Just as a business’s brand helps it to market its products, so your personal brand helps you to market yourself as a provider of services within your area of expertise. Whether that means finding more customers or landing that ideal job, how you market yourself has more of a role to play in your success than you may have believed.
So, what does a personal brand consist of, and how do you go about building it? Let’s begin.
1. Your Image
What is the first thing you see when viewing a professional profile, social media account, or personal website? Images resonate with people, and even if you’re no oil-painting, your portrait should take pride of place.
Get a professional portrait or try for a studio look by selecting a good portrait, using a bg remover, and adding a few tweaks. Don’t overedit, but do go for something appealing. A nice smile and direct eye-contact with the camera are among the criteria you’ll use to select the right profile picture.
2. Choose Your Platforms
Now that you have a good-looking portrait, you need somewhere to put it and something to say. LinkedIn is a standard spot for personal branding that you shouldn’t overlook. Beyond that, you may opt for professional directories and your own website.
Remember that the platforms you didn’t choose to showcase your professional brand will also become part of it. Checking personal social media accounts to see whether people really are who they say they are is pretty standard practice these days.
3. Say Something Different
The internet is littered with cookie-cutter profiles of people saying more-or-less the same thing. While you might not want to be controversial, there’s nothing to stop you from being a personality in your own right.
From a professional perspective, that means giving people a glimpse of the kind of person you are and how that affects your attitude to your profession. You’re a person, not a corporation, talk like one.
4. Get Active in Your Professional Network
Leaving your professional profile as a kind of museum exhibit can be all too tempting. It also doesn’t make you look active in your profession. Share information and views.
Engage with people in a respectful and supportive way. Build a network of professional “friends” without stopping to think about how useful they might be in the future. Post useful information on your website and direct traffic using your other online profiles.
5. Show Your Expertise
Actions speak louder than words. Was your research paper well-received? Have you won a professional award or received a promotion? Or perhaps, you’re just ready to offer helpful advice to others in your profession.
Gaining a reputation as an expert means providing proof of your expertise. All you need are the facts that point towards your abilities and achievements. Use your “bragging rights” but never actually brag.
6. Talk About Your Dreams and Ambitions
Authenticity is key to personal brand building. Your dreams and ambitions are part of what makes your brand. You don’t have to have it all right now. Showing that you have realistic aspirations and are working towards realising a vision isn’t just OK. It’s great!
What are you doing to improve yourself and take your career to the next level? What’s your next milestone? It’s all part of a personal brand that engages, appeals to, and attracts. Whether you’re an entrepreneur in your own right, or a young professional on the ladder to success, what you aspire to be is nearly as important to your brand as what you are!