You Are a Brand- It’s Time to Share Your Personal Brand With Others
What is a perfect example of a brand? You, my friend, are a brand.
An artist. A photographer. Life coach. Presentation expert. Alternative energy entrepreneur. Website developer. Skin care clinician.
This is not a trend. This is social media, publishing, marketing, sales, work, play, passion and everything you read about all rolled into one.
1. Define your audience.
Tell yourself this: The focus of your blog—and all of your content—must be your readers. What do they need? What are their pains? How can you help them?
Of course, doing guesswork is possible, but chances are, you’ll run the risk of being wrong. One ideal way to removing the guesswork is to conduct a survey. You can ask a few specific questions to uncover demographic and psychographic information.
From the results of your survey, you’ll be able to profile your audience and work toward developing a more focused content with a higher probability of connecting with your readers.
2. Create a clear value proposition.
What is the unique thing that you can offer to your audience? Are they going to get something from investing their time in your content? What resources do you offer? Do you offer resources to help people work smarter? Leadership insights? These are just some examples of questions you should be asking yourself before proceeding.
What you need to do is to create a succinct and simple answer and you have your value proposition. However, you may have to experiment with your value proposition and revise it from time to time.
What will serve as the framework for all your efforts is your clear value proposition .
3. Write a compelling brand slogan.
Always be aware of the level of noise in media today and then recognize how critical it will be to make a strong impression quickly.
A great way to address this challenge is to put your value proposition into a slogan.
Here are some good examples:
- Lifehacker’s slogan is “Tips, tricks, and downloads for getting things done.”
- Social Media Examiner claims to be “Your guide to the social media jungle.”
- Ramit Sethi promises, “I will teach you to be rich.”
- Feldman Creative promises to “Turn on the power of online marketing.”
Now, how can you summarize your brand promise in a concise slogan?
4. Show yourself.
Of course, the best thing you should remember is that people want to connect with people, not merely brands.
One way is presenting a great photo of yourself which helps establish credibility and build trust. It also helps you connect via social media.
You can do this by simply getting a great headshot that captures the real, authentic you. You can invest in a professional photo shoot or if you prefer not to part with the money, hit up a friend with a quality camera and a command of portrait photography.
Always go into the session with a plan. You have to tell the photographer the impression that you aim to create, the you you’re looking to capture.
After reviewing the photos, pick one headshot to use on your website and across all your social media networks.
- Working at your computer
- Analyzing your client’s data
- Coaching one-on-one
- Facilitating a small group meeting
- Recording a podcast
- Shooting a video
- Speaking before a large crowd
- Autographing your book at an event
- For the photo that will serve you best is simply you looking into the lens smiling, looking friendly and approachable—with no distractions.
5. Establish a look.
Any brand that is memorable, your personal brand included, should present itself consistently. Using a variety of logos, colors, and fonts will confuse your audience.
Develop a look for your personal brand with simply the following:
A professionally designed logo
A pleasing color palette
A limited menu of fonts
Then you can now apply the standards you created to everything—your website, business cards, advertising, etc.
For now, you’re off to a good start….
Source: Personal brand equity
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