Creating a personal brand is about discovering what is unique about yourself and amplifying it. True thought leaders are not just experts; they lead the charge in some unique way of looking at their industry. For some people, this just grows naturally, but for many, it is a well thought out and systematic process of selecting your niche and marketing yourself along with your company.
Benefits of personal branding
- Greater job opportunities, whether you are a student or a seasoned pro
- Better contacts and business relationships
- Ability to charge a much higher fee for consultants
- Industry recognition
How to build a personal brand
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Specializing in a niche and defining your target audience
The first step is to select a niche. If you are trying to get greater recognition, it is much easier to do that by being a big fish in a small pond rather than trying to become well-known for more general topics. If you are a marketing person for example, you might decide to specialize in financial marketing or law firm marketing.
By becoming involved deeply in a specific category you can build your brand a lot quicker. You will be able to go to conferences where your target audience meets and learn what makes your industry unique. The more specialized knowledge you have of one industry or one specific topic, such as low cost Youtube marketing or Latino family business financial planning, the quicker you will become recognized.
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Personal branding statement
The second step is to develop a personal branding statement. Your statement should be 1 to 2 sentences answering, what you are known for (value), who you serve (your audience) and how you do it uniquely (USP).
Personal branding statement examples:
“I help professional service firms build trust and authority through profitable content marketing.” – Authority marketing expert
“I leverage my avid love of learning and mastery of online technology to facilitate career management for trend-setting professionals who strive to be dynamic and high achieving in their business.” – Career coach
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Securing a domain name and creating digital assets
Building a personal brand has changed radically as the Internet has permeated every aspect of our lives. Having your own website and blog along with active social media accounts is an essential part of the process.
Neil Patel, one of my Internet marketing heroes, asked James Schramko the following question:
If you were building an online presence from scratch today, what 3 things would you consider to provide the biggest ROI on your time and money?
He responded with notes on the importance of building social communities:
- Podcast (rich media) because it gets you on iTunes showing in related shows
- Feature blog to host rich media (podcast + videos) to build a list
- Emailing my customers a lot to create a bond and cause action
- Regular Facebook updates (because everyone is there)
Make sure to, at the very least, create the following social accounts:
- Google plus
- YouTube
Knowem.com is a great tool that allows you to open social accounts in your name all at one time. They provide an inexpensive service to get all of your accounts opened.
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Influencer marketing
Creating content will only get you so far if nobody is willing to share it and spread the word about you. Reach out to influential people in your industry and if possible, write guest posts on their blogs. Just make sure you’re reaching out to high quality sites or Google will not think highly of your connections.
BuzzSumo is a great tool to find amazing content matched up with your keywords and the authors that created it. If you are not doing outreach, going to conferences and meet ups, your thought leadership will be more like being shipwrecked on an island with a great idea.
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Regularly connect with the media through public relations strategies
Becoming featured regularly in the news is one of the most powerful ways to prove your authority. PRleads.com and helpareporter.com are great tools that give you access to what journalists are looking for. If you respond quickly with short bits of expert information, you will be amazed at how quickly you can get in the news.
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When going to war, consult a general
Having a mentor or a business coach is essential for speeding up the time it takes you to reach your goals. There is likely someone who has mastered the goal you are trying to attain and can save you an incredible amount of time by teaching you things to avoid as well as expert tips and tricks.
The most important thing is that you be yourself and follow your passion. If you are not a passionate expert, then it is unlikely that you will have the stamina to continually create content and blog posts, as well as believable talking points for the media.
Take your life to the next level
Whether you are a student or an expert with 30 years or more of experience, personal branding can bring your business and life to the next level.
Hinge Marketing wrote an excellent book about professional services marketing, and explains what they call the “halo effect”, where personal branding rubs off on the company associated with the expert. This is how Elizabeth Harr explains it:
Visible Experts, professionals who have attained high visibility and a reputation for expertise in their industry niche, bring many benefits to professional service firms that result in attracting clients, growing the firm, and increasing profit.
If you are prepared to put in the hard work and are comfortable enough to take center stage, you’ll find that personal branding is a relatively easy process. It will take years to build it up to where you have a massive platform and blog, but within a few short months you can make an initial impact. Just be prepared for when people start treating you with a little more enthusiasm and respect. It takes a little getting used to, but feels really good.
What are some of your favorite ways to build your personal brand?
Photo credit: stefano principato / iWoman / CC BY-NC-ND
