Today more than ever, entrepreneurs are using personal branding strategies to build their home business and attract more prospects and customers.
A strong personal brand can give you massive leverage when it comes to building an audience.
But did you know that most entrepreneurs and business builders are building their brand the wrong way?
In this article I’ll share with you 5 crucial elements to help you build your personal brand. So let’s get started.
Before I begin it’s important to know What Is Personal Branding and why we need to develop it.
What Is Personal Branding?
Personal branding is all about identifying and communicating what makes you:
- Unique
- Knowledgeable
- Valuable to your target audience
Personal Branding: what makes You..You
With your personal branding you are building credibility and instilling an authoritative element to your name, face and reputation.
But before you start to create your personal brand, you should first identify your core strengths, talents, gifts, weakness and attributes.
We all have unique strengths, talents and gifts that come naturally to us. We all have Weakness. Understanding your weakness is also valuable to know when you start your branding.
The fastest path to success is to play to your strengths and focus on the path of least resistance.
For example; if you have a strong marketing background you should use that to your advantage and make it a part of your personal brand.
One way to do this is to provide your audience with marketing tips, ideas and strategies through your blog marketing. This is Free advice and suggestions to your target market.
By offering Free help, your target market will soon see you as an authority in marketing and will follow your every move.
Using a blog, Social Media, or video, you can tap into your experience and provide valuable tips that will make your audience realize you’re a valuable resource in regards to marketing.
Don’t have a strong marketing background…no problem. What is the one strength you have? Use that strength to build your personal brand. Then if you decide to build another strength such as marketing, study, practice and DO. After a short time you can and will be a marketing expert.
Personal Branding Tips
Another aspect of personal branding will be the message you communicate to your audience.
Use this as an opportunity to let people know what you’re all about.
I see a lot of entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to be everything to everyone.
Simply put… this is not possible.
Look at it this way…
… does Nike try to appeal to everyone?
…does Rolex watches try to appeal to everyone?
…does Corvette ads try to appeal to everyone?
No, they don’t… and neither should you.
Watch TV ads or magazine ads to see who they are marketing to. You will soon find that the top marketing firms only target a small audience and not the masses.
If you try to appeal to everyone then ultimately your personal brand will become watered down and you’ll end up appealing to nobody.
A great way to help create your personal brand is to first identify your Customer Avatar.
Once you’ve honed in on your Customer Avatar you can move on to the next steps of building your personal brand.
Building Your Personal Brand: Who Are You?
Jeff Bezos, CEO & founder of Amazon put is best when he said…
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
So the question is…
What are people saying about YOU when you’re not in the room?
There are 5 brand building questions below that you must be able to answer and clearly communicate to your prospects and customers.
Once you’re able to articulate the answers to the these 5 questions you’ll have a much better idea of what people are saying about you.
The 5 personal branding questions are….
- WHO are you?
- WHAT do you stand for?
- WHO do you serve?
- HOW will you serve them?
- What is your message?
The more you weave your answers to these questions into your marketing, the stronger your personal brand will become.
What Is The Purpose Of Personal Branding?
The real purpose of personal branding is to create the “Know, Like, and Trust” factor with your target audience.
What that means is…
… your audience first needs know you, like you, and trust you before they will buy from you.
Furthermore, you’re identifying your target market and communicating how you can help them overcome their challenges, hopes and struggles.
Your personal brand should convey how you can be or provide a solution to your target market’s challenges, pain and struggles.
Hear again you must have a clear understanding of your Customer Avatar.
You need to become the “pill” to their pain.
Most importantly, your target audience needs to know immediately and clearly how you can help them.
If there is any confusion about your purpose, or if your value to your audience is unclear…
…your potential prospects will move right along and find someone else who has a more clearly defined personal brand.
If your just into your marketing to make money…your target market will soon recognize it and you will be abandoned.
What Questions Come To Mind When Your Audience First Visits Your Website Or Blog?
When developing your personal brand, you always need to keep in mind your target audience and what is going on in their mind.
What does your personal brand say about you?
Some of the questions your target audience will be asking themselves are:
1. Who is this person? (Are they real?)
2. What makes them an authority? (Why should I listen to this person?)
3. Will I be able to do this too? (Is this too complex or complicated for me?)
4. WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME???? (Why should I care?)
Being able to answer these questions through your personal branding will go a long way towards getting your target audience to know, like, and trust you. That’s the value of Branding.
“One of the greatest skills you can develop as a marketer is to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience.”
By getting into your prospect’s head ( Your Avatar) and truly understanding their pain and struggles you will put yourself in a unique position to create powerful content that can provide solutions to their pain.
How To Create Your Customer Avatar
Once you’re able to accomplish this you will have built a brand that is based on value and trust which will result in more leads, customers, and teammates.
Personal Branding: Final Thoughts
The first step in developing your brand is to know who your are, what are your strengths, who do you want to be and who are your Avatar or target market.
In my person opinion, your Avatar is the most important single step you can take to develop your brand.
Like the saying says, “if you don’t know where you are going, how do you know when you have arrived.”
Your brand is you. If you care it will show. If you are help full it will show. If you are out to make a “buck” it will show.
Do your work, develop your personal brand, and as Zig Ziglar says, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Thanks,
PS: To help in developing your personal brand and become the Hunted instead of the Hunter…get this FREE 10-Day Bootcamp and Attraction Marketing. The banner below will start you in developing YOU INC.
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