5 Things Every Personal Brand Needs To Have
Want to get recognized as the go-to expert in your field? To get clients coming to you instead of having to chase them?
Then you need to focus on your personal brand.
With competition increasing in every industry, it's not enough just to be good at what you do and hope to get noticed.
You need a solid strategy to stand out and book clients consistently.
And that's where you should begin.
5 Things Every Personal Brand Needs To Have
#1: Clear Target Audience
Not being clear on who you're trying to reach is definitely a number one mistake. Many times various clients of mine said that they struggle to attract a new audience, and they don't know why. I then look up at their socials, and it is just confusing - I can't understand who they are talking to and what message they are delivering.
And this is exactly what is stopping the growth.
The thing is, when you try to speak with everybody, you end up speaking with nobody. The message ends up being just too generic, unable to cut through the noise and reach the ears of your ideal audience.
So, begin by identifying who exactly you want to reach. Get to know your ideal customer like she/he is your best friend. Get super clear and specific. This is the first and most important step.
My tip:
Begin by clarifying these a few things about your ideal customer avatar:
1. Age, occupation, location, marital status, level of education, key interests, and passions.
2. Favorite brands/accounts they follow. Write down what influencers, Instagram pages, celebrities, or companies do your ideal clients look up to or enjoy following? Name at least 20.
3. Daily routines, money spending habits, key values, and desires.
4. 20-30 hashtags that your ideal clients might be looking at or following.
5, Favourite social media platforms, news outlets, events, and conferences to attend.
This will help you to get an idea of how exactly your ideal customer looks like and where to connect with them.
#2: Social Media Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tik Tok - each social media platform is different. Are you strategic with the choice of your platforms?
Remember, you don't need to be on all the platforms. Instead, choose a few but be consistent on them and create good quality content. Mastering a few platforms is way better than being average on many.
My tip:
Understand what is the main difference between each of these platforms & begin by picking a few and mastering them.
I began building my personal brand on Instagram and using private Facebook Group. Then I cleaned up and leveled up my private Facebook profile. Later, I added LinkedIn.
Now, I am also adding blog posts and Pinterest. Probably Youtube and Tik Tok in the future then?
However, I only added each new platform when I felt confident and become consistent with the previously chosen platforms. Trying to learn and grow them all at the same time could be a big mistake.
#3: Content Strategy
Don't post what you feel like when you feel like.
Plan your content in advance. This helps to save a ton of time and to make sure that your content is high quality and intentional. No more posting anything because you realized you have been silent for a week - this is a fasted way to create poor content that nobody will get interested in.
My tip:
Plan your visuals first, then add content. I normally plan my visuals one month in advance and my posts - one week in advance. For content planning, I highly suggest using the Plann app.
#4: Visual Identity
Are you consistent with your visual image? Have you chosen your fonts, colors, style of photos? Yes, content is the king when it comes to personal branding, but visual identity is also essential.
Think about Nike and their branding. You'll know that brand it is immediately as they're so well known for their logo and their visuals. In reality, every successful brand and a person has a distinct branding that gets them recognized in the crowd.
So, make it your goal to stand out with your branding and become recognizable.
My Tip:
Log in to Pinterest, and create a board called "My Personal Brand". Then, go and have fun pinning various pictures that visually appeal to you.
Below you can see a couple of pictures that I saved on my board when I was doing this exercise a while ago:
Now, look at my website - can you see where I get my inspiration from?
Doing this exercise helps to understand how you want to present yourself visually, what colors you are leaning towards, what feels just "right" for you.
Once you get an idea of what type of colors you like the most, go a step forward and find color codes of your chosen pictures.
My "go-to" choice is Colour Codes - you only need to upload a picture that you like, pick the exact shade in the picture, and this program will show you what the code of this color is.
#5: Audience Growth Strategy
There is no magic behind your audience's growth. But there is a strategy.
And no, a "hope to grow" strategy isn't what I recommend. You need to know exactly what you're doing daily to continue attracting new people into your offline and online worlds. Can you name three things that are helping you grow?
My tip:
Be active on social media. Don't just answer private messages and reply to comments under your post. Instead, be brave to take the first step yourself. Dedicate 10-20 minutes each day to find profiles that you like and engage with them. This will not only help you to get some new ideas but also become more visible.
I couldn't even count how many connections I made just networking on social platforms. That's exactly how many of my clients discover and book me.
Final thoughts:
So, as you can see, there are a lot of different things that come into creating a successful personal brand. And while it might look like a lot, it's not as hard to craft a personal brand that will help you get paying clients and build authority.
You just need to be strategic about it.
Did you enjoy this and want to learn more? Then go a step further and download my FREE 22-pages Personal Brand guide right here. And don't be shy to reach out if you have any questions - I always respond to all messages I receive.
