What’s a Personal Brand?
Your brand is a way to communicate to the world who you are and what you can offer them. Your brand’s messaging needs to be authentic. If you try to project your brand in one way, and the truth is quite different, the word will spread, and your brand will suffer.
Knowing your product and finding a target audience that will like it is better than pretending to be something else is better. My blog post explains how to define your brand if you aren’t sure what your brand should be.
Your Brand Must Be Unique
Your brand should not be the same as another brand. This will cause the audience to choose you over them. Each person is unique and can be distinguished along these lines for you and everyone else. Your face is unique to you (unless you have an identical twin, which could be a great branding opportunity).
Your voice, style, personality, and life story are unique. These things make you stand out and give you an edge when you target an audience looking for something unique.
Be natural
Your audience will be more open to you being vulnerable and natural. People want to get to know real people. Real people have their problems, struggles and imperfections. People won’t believe you if you make yourself too boring. This doesn’t mean you have to share your personal information with your audience. It does not mean you have to act like them.
Add value
Branding is all about adding value to people’s lives. It is important to take the time to understand why people should read your content or listen to what it has to say. It would help if you thought about the audience when creating content. Could you make sure they are satisfied with it?
Your goal is to provide so much value that your audience can’t stop talking about you. You want your audience to be anticipating the next piece of content after you have finished a piece.
Make sure you are clear in your mission.
It is important to understand your brand’s mission. If you don’t, you won’t be in a position to communicate it to your target audience. Your audience won’t be able to set expectations for you if your mission is unclear and vague.
Once you have decided on your mission, ensure that all content you create aligns with that mission. This will show your audience that you are focused and can deliver what they need.
Don’t Jeopardize Your Credibility
Credibility is the currency of your brand. Your audience will respect and love you if you are honest with them. Your audience will appreciate that you aren’t trying to be something they don’t want. Don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t. Do not pretend to know more than you do.
Although you may believe no one will notice, people likely will. It’s difficult to conceal much in this age of social media, Snapchat and twenty-four-hour news cycles. Be real and true to yourself. You won’t have anyone discover that you’re not who you pretend to be.
