Personal branding - much more than a logo. (Photo: Unsplash)
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is an evolutionary development of its ancestor, reputation.
It packages our knowledge, experience and talent so that we can be recognized from afar by a hallmark, such as the M of McDonald's, the red sole of Louboutin's shoe, or the CC of Coco Chanel.
But we don't walk around with logos on our foreheads, so in personal branding, the logo and hallmark is ourselves: Aharoni's braid and eyebrows, Orli Bar-Lev's red boots, Noa Kirel's high ponytail.
Personal branding makes us recognizable by customers in a way that makes the job of marketing easier, shortens processes when we need to tell our story, and makes us more precise and special.
Above all, it allows us to choose the right clients for us, those to whom we can contribute maximum value.
The advantage of personal branding is that first we work for him and then he works for us.
Chef Israel Aharoni demonstrates strong personal branding with hallmarks that go before him and diverse content products. (Photo: Reuven Castro)
When should you start building a personal brand?
It's not scientific but factual - yesterday.
If you haven't started yet, now is the best time to start building your personal brand.
If you just finished school yesterday, of course it is recommended to gain practical experience and humility before purchasing billboards in Ayalon (although there have been cases in the past).
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How long does it take to develop a personal brand?
Developing a personal brand takes time.
a lot of time.
From the moment you decided to be a personal brand until at all, it never ends.
Of course, it also depends on what the action plan is, what the goals, budget, and priorities are, at what pace you want to work, and whether you have another occupation at the same time.
The good news is that you have no competition, because there is only one or one like you, and those who don't want to, don't have to.
When the brand is us, that is, a combination of our personality, the professional knowledge we learned and the personal experience we gained, we have no competition, provided of course we do it well.
How do you build a powerful personal brand that will help you stand out?
Just like in the 'regular' brand:
We begin with the
essence
- that is, what do you really have to say?
In the branding process, this is the investigation phase and the writing of the brand book, brand story, method and content strategy later.
Usually, in building a personal brand, the total education, knowledge, professional experience and personality of that professional are combined into one part.
This can be likened to a list of ingredients - tomato, cucumber, pepper, etc. - that when we cut and mix them, they will become a salad, that is, a uniform mixture of ingredients that cannot be separated.
Thus the content becomes an original personal expression of you as a professional.
Visibility
- as her name is.
What does the brand look like?
How are its content characteristics expressed visually?
This is where logos, colors, fonts, image photos and everything related to the development of a visual brand language come in.
The content products
are those products in which your knowledge, experience and charisma are packaged into a product that allows others to "buy" your knowledge, whether it is a lecture, personal guidance, website, book or digital product.
And finally,
the distribution channels
and the content that needs to be developed for them.
Where can the potential customers meet you and your content?
It can be in social media, online and offline lectures, podcast, website blog and more.
Like a stable table on four legs, so a content-based personal brand stands firm on its long legs.
This diagram zooms out on the content development process for a personal brand.
Why does a personal brand need a "method"?
The professional reason
- developing a method will force you to find the exact way to transfer your knowledge in an orderly and efficient manner, so that the world will understand the value it receives from you.
The marketing reason
- the method is part of your personal branding.
When your name is associated with the method, it is easy for your potential customers to recognize you from afar and it will be easy for your community to talk about you and explain the added value you gave them.
In short, a method gives you an excellent starting point and places you outside the competition.
True, in the end everyone says the same things, but we already said that there is no one like you.
And that is why we as professional owners need to know ourselves very well, so that our method is authentic.
Reflect our personality and worldview in a way that touches others.
Even when we collect and package knowledge, insights and approaches from different sources, it is our unique connection and personal angle that make the difference.
A method is a developing and dynamic thing according to your personal and professional development.
But if you have laid solid foundations, it will happen in an organized and simple way.
Common mistakes in developing a personal brand/method
Lack of authenticity
If there is no connection between the method and your professional experience and life story, it simply won't work.
For example, a healthy lifestyle coach who is overweight, a website building instructor who just finished a course at my university yesterday, a consultant for startups who has not raised investment since.
There is really no shortage of examples.
Making promises without covering
integrity is the twin sister of authenticity and they go hand in hand.
A word is a word and if you promised something, you must stand behind your promise.
Therefore, making statements about "the method that will change your life" is probably not such a good idea.
An idea without "meat"
Sometimes we have a scrap of an idea, but when we have to write it, explain it and prove it, we find that we have a lot of slogans and superlatives and it's not strong enough to sway the audience.
Disorganization
Messy content without a framework of beginning, middle and end.
cause and effect.
logic.
Definition and essence of the method, an organized structure describing the change process, how to acquire new patterns, a clear division into principles, process and practical tools.
I
mean, what do we do with it?
How will this change reality as we have known it until now?
Or in other words, a method developed in a professional and structured process, which asks and answers essential questions:
what's the point?
Balance my bank account, find a relationship, be a better mother, find meaning in my life or become a leading brand in the fields?
The goals should be clear and always remain before your eyes.
What is the added value?
Get professional tools, a personal process, expanding awareness, an exciting experience and another source of income.
How will the change happen?
I mean, how long will it take, what will it require of me, is success guaranteed?
It hurts?
What did I get out of it?
I'm packing.
I will be happy.
I will find a relationship.
I will make more money.
I will close the minus.
I will have a lecture or a book or a method.
How to turn your personal brand into a livelihood channel
A knowledge-based personal brand sells its knowledge in a variety of solutions and products such as lectures, personal coaching, a digital product, a book, coaching programs, kits and more.
In order to reach the right customers, you need to formulate an essence and produce content that accurately packages his knowledge, that tells his story and that of his customers, that creates his solutions, content around which a community is built.
In short, to create a personal brand you must create content, and it is highly desirable that it be unique and personal.
Content is the way to tell, say, show, demonstrate, experience and sell the gospel to the masses.
The beauty of this relationship is reciprocity.
The relationship with your personal brand can be very rewarding and mutual.
Although the personal brand is created through the content, it is the one that dictates the style in which the content is written, designed, packaged and distributed.
Seth Godin called it a purple cow: "Something unusual worth talking about. Worth paying attention to. Different. New. Interesting. It's a purple cow. What's boring is invisible. It's a brown cow."
Questionnaire for building a personal brand
In conclusion, here are some questions that will help you understand where you stand in relation to the development of your personal brand.
Don't stress if you don't have all the answers yet.
Use this list to gather all the materials you need and just go!
Do you have an "elevator pitch"?
Do you have a brand book?
If you have a brand story?
Is your content professionally written?
Does your brand have a clear and recognizable visibility?
Do you have a website/blog?
Do you have a lecture/workshop?
Do you have a podcast/YouTube channel?
Do you have a digital course?
Do you have other content products?
Do you have at least one free guide?
Do you have a content strategy?
Do you have a mailing list?
Does it grow regularly?
Do you regularly upload content on social media?
Do people tell you that they read you and follow you online and in general?
Are you accompanied by professionals in promoting your brand?
Have you taken a picture with a professional photographer in the last year?
Do you have a mentor?
who will?
Why did you choose him?
Have you learned anything new in the last three months?
Is your business in a better place than at the end of last year?
Do you have any idea where you want to be next year?
Do you have any idea where you want to be in five years?
Do you have an action plan that will get you to that place?
Are you doing your best to promote your personal brand?
To be or not to be a personal brand is not the question, it is the answer.
Sharon Beg is an expert in personal branding and content development and the founder of "Circumcision".
Marketing and digital
Content and creative
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