. This is why one needs to build one’s own personal brand.
Why Personal Branding is Important for Business?
The biggest challenge for any small business is to sell its products and services. For this that businesses need to build trust among the consumers.
A personal brand-driven business is very much easier to run than a business with no face or brand behind it. Let’s see some of the examples.
- APPLE– You must have heard about this company. Today It has a huge personal brand in the technology space like mobile, laptops, and other accessories. The face behind APPLE is Steve Jobs, isn’t it? Steve Jobs is no more with us, but if he would have been alive and today, he would have opened another company “XYZ” (just an example), what do you think —Would he be crazy for marketing? No, because he already had built a huge personal brand in the world.
- TESLA– A very well-known brand for electric cars. But the face behind it is Elon Musk. He also owns SPACE X. If tomorrow Elon Musk will enter any market, he won’t struggle much to dominate as he has already built his personal brand.
- AMAZON– The No. 1 E-Commerce store in the whole world today. The face behind it —Jeff Bezos. At the initial stage Jeff used to run a small book store online. Slowly and slowly, he grew his company- AMAZON and the rest is history.
There are more examples like this: –
- BMW– Self Ridden car
- Mercedes Benz–Chauffeur Driven Car
- VOLVO– Safety
What is Personal Branding on Social Media?
The most favorable and the quickest way to build a personal brand is to build it on social medial platforms.
- You Tube
- Quora
Other than these social media platforms, the most important is your own website. Your website is like the home of your business. If any consumer needs to find you on the internet, then your website is the place where they will find out about you and your business.
If you are a beginner in social media, I recommend starting with Facebook and Instagram. And eventually, you can proceed to YouTube, Twitter, Quora, and Pinterest.
As you know, personal branding means this whole online space will know you for the image you have created. For this, they need to see your face. So, you have to be comfortable in front of the camera.
- Start posting images of your business on all the social media channels.
- Optimize all your social media profiles.
- Start writing content about your products and services and post them on a consistent basis.
- Try to deliver immense value to your consumers by giving them free content.
- Build trust around them so that they believe you care for them.
Is Personal Branding A Fashion?
What do you think of the names I mentioned above?
- Elon Musk
- Phil Knight
- Jeff Beos
- Steve Jobs
- Michael Jordan
- Tony Robbins
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Bill Gates
- Warren Buffett and many more……….
They are all brands in their respective fields. They did not build their brand overnight. It took a lot of effort, time, energy, and dedication.
Personal Branding is not like any on-demand trend today and will not be there after five years.
Open the history and look at their past. You will understand what it takes to build a strong personal brand. They stood for what they said.
Who is Personal Branding for?
- Students
- Entrepreneurs
- Small Business Owners
- Solopreneurs
- Job Holders
In short, personal branding is for those who want to achieve something great and unique and want to leave a huge impact on the people they serve.
How Do I Start with Personal Branding?
This is the question I get the most.
Many young entrepreneurs don’t understand the basic principles of personal branding.
According to my experience, there are four elements one must focus on while starting a personal brand: –
Content
- Content is everywhere.
- Content is the basic requirement in marketing.
- If you need to market your products or services, you need content.
- With the power of content, you can either build or sabotage your whole image in the online space.
- It may be difficult at start, but eventually you will become the master at it.
- The more the right kind of content (in the form of value) you give to your audience, the more they will consume. The more they will consume, the more they will be attracted towards your brand. The more they will be attracted, the more trust will be built around your brand.
- Your content must be authentic.
- Always try to under-commit and over-deliver.
Communication
- Communication plays a vital role in personal branding.
- Your words, thoughts, speech, everything matters.
- People trust people, not products or services.
- It is the way you present yourself to the outer world.
- How can you expect your customers to buy your products or services if you don’t have the confidence?
- You don’t have to worry about speaking English or any other language like a pro. That will happen with practice.
- You just have to be persuasive.
- Your message must be clear and authentic.
Character
- You must have a magnetic character.
- You cannot be boring.
- You have to be Charismatic.
- You must acquire the qualities of a leader.
- You must have a vision.
- Your behaviour will reflect in your character.
- You must walk the talk.
- You can’t pretend to be someone else. You customers will see this soon.
Community
- Remember you are in a business of building community, not selling services or products.
- Your community is your loyal family.
- Nurture your community members consistently.
- They are your customers for life.
- Your relationship with your community will decide how strong your personal branding is.
- Your community must follow some ethics or code of honour.
- It will take time for building a strong community but it is worth it.
Conclusion: –
- Personal Branding is long term game.
- You must have a lot of patience.
- Start building personal brand on all social media platforms.
- You can write a book to build your personal brand.
- You must have a professional photo on all your social media profiles.
- You can start interviewing people on your You Tube channel.
- You can also start a podcast.
If you want to receive more information on marketing or digital marketing, please check my blogs.
If you are a beginner and want to know about SEO, I have written an article on SEO.
Great article thanks a lot!
Thanks, A lot!!