What Is a Personal Brand?

What Is a Personal Brand?

by | Latest update: Apr 10, 2022

A personal brand is a person’s identity and their presentation of it. More clearly, your personal brand is the story other people tell about you when you aren’t there. This means that every move you make matters;

  • What you say
  • How you speak
  • Who you know
  • What clothes you wear

All of these contribute to how others think and feel about you. Your personal brand affects everything from your relationships to your career path and salary – but why? What does this mean? How can it be used for good or bad? Keep reading to find out more! Invest in yourself and your personal branding

Everyone has a personal brand

Everyone has a personal brand whether they realize it or not – we all tell our own story: I am fun and outgoing; I am a hard worker; I am a fast learner – these are all statements that tell the story of who we are.

The problem with personal brands is that most people aren’t aware they have one, let alone how to control it. This leads them to have a brand that is either negative or weak and contributes very little to their success in life.

You are your own brand

Why is personal branding important

A unique personality brand is combining skills with experience that makes a person who they are. You show up to people as they see you.

Personal branding is a powerful tool for distinguishing you from the competitors and for developing confidence among clients and employers. Your own personal brand can have a significant impact on your credibility.

Having an individual brand helps differentiate you from other people. You have the ability to demonstrate your expertise in any area using your personal brand. Your identity is the most memorable thing.

Your personal identity will distinguish you from the thousands.

Millenials and personal brands

Millennials are particularly suspicious of advertising. 85% of the respondents don’t trust the advertisers or their brand.

But many believe they know people whom they feel “know”— even those businesspeople behind those products that their detractors detest.

Being unaware of your personal brand can be detrimental for your career – your actions matter more than you realize! But even though it affects every area of our lives, most people don’t understand how crucial it is.

Once you understand what a personal brand really entails and why it matters so much, you’ll be able to use its true potential as a powerful tool for any situation or goal.

A poll conducted by Career Builder illustrates just how important it is to control your personal brand in the work place:

“51% of hiring managers know within the first five minutes of an interview if a candidate will be a good fit for their company.”

They found that many of employers have decided not to hire a candidate based on their personal appearance alone. This shows us that our personal brand is so much more than wearing nice clothes or fixing your hair, it’s about projecting the image of who we want to be and what we want people to think about us.

Your personal brand is extremely important for your relationships as well: you never know where they might lead! For example, researchers found that C-level executives and company founders used LinkedIn as a platform to build their professional networks for future collaborations with those in their extended network.

After all, who better knows someone than those they socialize with?

All it takes is one connection to open many doors for you. By taking the extra step and investing in your networking now – you’ll be able to reap the benefits of a strong network for years to come!   Brand personality

How to personal brand yourself

So what can you, as an individual, do about your personal brand? First step is to start thinking about it –

  • How would other people describe me if I wasn’t here?
  • How does my personal brand affect where I go and who I know?

The next step is to decide what kind of brand you want. You can make a positive or negative impression on others based on what you say and do. Do you want people to think of you as someone who is helpful and always willing to lend a hand – or as someone that aggressively demands respect?

How to develop your personal brand through clothing

Your professional image starts with how you present yourself. 

Another thing that drastically affects your personal brand is the clothes you wear, so let’s talk about that.

Now you have a better understanding of how important it is to control your personal brand and why. You need to know what kind of impression you want people to get from you before walking into a new situation or meeting someone for the first time.

If you’re going on a job interview, do some research on the company and find out what their “corporate culture” is – this will help give you an idea of what type of clothing they would consider appropriate.

In general, dressing conservatively shows respect for others while dressing too revealing can make them feel uncomfortable – which does not put them in a good mood when they meet with you! There are some rules for dressing appropriately depending on where you work and what you do because some companies have stricter dress codes than others. 

If in doubt, it’s always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed!

Networking

The same goes for online networking. When creating your LinkedIn profile, you will be representing yourself as a professional – so pay attention to the way you present yourself.

The best way to do this is by filling out all of the sections accurately and avoiding clichés (you wouldn’t want people to think that you are unoriginal or boring).

Make sure your page is set to private so it isn’t viewed by potential employers who aren’t connected with your network yet! Lastly, try not to obsess over certain aspects of your appearance because they tend to fade over time.

A recent study found that two thirds of women believe that their personal style diminished throughout their 20s and 30s. As we grow older our priorities change unfortunately, our standards for what looks good on us shifts – and we do not always like it!

But keep in mind that how you feel is the most important. When you feel good about yourself, this comes across as confidence; and those strong traits can make up for an ill-fitting outfit or two. So, remember to smile 🙂

Branding over time

When it comes to personal branding, you should focus more on your character than on material possessions because these can be replaced over time (and you probably already own the items anyway).

Instead of wasting your time comparing yourself to others or trying to look like them – try spending that energy on networking and building relationships with those around you. This will help you grow your professional network which will help open doors of opportunities for future collaborations – so don’t give up!

Considerations for Building Your Personal Brand

In order to build your personal identity you have to be deeply aware of your personal identity. I think knowing myself is important – something very rare of course.

