Personal brand, a word used to describe yourself or your personal business. It is simply how you stand out from the rest of the world and declare yourself as the king of your own domain (which here means your business). Being the king you have all the power to create a business which will be everything you define it to be. Your business will be the first point of contact for others and your clients; hence a reflection of you.
Since it is what people look at to define who you are, it is the reason why your business gets business.
In other words, personal brand interacts with people, not you. It takes business, speaks to customers, collects money, gives services and creates product. Thus it’s safe to say it is the face you’ve given to your skills and your ethics. People look at everything of your personal brand from your work history, page to what you write about and thus decide whether they want your services or not.
Giving a unique and personal touch to your business isn’t the end of the fight however. There are several ways by which a personal brand is affected. By taking care of these, you will be able to improve your brand quality and thus boost your business in return:
- Know Thyself
The most important thing that you need to do first of all is to find out how do you define yourself. There is always a unique side of us that differentiates us from rest of the people. This is what we project out into the world. Hence write down what defines you, what defines your business and what kind of people who want to work with, honestly. If you are able to find that out, you will never find yourself stuck in a business where you aren’t able to give 100% for whatever reason.
- Be Skill Driven
You work should depend entirely how you define your skills. Find a special skill and hone it and use it. Let people know of the skill that you’re most efficient in. This unique skill should be something that none other specializes in, or even if they do, no one presents it the way you do.
If you lack the finesse of these, learn them using online tutorials!
- Tell Others Who You Are
It’s important to tell people about yourself. A shady reference won’t get you clients that you want. Hence write down a clear and crisp professional bio about yourself. Write down the projects you have undertaken, the technologies you know, your experiences and any accolades or awards you’ve received. Speak it like it is; try not lying.
This will help you while you’re networking, in scoring big business deals or maybe just when you are asked to speak about your business.
- Plaster Your Thoughts On Blogs
It’s good to have positive and constructive opinion about things. It is recommended that you should write and maintain a blog about everything that you like that closely relates to your business. This could include new technologies, businesses, revolutionary ideas or just how you feel about certain business techniques.
Looking into your write ups, they can have a decent idea as to how you are as a person and about the vast knowledge that you own and you will since you’ve been writing about a lot of stuff.
If blogging isn’t your cup of tea, sending out newsletters is another great way to earn the same reputation.
- Work On Your Digital Resume
It’s always important to have a Linkedin profile created. With a digital resume already in place you will save a lot of time and effort of speaking about or recollecting your rewards and achievements. Having a digital resume in place, you can also ask your ex clients to give you permissions for using their projects as references to what you did. This provides your profile with a permanent testimony which you can share with your future clients/partners.
- Communicate Flawlessly
It is important for you as a business owner to be able to communicate in an immaculate manner. The way you communicate with your clients, reflects the sense of sincerity and solemnity with which you undertake tasks.
Owning a service or product, you might have to appear before a number of public engagements from speaking to press to giving professional report about your work.
For the same reason you need to learn to speak better with poise and confidence. You can achieve this by going for public speaking classes or completing writing courses.
- Make Use of The Social Platform:
I cannot stress how important social media is in today’s world. People have started living on these and have been engaging in minimum off-platform conversations. For the same reason, you need to make full use of social media to boost your brand.
Find the industry you do or want to work for, speak with them, research on topics, use hashtags, share your inputs and your insights. Share blog posts, articles, client satisfaction stories and everything which makes you stand out and enhances your brand.
Avoid petty arguments, bad grammar and using inappropriate content on your social media page.
- Networking
The people you know and who know you also improve your personal brand value. It’s imperative to get in contact with people from your industry in your local area. Speak with them, go out with them, drink coffee with them and find out how they improve themselves. Know about the latest trends and experiences. Share your experiences and knowledge of skills.
If you think engaging people aren’t your forte, you can always try the easy ways of doing so. Wearing personalized rubber bracelets to promote your brand will go a long way. Simply after the end of conversation with anyone you know, hand them a your wristband and tell them to go to your homepage to find out more about the wristband. Wearing these will let others and yourself be asked more about it, hence increasing you visibility and your networking potential.
Network so well that you don’t have to suggest yourself to people. Others can do that for you.
- Deny
Anything that doesn’t serve your growth or doesn’t aligns with your values and interests, shouldn’t be associated with. Make sure you know when to say no. You cannot indulge in every business or opportunity that comes your way which don’t makes you grow.
- Never Lose Your Values
The most important thing is never to forget why you started in the first place. Never lose sight of what was important and what should be important. Your values will always be the driving force which will move you when you feel low and down. Be confident in them, they brought you this far, they can take you even further away!
Finally your Brand is what you’ll earn with every flawless experience you deliver to your clients or to your followers. Nothing is allowed to be sub-par. If it’s your name you’re trying to take forward, then let it stay on top!
