8 Things to Know About Creating a Personal Brand

While a professional brand is an identity built around your business, a personal brand involves branding your business around yourself as an individual. That includes your lifestyle, your mission, your personality, your interests—everything that makes you who you are. This works well for some business owners, especially in today’s age of social media. After all, it is more interesting to see what a specific personality is doing on a day-to-day basis than what a big business is doing every day. But building a personal brand is easier for some professions than others. For example, if you’re a freelancer, author, or consultant, you are the center of your business. Therefore, it only makes sense to create a personal brand. Here are eight things you need to know before you begin to build yours.

1. Personal or Business Brand? You Don’t Have to Choose

It is possible to have two separate identities: a business brand as the face of your company, as well as a personal brand that you tend to on the side. Many entrepreneurs stay active on social media using their own identities to allow them to share more openly with customers (and potential customers) than they’d do with social media channels through their business. People establish more meaningful connections with real people anyway, so it can be a clever tactic, provided you are prepared to be in the public eye. If so, make sure you always act professionally and dress in a manner that represents your brand, such as sporting a branded company work shirts.

2. Build a Solid Foundation

Your personal brand won’t be “personal” at all if it isn’t authentic. That’s why you need to be diligent in building a foundation that is true to yourself. Your values, interests, and talents should easily shine through your personal brand. Ask yourself, “How do I want to be seen, and how can I make that appeal to my target audience?”

3. Find Your Target Audience

Unless you sell a product or service that every person in the world needs, you won’t appeal to everyone. The ideal client will stay loyal to your brand in any market condition. Focus on finding those clients instead of trying to make everyone happy. One way to find that perfect target audience is to create a profile of your ideal clients. Think about their interests and values as well as the challenges they might face, then find a way to support them through your brand.

4. Make Your Service or Product Hard to Resist

Make sure your product has features that others lack, or that your price is better than the competition. For example, there are lots of places that nurses can buy work scrubs, but what makes your scrubs stand out? Extra pockets? Warmth in the wintertime? A comfortable waistband? Focus on those features to make the members of your target audience realize they need what you’re selling.

5. Maintain a Website and a Social Media Presence

When people hear about you and are interested in learning more, they’ll likely go straight to the internet to see what they can find. Therefore, you need a website that represents your personal brand. It is here where you can be informative and helpful. But it is on social media where you can actually interact with such people. In short, you need both a website and a social media presence.

While you’ll want to focus on different features on your website than you would on social media, you should list your products and services on both, along with links people can easily click on to purchase them.

6. Create a Content Strategy

You want people to return to your website or social media channel regularly, and one way to do that is to provide them with free content. Providing authentic, helpful content helps position you as a trusted source in your niche. Brainstorm topics that your customers might be interested in reading and find helpful. For example, if you sell hospitality industry uniforms, hire an expert to write about the best way to get stains out. You can even post videos for people who’d rather see than read how to do it.

7. Collaborate to Make Your Brand Visible

A quick way to reach your target audience is to partner with another brand’s audience, providing it’s a brand you know and trust. For example, you can be a guest blogger on their website or partner up at a fundraising event to offer a service together. If you both have storefronts on the same street, consider hosting a block party or event to draw potential customers. Pool your resources to provide food and entertainment, and don’t forget to have promotional items handy so guests have something to take back with them.

8. Build a Specific Community Around Your Brand

Once you’ve established your target audience, try to get them to communicate with each other to build a community. Social media is a great resource for interacting, sharing, and supporting each other. For example, someone might go to your Facebook page to post, “Has anyone tried this product? I’m looking for an honest opinion.” What better way to get people to buy your product than to have other customers vouch for it?

Being an entrepreneur is easier today than ever, thanks to technology and social media. But this also makes it easier for some entrepreneurs to make a quick buck without thinking about long-term success. By building your personal brand, you can show that you are a real person with values, not someone hiding behind a corporate identity. As such, you’ll be seen as more authentic and reliable—and therefore more likely to be successful.