Many people struggle to describe their life, but often find that their way of expressing themselves is more difficult.

You need to identify your target market first before you start your branding process. Your brand needs to reflect what’s on offer and target your customers. That’s not new. The business world is in a very old state long before computers and social networks existed.

Importance of a unifying theme

Your personal branding needs consistency. Always maintain the integrity of your brand.

It’s no matter if I have always been acting the same way as the character I portray – though that’s important. This also includes factors that reflect the brand.

It is important to choose an appropriate color palette with an appropriate font. So you’ll be using these colors in every place.

They should be the same for websites, e-mails, Facebook pages and all other printed items.

If you represent a business, they must match their color or font. You may need a quick glance at all the information you use on this site.

Why would you want a personal brand?

Your personal branding is important in any business.

This demonstrates your professionalism and personality towards our clients. This gives you the opportunity to make sure people see you the way you desire rather than if a particular arbitrary decision was made.

You have to demonstrate your strengths.

This helps people to believe they know yourself much better, and people trust the person a bit more than they do. This is especially apparent during election seasons.

While most people seek candidate opinions about issues that are important, others are less interested in their own.

Why personal branding matters?

It isn’t possible to personalize it. This is necessary in our hyper-competitive marketplace.

People googling your name and form an opinion on your information. Personal branding can also help recruit managers secure investment funds, increase your customer list, sell your products, and get first dates.

Brands are not reserved just to celebrities or businesses. We must all work together for a personal identity. A person’s strong personal branding helps them achieve more.

No matter what your career path, someone will look at your profile in an instant.

How do I build a personal brand?

Personal branding is an effort to present yourself as an effective market leader.

As you move forward with your branding strategy, you are often overwhelmed. Take some breaths before slain laptop.

Create a brand that is ongoing that is able to be broken down into digestible phases. It is impossible to change Facebook users to influencers on Snapchat.

It’s not an overnight thing and the objectives and details vary. Here you can learn about creating an effective personal brand step by step.

How can I improve my personal brand?

If you start working with your branding you can get feedback and have your branding statement aligned with your personal branding statement.

Personal branding is extremely effective for many individuals but without the right personal branding statement, there can still be some confusion about your achievement.

Your actions need to match your personal branding

The secret to a successful personal brand identity is consistent.

Try establishing a representation from external sources. You must therefore be consistent in the portrayal. The public reacts quite differently to a similar story about people with identical behavior.

Possibly a first person act which would shock them could completely correspond with expectations from the second person.

Imagine the reactions of some politicians when they learned that a person took drugs.

A few techniques to build your personal brand

Keep in mind the online world. Your brand must include everything your clients see. Old cards can help your branding and social media presence.

  • Keep your themes in sync.
  • Bring business cards anywhere. This has become as important as 40 years ago. Bring a card whenever it comes to networking with someone new that satisfies a particular audience.

Your personal branding must cover all aspects of your career. So it also applies to the dress you wear in public.

Benefits of personal branding

Personal branding is important for your industry. Your investment in establishing and improving a professional identity will result in many benefits.

What is personal branding and why should it be used? Developing a personal brand opens a world of business opportunities. The steps described below should help you build your professional branding.

Nevertheless, this work is not completed. Keeping a brand is hard work but produces long-term outcomes.

You build trust with people who matter

Almost 70% of people research influencer brands before doing business on the Web. People like the idea of having a sense of connection, especially when it comes to making a business with you.

I believe in personal branding.

This is the most natural way for people to connect with people around the world. Because the web has become an extremely reliable resource that can be searched by anyone, it is essential to always reveal our true selves.

Building Credibility

Make your own personal brand visible to the public by placing your content in the appropriate media. It is essential that if you want to promote your own website or profiles, you also demonstrate the relevance to your target audience.

Publishing through trusted platforms is an effective way to establish credibility.

Free personal brand health checker

Check out other social networks: Wikipedia page, Feature Press website/blog Contribution to another website, Is that username or brand registered? Is your Instagram profile verified?

Building a Basic Brand: Looking the part

Develop a strong website to reinforce your qualifications.

If someone searches you online, you must have an active online presence and new content within your area. You must see this part.

What is a personal brand in business?

Personal branding is a technique to sell people to brands. The process of creating the reputation and impression of the individual, group and organization continues.

Final thoughts on personal branding

Your personal identity is a great way to distinguish yourself from other people. Personal branding enables you to showcase your expertise to potential clientele. T

he key to building a successful company and gaining a reputation is to be consistent.

Let us serve our audience with all the right tools and show them why we should invest. When this happens it can change the entire business model.

I hope this article has given you the tools to take control of your personal brand and use it to your advantage, but if you found that something was still unclear or if there is anything else you would like me to address in a future post – feel free to leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading! And don’t forget – *YOU* are your best brand ambassador.

Helene runs the place around here.
 
If you're looking for someone to help you launch and grow an online publishing business, she's your girl.

She knows what it takes to start and grow a blog that makes money, and she's more than happy to share her wisdom with others.

Helenethituson.com is where she shares a glimpse into her digital publishing business

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