Chapter 1:
What Is A Personal Brand?
First let’s ensure we’re all on the same page in terms of what a personal brand actually is.
A personal brand is much more than a logo or a color palette. A personal brand also goes far beyond having a nice-looking business card. A personal brand is not just about having a website with your name on it, although that’s certainly part of it.
A personal brand is about who you are, what you represent, and what you do.
Your personal brand is how you present yourself, both online and offline, to the world.
Your personal brand is the image you put forth. It’s what you stand for. Your values. What you’re all about. The core of who you are as a person. Your personal brand is your secret sauce – the thing that sets you apart from everyone else. It’s what makes you unique.
Your personal brand includes your:
● Visual Characteristics
● Values
● Unique Skills
● Experiences
● Stories
● Personality
● Image
And each of these features must be presented in an authentic, honest way to your audience.
Your personal brand centers around you as an individual. It’s about what you bring to the table and the value that you offer. It involves the specific ways that you solve people’s deepest pain points and biggest frustrations.
You may be tempted to think that only big companies are brands, but that’s not true. Thanks to the internet and the power of social media, we all have the tools to build powerful personal brands for our business.
When you think about it, we all have a personal brand. In fact, you might say that every person is a brand considering your brand will develop with or without you. People can say anything about you or your business and ruin your reputation instantly. So building a personal brand is a necessity to protect how you are perceived online and offline.
So because you already have a brand, your role is to actively take control of intentionally shaping your brand.
As Influencer Marketing Hub puts it:
You can either ignore your personal brand and let it develop organically, possibly chaotically, beyond your control, or you can help massage your personal brand to depict you as the person you want to be.
In other words, you’re going to have a personal brand, whether you want to or not. Everything you share online, every review you receive, every email you send to your audience, every blog post you write, every live event you host - is all part of your brand.
Your content shapes the way people think about you and the image you put forth.
The question is whether you want your brand to develop on its own, with no guidance from you, or whether you want to actively control the process.
Obviously it is always better when you’re in control of the process of building your personal brand.
So how do you actively build a personal brand? How do you get in control of the process? How do you ensure that your brand is helping to build your business?
That’s what the rest of this eBook is about.