Most people will tell you to start a business or build another source of income if you want to be financially free. But I’ll tell you, starting a business is not enough. You need to add the knowledge of branding to it.
Why Personal Branding?
Today, many people have started businesses which they are promoting online. Thanks to social media which has made everything easy. According to Statisica.com, there are 4.57billion active internet users as of July 2020. This is 59% of the global population. The challenge is that most of these people are trying to sell something online. There are so many sellers trying to catch the attention of buyers. There are billions of people trying to sell or promote the same thing you are promoting at the same time. This is why you have to find a way to be special, unique or different.
Branding is what differentiates you from other people and makes you get seen more and faster. There are two arms of branding
1. Personal Branding &
2. Corporate
Personal branding is about YOU as a person while corporate branding is about THE COMPANY or BUSINESS. One is human, the other is not. This article is all about personal branding.
What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding means self-promotion. Personal branding is the practice of marketing yourself by promoting your unique set of skills, expertise, experience and personality. Personal branding goes beyond logos & colours. It is that deep connection people have with you. It is how you make them feel. Until your brand connects with the emotions of your audience and customers you don’t have a brand.
Reasons Why You Should Brand Yourself
These days, people want to relate to humans and not some faceless companies. This is why the progress of many brands is tied to their owners or admin heads. For Instance, when you hear Bill Gates, You think Microsoft, when you hear Jeff Bezos, you think Amazon, and when you hear Wole Soyinka, you think Literature.
•Personal branding builds trust & credibility
•Personal branding makes you attractive to clients
•Personal branding lets you work with quality clients
•Personal branding increases your asking price
People will be glad to pay you what you ask for because they hold you and your service in high esteem. Take a look at the photo below.
Note that it’s the same shoe but what makes the difference is branding. People will pay you what they think you deserve. In life and business, people will not pay you what you want; they’ll pay you what you are worth.
•Personal branding builds a bigger and better network (that is, high volume of sales/constant client).
Steps to Building a Personal Brand
Be purposeful
Why you doing and what are you doing? Are you doing it for passion or for the money? The only way to be in business long enough to survive in it, is to do what you have passion for.
Make your message clear
Why are you giving this message or selling this product? If you can’t tell why, people may not know why they should buy from you. You are the first ambassador of your brand. People should see how good your product is by just looking at you. For instance, you can’t have pimples, eczema and rashes all over your face while you are trying to convince another to buy your facial cleansing products. Be the message you preach. Be the conviction customers need before they patronize you.
Know your audience
Who is your message/product meant for? Where are they? What do they do? What do they want? Find out where they are, go there and sell to them. Some people keep posting products online for people who may never buy from them. Narrow down your marketing efforts to target your potential customers. Instead, build a broadcast list of those who need and can afford your product.
Be authentic
How real are you with your message or product? With time, customers and audience will know who is real or not.
Look Good
How do you want to be seen in public? Remember, people will first buy you before buying whatever you are selling. “The way you dress is the way you will be addressed.” Be intentional with your appearance. Make statement with your appearance. Dress how you want to be addressed.
Be sociable
Communication is important when it comes to relationships. It’s not only about what you say, but how you say it. Some people have been able to attract more patronage just by being friendly. Meanwhile, I know others who are always frowning at customers.
Finally, you are your business and your business is you. Whatever you do affects your business. People will trust you first as a person before trusting your business. In whatever you do, you need to give your business a human face, and that human is you. Your business will perform 10 times better if you brand yourself and start promoting yourself along your business. Remember people want to connect with a human being, not a faceless company.
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Awesome article dear keep writing