5 Tips for Developing a Brand: personal branding

These days, everything is about branding. Whether you’re an individual or a corporation, your brand is how you interact with your audience. In the business world, your branding’s effectiveness determines how your perception and your success. That’s why today we are going to bring you 5 Tips for Developing a Personal Brand!

Typically personal branding is optional when advertising. A great focus is put on branding corporations or businesses. But many consumers don’t focus on the overall effect of a brand; instead, they’re more concerned with the individuals, such as the employees they interact with.

For instance, a company’s employees are likely to get as much as 561% more reach with their posts than the identical messages when posted on a company account!

Of course, most of us interested in building a personal brand are less concerned about our employees and more concerned with constructing a following around us, personally. If that’s your goal, these five tips will help you create an effective and well-designed personal brand.

Know Yourself

Knowing yourself is where it all begins. No vagueness is allowed here! You can’t expect anyone else to know you if you don’t know exactly what you’re presenting, who you are, and the value of what you have to offer.

know yourself

Branding is about far more than just the visuals you create. While working with a graphic designer or using design tools such as a personal logo creator are important keys, it’s equally important to have a solid understanding of the personality you want to visually present to your public.

Take the time to fully explore your own personality, your public persona, and how you can combine the two. Be firm on what you can bring to others and be convinced of your own value. Personal branding is about confidence, but the ability to project confidence requires that you first build it within yourself. Only then can you pass it on to others.

Be Authentic

We mentioned having a good grasp of your personality, your public persona, and where the two meet. In creating a personal brand, it’s important to remember that, while you may not reveal every last detail about yourself to everyone, authenticity is highly sought after. Many consumers point to authenticity as deciding factors when choosing to pursue a business relationship with a particular brand.

And consumers are very good at picking up on brands that are not authentic. If you post content that is off-brand for you or not with the values you have previously presented, your audience will see and judge it. one company we’ve worked with that does incredibly well promoting themselves honestly is the BAVC. You can read more about their work in our company spotlight.

This is why it’s important to find the correspondence between who you are in private and who you present to the public. You don’t have to reveal every little thing — in fact, and it isn’t smart, or even safe, to do so. Draw a line between what you will reveal and what you prefer to keep private.

But make sure that your public persona is built on the foundation of who you really are and what you really believe in. Not only will that authenticity be appealing to your audience and draw them in, but it will also make your personal branding efforts easier, more natural, and much more simple to maintain consistently. But you have to be authentic on a schedule when you’re responsible for a brand.

Be Consistent

Speaking of being consistent, this is another aspect that is vital for a great personal brand. It goes hand in hand with authenticity. The more “real” you are, the more likely you are to act, speak, and post content in line with the brand you’ve already established.

Apply the consistency principle in your visuals — stick with a color palette, tone, font choices, and overall style. But make sure also to be consistent in your messaging and values.

If you’re concerned about being “boring,” remember that consistency isn’t the same as “always doing the same thing with no variation.” Rather, consistency is a positive element to personal branding that builds trust in your audience because they know they can rely on you to provide great content and added value.

Look To The Experts

All successful branding requires a certain amount of networking, regardless of the arena in which you operate. It’s not only smart to create your brand based on those who have gone before you. It also adds recognition — your audience is likely already familiar with the experts in your niche. Aligning yourself with well-respected names and brands is a great way to build trust in what you have to offer from the very beginning.

experts

Yes, you may have competition, but that doesn’t mean you have to set out to knock them down right out of the gate. Instead, remember to network, not attack. The competition has valuable insight and experience to offer you as a newcomer in your arena, and they can guide you as you create a respected personal brand.

Focus On Positivity

These days it’s easy to focus on drama and negativity. But in creating your personal brand, you have an opportunity to be a force for change — and positivity.

As you work within your chosen area, especially with the afore-mentioned experts who pose some competition, you have a choice in how you will act. Will you create your brand around knocking down any who stand in your way? Or will you craft a healthy, forward-thinking community around your brand by setting the example in treating others kindly?

The saying goes that “nice guys finish last.” But in building a personal brand that is appealing to others, that certainly isn’t the case. Remember that your brand is about communicating effectively with your audience — and that includes every single interaction, whether in person, through your website, or via social media.

When in doubt, always err on the side of kindness. You never know what kind of positive impact kindness will have — but you can be certain that it will add to developing an effective, successful, and appealing personal brand.

Betty Wills And 5 Tips for Developing a Brand

I am a student working as a freelance blogger. I love to explore ideas related to marketing concepts, brands, and psychology. When not on campus, I am on my laptop punching keys to get my writing gigs going. Thank you for reading our 5 Tips for Developing a Brand. If you’re looking for help developing your personal brand, contact Kallen Media today.