When building a personal brand, adding some personality into the fold is imperative. This may sound obvious but you’ll be amazed at how many people hold back their identity or project an inaccurate image when crafting their personal brand.
In fact, some feel compelled to lie or give a different impression of themselves to attract their target audience, while others simply haven’t figured out what their authentic personal brand really is. As someone who has witnessed this mistake firsthand, I can confidently say it’s not the best approach to personal branding.
Here’s the thing: people value honesty. Being true to yourself breeds trust, and that trust translates into buying decisions. Even if your personality isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, at least you’re honest about it!
Honesty instantly builds relationships and that’s what branding is all about – establishing an authentic relationship with your customers. That said, it should never be a selling point; it should be a core moral trait that is naturally embraced and embodied.
So, where do you start? Let’s embark on a journey to unlock your personal brand’s full potential.
Step 1: Igniting the Flame for Your New Personal Brand
To create a successful brand, it’s essential to align yourself with the future rather than dwell on the past. While your past shapes who you are, your new personal brand serves as a powerful tool to showcase why people should take notice of you today. Past experience may help communicate your expertise but if that experience is not relevant to your new brand, why include it at all?
More often than not, when developing a personal brand, you may have recently left your job or transitioned into self-employment. It’s crucial to recognize that these two roles require distinct personalities. We want to harness the essence of your new, independent self and inject it into your personal branding. To do so, you need to remember that:
- You’re not held back by work etiquette anymore
In your previous workplace, conforming to dress codes, meeting behaviour expectations, and carrying out specialised tasks may have been the norm. Now, however, you have a personal brand and you’re probably working for yourself, so all those constraints go out of the window.
You now have the freedom to dress and act how you want and tackle a diverse range of responsibilities, from making tea to mastering the art of marketing your own business. It’s time to be you!
- You don’t represent your previous employer’s brand anymore
Your previous employer may have had a brand and as an employee, you became a part of it. This means you acted and communicated in a way that aligned with your industry, job title and your employer’s overall brand image.
Now that you’re developing a personal brand, possibly in an entirely different sector, you don’t have to adhere to those guidelines. Instead, you have the opportunity to create your own system of thought, action and design that authentically represents you personally as a business brand.
- You shouldn’t be the same you!
Many people who leave employment to start their own venture stay fixated on who they were as employees. They continue to act and look the same and even try to reach the same audience with a similar style as their former employer.
This is a natural thing to do as previous employment often leaves a big impact on our lives since it might have been our only experience of doing business. However, when developing a personal brand, it’s essential to expand your mind and recognize that the world is bigger than your own personal experiences.
Your old employer and the old you as an employee both have their place in the business world, yet your new brand needs to represent a different version of yourself, one that is aligned with your current identity. Your branding must be distinct, your clients should be different, and your communication approach should be unique.
Step 2: Discover Your True Personal Brand
You may think you know what your true personal business brand is, but how sure are you after you’ve considered Step 1? Ask yourself these crucial questions:
- Is your new personal brand simply a recycled version of your past self? If so, is it really a personal brand or merely a facade?
- Does your personal brand reflect your true self? Remember, a personal brand, even for business purposes, must be honest and possess a personal touch – it should revolve around the new you.
By discovering your real personal brand you’ll be able to position your business effectively in the marketplace:
- As a trusted expert
- As something unique
- With a clear target audience
Creating your personal brand goes beyond simply being another professional going solo or undergoing a career change. You want to position yourself as the go-to professional for a specific purpose or expertise. To achieve this, you need to be honest, and you need to infuse your personality into it.
Whether your personality is horrible or you’re a very nice person, what truly matters is your authenticity and the deliberate design of your communication.
Step 3: Communicating Your Personal Brand
When it comes to communicating your personal brand, design plays a pivotal role in showcasing your identity and engaging with clients to win projects. Your brand identity design is here to:
- Reflect your personal brand
- Connect with customers
- Leverage your personality as a sales tool
Typically, your first interaction with a potential client is not likely to be a face-to-face meeting, but it occurs through your marketing collateral such as your website, logo, flyers, brochures, social media presence or any design communication.
Those elements should not only reflect who you are but also resonate with your audience, assuring them that you are what you say you are and that you have a personality they can relate to.
Design elements, such as colour, line, type, and shape, hold their own personality traits. By skillfully combining these elements, you can create a visual image that effectively projects your unique nature.
By defining your brand first and then communicating it through thoughtful design, you can leverage your personality and establish a competitive advantage in the marketplace, attracting the right audience to your business.
Take a moment to evaluate your brand imagery:
- What does it say about your business?
- Is it likeable?
- Does it effectively convey your unique personality?
Our brand discovery services extract the inner you to find strengths, weaknesses and originality and craft a personal brand that truly represents you and your accomplishments. This allows us to turn it into a marketable solution, distinguishing you from competitors and carving out your unique space in the marketplace.
Ready to create your own personal brand? We want to hear from you!
