A few years ago I was sitting at a lunch listening to a woman who specialised in personal branding. The thought kept coming back to me, “Why would anyone need to brand themselves?” All through her endless rambling I rolled my eyes and wondered why everyone else seemed so interested in what she was saying.
Then I started watching people in various situations. It was the most remarkable thing:
Those who had branded themselves were treated according to their branding. They looked good, they seemed comfortable with what they displayed, and they stood out from the crowd.
So, it appears as though I was behind the wave, and was only just beginning to see the benefits of personal branding.
Neil Patel and Aaron Agius ask these three pertinent questions when creating a personal brand:
- What one action, decision, or choice has the single biggest impact on the growth of your personal brand?
- If you were building an online presence from scratch today, what three things would you consider to provide the biggest ROI (return on investment) on your time and money?
- For those looking to create a strong online brand, which online influencers would you recommend they follow?
From these questions you can see that establishing a personal brand follows the same logic as a business brand:
You need to establish who your target market is, and what you want to tell them about yourself. Once you have answered these questions, the work begins – you live the brand.
Branding yourself is about how you dress, speak, where you are seen, what topics you discuss, who you associate with, and what others think of you (which is what you want them to think of you). The result is unbelievable: People start to treat you the way you have trained them to.
If you have a need to be seen in a certain way, for any purpose, start your personal branding process now. The ‘you’ that you create becomes an artwork for others to admire.
Do you need help building your personal brand? Book a coaching session today (the first session is FREE).
