What's a personal brand?

(And why you need one.)

A personal brand is much more than a flashy logo or a color palette. A personal brand goes far beyond having a nice-looking business card. A personal brand is not just about having a website with your name on it, although that’s certainly part of it. Your personal brand is how you present yourself, both online and offline, to your ideal audience. Your personal brand is the image you put forth. It’s what you stand for. Your values. What you’re all about. The core of who you are as a person. It’s the combination of your values, unique skills, experiences, stories, personality, and image, all presented authentically to your audience.

Every person is now a brand. Everyone can constantly put themselves out in front of their audience. Everyone can add value to their audience. Everyone can communicate their message loud and clear. With everything you share with your audience, you’re building your brand. The question is whether you’re actively taking control of your brand. Do you want your brand to develop on its own, with no guidance from you, or do you want to be actively in control of the process? It’s always best to be the one in control of your personal brand.

Every entrepreneur, coach, consultant, freelancer, etc. should be building their own brand. If you are trying to build a business of any sort, it’s important to build your own personal brand. Personal branding allows you to stand out from the competition. Your competitors can’t bring what you bring to the table. They simply don’t have what you have to offer. You’re unique. Only you are you. You have unique experiences, strengths, beliefs, perspectives, skills, and insights that set you apart from everyone else. Building your personal brand allows you highlight your strengths.

Personal branding allows you to charge a premium price. Because you bring unique value to the table - value that no one else offers - you can charge a premium price for your services. When you craf a strong personal brand, you can charge a higher price for your products and services because they’re exclusive to you. Personal branding highlights your expertise. A significant amount of personal branding involves the content that you share with the world. The more valuable the content you share, the more you demonstrate that you’re an expert who should be trusted. With every piece of content that you share, you establish yourself as an expert in your field. The more you show that you’re an expert, the more people will trust you.

Personal branding allows you to attract your ideal audience. When you’re an expert, you attract those who need your help the most. They want help from you because you’re the expert. It also generates more referrals from others in your field. And it allows you to charge a premium price.
Personal branding puts you in charge of the narrative. Your personal brand will evolve, whether you want it to or not. If you use social media, have an email list, write a blog, or speak to groups, you’re already building your personal brand. The question is whether you’re building the brand intentionally. Personal brand building ensures that you’re the one forming people’s ideas and opinions about you. You’re in control of the story.

Personal branding increases your visibility. As you build your personal brand, you’ll become more visible. You’ll attract more fans on social media, who will share your content with their tribes, which will then attract more fans. You’ll also be featured in more media outlets since they’re always looking for experts. And you’ll be invited to speak at more places. As you build your brand, your platform will also grow. Personal branding shapes the content you share. Without a personal brand, you have nothing guiding you in terms of what content you should be sharing with your audience. Personal branding gives you guidelines as to what you should share with your audience. You should only share things that are in line with your brand. Anything offbrand shouldn’t be shared.

Personal branding connects you more with individuals. People connect better with other people than they do with companies. The more you work to build your brand, the more individuals you’ll attract. They’ll be attracted to your values, personality, and insights. The more individuals you attract, the more you’ll build your overall business. Personal branding allows you to become an influencer. An influencer is someone who significantly shapes the opinions of their followers and has a big influence on how they behave. There are some significant benefits to being an influencer. Big brands want to work with influencers, which can generate revenue for you. You ofen receive free things from companies who are interested in partnering with you. And you frequently get requests from the media to speak or just to attend events.