A study conducted by Upwork tracked the growing trend of freelancing and revealed that by 2027, the freelance workforce will hold the majority position in the US. This will mean increased competition and a stronger need to stand out from the crowd. You can achieve this with personal branding.
Whether you’re a talk show host, a freelancer, or a CEO, building your personal brand is vital. It tells your audience or your clients what makes you unique, and this gives your work a big boost. Luckily, anyone with an internet connection and a platform has the potential to build their brand.
Personal Brand Building and Why You Need It
If you’re starting a small business in your area of expertise, building your personal brand and your company’s brand happens simultaneously. The mutual growth makes perfect sense, and the connection happens organically.
However, if you’re part of a larger company, the lines are more distinct. You may wonder whether you should focus on building the company’s profile rather than your own. The truth is that audiences prefer following people to brands. So there is definite value in building your personal brand and then leveraging it to promote the company. In fact, it is not unusual for a personality’s following to outshine their company’s. And it doesn’t have a negative impact. It helps the company’s profile grow.
Related: Looking Inside Advertising: What Does a Creative Director Do?
How Does Building A Personal Brand Help You?
Even if you don’t have a top position in a big company, your personal brand is still important. With fast-paced jobs and a perpetually evolving market, being just another face in the crowd doesn’t help your chances. This is where your personal brand comes in.
Your personal brand tells the world what you are capable of, what you stand for, and how you operate.
With a well-curated personal brand, you can –
- Position yourself as an authority in your field, helping to gain the trust of potential clients or employers
- Grow your network by showing others in your field or outside of it the value of connecting with you
- Charge premium pricing. Products and services of quality are usually expected to be priced higher.
All this helps build your credibility and encourages more clients to come your way. These are just a few benefits of building your personal brand.
How To Build a Personal Brand? Simplified’s Straightforward Guide
Building a personal brand doesn’t have to be complicated. The team at Simplified is happy to take you through the key steps –
1. Think About What Your Brand Vision
Where do you see yourself in the next 10, 20, or even 50 years? Are you working at your dream company, or are you an executive at your current company? Choose the direction you want your life to go, and there you will find your personal brand vision.
Don’t forget your personal brand’s vision should speak to your values, priorities, and passions!
2. Find Your Target Audience
If you’re looking for a job, your target audience will comprise of potential interviewers. If you’re starting a small business, then your target audience is your customers. No matter who your target audience is, always consider what is important to them before you pitch.
Your network is your net worth. While building your target audience, it is important to also build a community of supporters and advocates with whom you can share and discuss your ideas.
Here are three types of people who you should focus on while building your target audience:
- People who will pay you
- People who influence those who pay you
- Your community of supporters
Take some time to research what motivates each of these groups, and then create a game plan to engage with them and seize opportunities.
3. What does your brand offer?
What is it that sets you apart from your peers? What makes you unique? Part of your personal branding exercise is to highlight this strength so it’s absolutely clear how your clients will benefit from hiring you. If you’re not entirely sure what this strength is, think about what you enjoy doing the most, what you’re skilled at, and what your audience needs. The skill where these three points intersect will give you the ability that you need to showcase.
4. Build Online and Offline Assets
Your personal brand’s worth is based on the quality of your ‘assets’. Your assets communicate your brand’s message, and these are key tools to build your personal brand. The most commonly used assets today are online – websites, social media profiles, podcasts, and events you attend.
Create a Portfolio of Your Assets
You must identify which social platform works best for you;
- LinkedIn is a great place to start for any professional. Build a professional website showcasing your work. The first step here is to secure your domain name
- Set up your website: About page, Project page, Contact page, SEO, etc.
5. Develop a Content Strategy
One way to draw in an audience and establish your expertise in a field is to put out content that solves a problem for your audience. In other words, put out relevant content that’s effective in helping your audience. This way, you don’t have to spend time convincing your audience that you’re good at your job. You’ll be showing them that you are. This will have a far greater impact on connecting with them. It helps build a strong foundation of trust. Use your online assets to carry out your content marketing strategy. For this to be effective, it has to be strong and consistent.
6. Have a Visibility Strategy
While publishing your own content is important, it’s not the only way to get your work noticed. You could also use other channels with built-in audiences to showcase your skills. For instance, you could be interviewed for various media platforms, including podcasts, print, television, web interviews, and more.
- Guest posting on various blogs is another option.
- Collaborating with other creators in your own field or in an area that naturally connects with yours is a way to draw in audiences from different parts of the internet.
- Speaking at local or international events offers excellent visibility as well.
7. Grow a Community
One of the biggest flexes in your personal brand-building journey would be to build a community. It is far more impactful to have an engaged community that takes your work seriously than a wide audience without less engagement. A community doesn’t just have to interact directly with you, they can also benefit from interacting and helping in sharing information with one another. Some ways to build a community are through Facebook groups, membership sites or organizing in-person or virtual events.
8. Connect With Mentors
The key to growing your personal brand is continuing to learn from those around you. Mentors are a great learning asset. You can learn what strategies worked for them and what didn’t. Your mentors can be your colleagues, your boss, or even someone from your extended network.
When reaching out to someone and asking them to be a mentor, remember the following:
- Research them well!
- Explain the reason you’re reaching out to them.
- Share your vision, intentions, and desires!
- Discuss your goals and what you want to work on.
Make Brand Building Easier With Simplified
Even if you’re not purposefully projecting your personal brand, those around you still perceive it. It’s in the way you speak, your knowledge (and how much of it you share), your work, and so many other aspects of your personality. These can be the cues that your next interviewer picks up on when selecting candidates for a job.
Don’t worry if you’re not comfortable with navigating these spaces. Simplified is a great platform that anyone can use to create their online portfolio. You don’t need to know how to code or have any prior experience to put together creatives for your social profiles. Choose from hundreds of templates for your needs and use the AI writing feature for inspiration and writing templates as well.
With this excellent tool, you’re all set to curate a unique personal brand. Remember, the most important part of any campaign is driving results. Don’t forget to monitor the growth and perception of your personal brand to ensure that your message is being received properly.
With AI Writing, hundreds of design templates, and more, Simplified makes personal branding easy for everyone!
