How To Take Your Personal Brand To The Next Level

At one time, branding was viewed as a “fluffy” marketing concept—a nice to have.

Now with the explosion of social media, it is essential, not only at the company level but also at the individual level.

It’s called personal branding, and it’s all about telling a compelling story with you as the central character.

Pia Silva, the author of Badass Your Brand, says,

“With so much content and so many small businesses popping up online, a brand that connects to a person’s face is much easier to trust faster. It takes less time and effort to build a relationship with a personal brand as compared to a business brand.”

Your Unique Combination Of Skills And Experiences

Your personal brand is the unique combination of skills and experiences that make you who you are and allow you to stand out from the crowd. By taking your personal brand to the next level, you'll be able to inspire confidence, increase your influence and generate new growth opportunities.

Ask yourself the five questions raised in this lesson and watch your personal brand become one of your greatest assets.

1. What is your goal?

The first step in taking charge of your personal brand is to identify your goal.

Having a clear destination will help guide you in making choices about your brand.

Some examples of goals could be to add a new service area or grow your business to the next level. ?

Remember to be realistic and set goals that are challenging but also achievable.

2. Who is your target audience?

If your goal is to attract more ideal clients, then potentially ideal clients are your target audience.

If you want to add a new service, then potentially ideal clients for the proposed new service represent your target audience. ?Maybe your current and past clients are also potentially ideal for your proposed service or maybe you need new clients for your new service.

It is also possible to have multiple audiences but try to keep your personal branding strategy as simple as possible for maximum impact.

3. What problem do you solve?

When you ask yourself this question, think about the pain points that your target audience faces.

What challenges do they have that you can address?

If you don’t clearly understand what their problem is, you won’t be able to position yourself as part of the solution.

4. How do you differentiate yourself?

In this ultra-competitive world, it is critical to be able to differentiate yourself from the competition.

One way to do this is to inject personality into your personal brand.

What makes entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Marie Forleo, Elon Musk, Tony Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuk stand out?

It's their compelling, authentic and unique personalities.

Another element of differentiation is expertise.

Think about why you are the best person to deliver results and then provide examples. What have you done in the past that shows you can do what you are promising?

5. What do others say about you?

What do other people say about you when you’re not in the room?

Whether you speak directly with them or not, you can learn a lot by watching how influencers execute their own branding strategies.

Ultimately, people don't do business with companies; they do business with people.

By taking your personal brand to the next level, you’ll be able to separate yourself from a crowded marketplace and reap rewards that you never thought possible.

To learn more about personal branding for the purpose of marketing professional services, see: How Authentic Personal Branding Generates More New Business