Why a Personal Brand?

We’ve arrived in a wholly digital world where people’s attention spans are growing shorter with every passing day, so how do you stand out among the crowd? You do it by building a presence and, more importantly, building your personal brand. 

Now there’s a lot more to building your personal brand than just your logo, color hex codes, and catchy tagline. Your brand is your unique personality in the digital space. It reflects your values and your identity in your business. 

It’s your job to craft a personal brand that’s memorable and at the same time authentic to who you are as a person. After all, people are more inclined to buy from people. We are social beings at our core which is what makes social media so popular and, let’s be honest, addictive. 

Understanding the concept and value of a personal brand is important, and a great place to start is by understanding your personal brand archetype. Our newest quiz covers that very topic and we promise it’ll help you discover valuable insights into your innate strengths and characteristics and give you a great foundation to build your personal brand on.

The Components of a Powerful Personal Brand

The process of building your personal brand doesn’t happen overnight. Nothing good happens that quickly, but if you understand the building blocks of personal branding then you’re already one step closer to creating an online presence that draws people in. 

Like we said, people don’t want to buy your products alone, they want to buy the story behind your product, the reason why you do what you do, in short, they are investing in you. 

In all honesty, there are likely many other online business owners that are providing a very similar product to yours, so why do some flourish and some fail? All other things equal, it comes down to personal branding.

We’re going to outline the key concepts that are necessary in developing a successful personal brand for your online business and make sure that you follow along with our action steps to speed up the process of building your personal brand

Personal Brand Personality: 

This one might be obvious but it’s an important aspect of any brand. Your brand personality is a mix of your unique characteristics, values, beliefs, and style. 

It defines who you are as a professional, reflecting the essence of your character. Since your personality forms the cornerstone of your brand it’s important to understand it fully.

Fair warning: Crafting a robust personal brand might require some introspection and soul-searching as you outline your personality traits. Those traits might be a little different in relation to your business than your personal life, or maybe they’re the same. Every brand is different!

Action Step: Begin by jotting down your core values, key characteristics, and personal strengths. Reach out to colleagues, friends, and family to gain additional insights and help you fully realize the nuances of your personality.

Once you have a clearer idea of your personality traits, the next step is expressing them to the world. A great, low risk, place to start with this is creating a compelling 'About Me' page on your website. If you need guidance on how to do this, don’t worry we’ve written a post all about it.

Personal Brand Voice: 

Not to be too high-minded here, but Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wisely said "The human voice is the organ of the soul." and we’re here to tell you he’s not wrong. 

Your voice is one of the most important ways you express your personality. It's the tone and style in which you communicate with your audience. People should be able to recognize your voice in the way you speak and the way you write. 

Your brand voice should be consistent across all platforms, from your LinkedIn profile to your blog posts, from your tweets to your speeches. Afterall, if we’re going by what old Henry said, your soul isn’t changing drastically, and neither should your voice.

This isn’t to say that it can’t evolve and change over time, but it shouldn’t be noticeably different from platform to platform.

Action Step: Take a look back at your previous writings. Are there any consistent patterns or styles? What tone of communication do you usually adopt – formal, informal, friendly, or authoritative? 

Having trouble identifying your voice? Try plugging in some writing of yours into an AI model like ChatGPT to help analyze your tone and style to provide insights into your unique voice. We guarantee it’ll pull out some characteristics that you might’ve missed!

Personal Brand Attributes: 

What makes your brand truly yours is a complex array of tiny things. Along with your personality and your voice, your life experiences contribute in a huge way to your personal brand. 

Your experiences contribute to the unique skills and traits that set you apart from others in your space. They also form the basis of your unique selling proposition (USP), which is what differentiates you from others in your field.

Action Step: Write down the experiences, qualifications, and skills that make you unique. Remember, even seemingly unrelated skills (like proficiency in a foreign language or volunteering experience) can contribute to your brand attributes.

Once you've defined your unique brand attributes, it's time to ask – why does building a personal brand matter? 

An authentic personal brand can help open doors to new opportunities, ensure you to make a positive impact in your industry, and allow you to build a loyal network. Like we’ve said before, people connect with genuine people much more readily than with those that are trying to paint themselves into a certain role. 

Especially with the popularity of video content, people subconsciously pick up on your body language, your habits, and can easily get a gut feeling as to whether you’re being your authentic self or not. 

Building Your Personal Brand in a World of Digital Noise

Here in the digital age, your personal brand is much more than any face-to-face meetings you might have. As we’ve covered, it’s also how you portray yourself on social media profiles, in online content, and through all those tiny interactions you have in virtual spaces.

How does your online presence stack up? If you did a quick audit of your most recent content whether that’s blog posts, Instagram reels, LinkedIn posts, or Pinterest pins would they feel consistent? Would they feel like you? Would someone who knows you know you wrote it? Would they watch it and see you just being you?

At times, it can be hard to be introspective and dive deep to determine what elements make up your own personal brand. As any seasoned business owner can tell you though, owning a business and being an entrepreneur is nothing if not a journey of learning and self discovery and building your personal brand is really no different when it comes down to it.

It requires authenticity and a deep understanding of one's unique strengths and defining characteristics. By leveraging these, you can create a brand that resonates with your audience and allows you the ability to harbor deep connections. 

Like many things in life, building your personal brand is about the journey, not the destination, and is a continuous and evolving activity. The journey is worth the time and the payout can be huge when you fully realize how much your audience matches your authentic vibe. 

If you’re finished reading this post and you’re already too in your head trying to figure out the building blocks of your personality, you’re probably not alone! To kickstart your journey and provide a solid foundation for your brand, take our “What’s Your Personal Brand Archetype” quiz. We know you’ll be glad you did.