Your Guide To Building A Personal Brand: Part 2

In my previous blog post – the part 1 edition of ‘your guide to building a personal brand’ – I discussed what a personal brand is and how to create one that is clear and effective. Considering your industry and your audience, your values and your passions were all noted as key factors in the process of building your brand.

In this blog, I’ll look at why building a personal brand can be so beneficial, and how it can be implemented into your wider marketing strategy. Because the concept is so flexible in definition and there are so many layers and aspects to a brand, when it comes to showcasing it through your marketing, the possibilities are pretty much endless. With that in mind, I’ve picked out just a few of the ways that can be most effective.

The Benefits Of Building A Personal Brand

Whilst building a personal brand is often associated with benefits for your business, the process can also create many positive consequences for your personal life too. Building a clear brand, using the steps discussed in my previous post, can help you to be clear on what you want in your life, whether that’s personally or professionally. It gives you something to work towards – you can put a clear plan in place to get to where you want to be and achieve your goals.

As for your career, having a clear personal brand can make you an attractive potential employee and it can help to build your reputation within the industry. For example, if you’re consistently posting on LinkedIn in a way that showcases your brand – such as what you stand for, your successes and your goals – you’ll stand out and be memorable amongst others. This can also help to grow your professional network, subsequently leading to more opportunities and useful contacts.

If you run a one-man or one-woman business, such as a personal training or life coaching business, creating a personal brand can be crucial for success. Your personal brand – such as your values – can be your USP and what sets you aside from competitors in your industry. Setting out your personal brand also gives you clear guidelines that can inform your marketing strategy and the content that you share. This can help to build a narrative and target the right audience, helping you to gain credibility and trust as a knowledgeable industry leader.

How To Showcase Your Personal Brand

With effective and consistent content

For your personal branding to have an effect, first and foremost it needs to be seen by others. Here, content marketing is vital – with consistent and effective content, you can increase your brand awareness, your traffic and your audience. Creating consistent content in line with guidelines that are informed by your brand, such as a tone of voice and your key messages, will help your brand to become memorable, increasing the impact it has on your audience.

Whilst content that has a clear purpose and target audience, that is search engine optimised, can help to improve your visibility on search engines, sharing content that establishes you as an expert in your industry and a reliable source of information will attract a loyal audience that will remember you and your brand. Effective content to showcase a personal brand can include both long-form blog content and microblogging. Microblogging can occur on platforms designed for this type of content, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, which also offer a space to interact with your audience and build valuable connections.

Through the power of storytelling

You may have heard the saying “people buy from people” and, whilst it’s a bit of a cliche, it tends to be true. One of the most effective ways to convey your personality is through the power of storytelling, which aims to humanise your brand by creating a clear narrative. By storytelling, you want to make your audience feel something. This feeling or emotion needs to be strong enough to make them take action, such as purchasing your product or contacting you for more information. This approach to your marketing will help users to trust you and what you offer – they will connect with you on a deeper level as you evoke certain emotions.

Whilst storytelling can be used to convey the final product of your brand, your personal story can also help to create your brand. For example, you can use your personal journey and story to carve out your personal values. Ask yourself – why do you have these values? Have your experiences shaped and informed them? Why do they matter so much to you? This approach, using your own unique angle, can help if you are creating a personal brand for business and marketing purposes. This builds a narrative that can be told through effective storytelling.

With a clear image and professional visual branding

Your image and the visual aspects of your brand also affect the way you’re remembered by others – it provides them with a first impression, and these really do count. Having a sleek and clean visual brand that is consistent and professional will help you to be more memorable and stand out from competitors. This goes for everything from your logo, your social media posts and your website. After all, these are your corners of the internet, some might even say your ‘digital home’, and so they need to visually represent your brand and create a clear identity that people can associate you with. You need to carefully consider all elements of your visual brand, from the colour scheme, typography and imagery, so that they reflect your personality and what you stand for.

Ready To Showcase Your Brand With Powerful Marketing Campaigns? Get In Touch With Us!

These suggestions for showcasing your personal brand through your marketing are just a few ideas – creating powerful marketing campaigns involves striking the right balance between creativity and technical excellence, which is a combination we’ve mastered here at Embryo. If you’re looking to grow your brand and your business, get in touch with us at [email protected] or by calling 0161 327 2635.