Why Branding is Everything in Life

Every day, we come across various brands that sell us products and services, from the hotels we stay in on vacation to the restaurants we frequent. However, what we often forget is that we also have our own personal brand, regardless of whether we are students, stay-at-home parents, executives, or entrepreneurs.

What is Your Personal Brand?

A personal brand is your reputation. It’s what people think about you when you are not around. We have a personal brand at work and in our everyday lives. Our professional brand should differ slightly from the casual self we show to friends and family. However, our professional brand must remain authentic to who we are and what we value. Pretending to be someone else will only lead to mistrust.

Authenticity is not synonymous with oversharing every detail of our lives; it means being true to our values and beliefs. It's about being consistent in our actions and presenting ourselves as who we are. We may not share every aspect of our personal lives with clients and colleagues, but we can still be authentic and genuine to our professional personal brand.

Why Your Personal Brand is Important

Personal branding is critical for controlling your brand's narrative. If you don’t, someone else will. For example, here’s a good exercise - Google your name and see what comes up. If you find anything that could potentially damage your reputation, remove it or request it to be removed. Check your social media accounts and make sure the images you have posted are making the impression you want.

If your social media accounts share too much of your personal life, make them private. This is especially important for anyone looking for a new job. A recent study showed that 94% of employers will recruit through social media and other social channels. So, photos of chugging beers or running around with no clothes on the beach in Aruba should most likely be private. 😎

Gain a Deeper Understanding of Personal Branding

Once you gain a deeper understanding of personal branding, you realize that
most aspects of our world are about branding. For instance, I recently watched a cooking show on Netflix featuring a 5-star restaurant where chefs competed to become the new head chef. The restaurant's owners have a specific brand image to maintain—a 5-star restaurant that provides exceptional service and delicious gourmet food. 

The brand has to serve beautiful and unique dishes, using only the finest ingredients created by an experienced chef. The entire customer experience is carefully designed to create the perfect ambiance, service, and delicious food that resonates with its target customers, ensuring they leave satisfied and become loyal to the brand.

If the quality of any service aspect was not up to par, their brand would be affected and no longer match what they communicated, and they would lose the loyal and trusting fans they worked so hard to build.

Your brand is the same. If you are not authentic and create a persona of someone you are not, you will lose the ability to build trust because you are not genuine. We do business with people we know, like, and trust. And if the touchpoints of your client’s experience are subpar, you will end up with the same fate as the 5-star restaurant.

Remember you have less than 7 seconds to make a good impression, so you must be intentional about how you present yourself. That’s why managing your personal branding is so important.  

Personal Branding isn’t hard, but so much information online can become overwhelming and confusing. To help my clients get clarity, I use a 7-step framework listed below. This is a great way to learn how to build your personal brand and understand that you must take the time to be intentional and strategic.

Once you realize this and follow a formula, it becomes a lot less confusing, and you are on your way to building a solid personal brand.

7 STEPS TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

1. KNOW YOUR PURPOSE. Why do you do what you do? Knowing your why and being passionate about it is what makes 

you UNIQUE! 

2. KNOW YOUR VOICE. Are you serious, educational, or more light-hearted? What is your unique way of expressing yourself and communicating with potential clients? 

3. KNOW YOUR IDEAL CLIENT. Who are they? Where do they live? How old are they? What keeps them up at night? Knowing this helps you create content that appeals to and attracts them. 

4. KNOW YOUR IDEAL CLIENT PROBLEM & HOW TO SOLVE IT. Identifying your ideal client's problem and how to solve it helps you communicate your service appealingly. You understand them and can guide them to the answer that will improve their lives. 

5. CREATE A VISUAL IDENTITY. Communicate your brand and your message with images that evoke feelings. Think about how you want your clients to feel when they see your images. Create images that incorporate your brand colors, show your services, and peek into your personal life to show more of who you are.  

6. SHARE MORE OF YOUR STORY. Clients who see more of you also want to learn more about you. Share your story so potential clients can relate to you more easily. This helps to create a connection. 

7. STAY CONSISTENT. Be consistent with how you appear online—visually, vocally, and how often you post. Your clients will get to know you, trust you, and want to work with you when you are consistent. 

Tips on Promoting your Personal Brand

Now that you have crafted your personal brand, you need to act like your own PR representative to create the best image possible for your brand so people can see your accomplishments and feel like they know you. Most people want to do business with someone they can relate to and trust.

To build brand awareness, make sure your profile picture is professional, and your bio is consistent across all platforms. Start creating content that showcases your expertise in your industry. It could be articles for a blog, social media posts, guest blogs, or white papers. A website is one of the best ways to share content and show who you are and what you value. 

Remember, building a strong personal brand can also lead to opportunities for speaking engagements, higher pay, and a loyal community of followers. This 5-minute quiz is also a great resource to see where you stand in your personal branding journey: https://kimberly-rlpvcy3j.scoreapp.com

If you need help creating your personal brand or have any questions, I love meeting new people and being helpful in any way possible. As you have learned, I love to talk about branding, so hit reply to send me a message.