5 Experts & Small Business Owners Share Their Top Tips for Building a Personal Brand
Before we dive in, what is a personal brand?
A personal brand is the unique combination of skills, experiences, and personality traits that make you who you are. It’s how you present yourself to the world and how you stand out in your industry or profession. Personal branding can be invaluable to your business or career, regardless if you’re a small business owner, designer, influencer, consultant, creative, entrepreneur, CEO, or company executive. A personal brand could include your areas of expertise, your aesthetic (colors or patterns you associate with yourself), catchphrases, or customized teaching methods. In short, your brand expresses how you do things differently than everyone else, and it defines your style while you do it.
In 2021, personal branding is more important than ever.
Being intentional about how you present yourself and what you’re known for is a way to differentiate yourself, build trust with your customers, and give credibility to your business. There are many similarities between growing your personal brand and growing a company brand. But today, personal branding has the power to humanize a business. It can establish a sense of integrity or expertise for a founder or small business owner and help build trust and relationships with your customers.
We recently shared All You Need to get you moving in the right direction when building your personal brand, and today we’re sharing tips from 5 successful experts and small business owners on how to grow a thriving personal brand.
Tip 1: Provide Value Consistently
Marcia Smart @smartinthekitchen: Cooking instructor, recipe developer, and food writer.
“My one piece of advice would be to consistently provide value. For me that’s been my weekly meal plan that I post on my blog. My newsletter subscribers know when to expect it, and it creates trust with my followers that I will consistently deliver. It doesn’t have to be a weekly blog post – it can be anything of value that you provide on a consistent basis. It could be a weekly tip on IG, a weekly ‘how to,’ a weekly IGTV video, or anything that teaches or shows something of value in your area of expertise. That way, you are setting yourself up as an expert who can deliver time and again. You become their ‘go-to’ person on that subject.”
*photo courtesy of @smartinthekitchen
Tip 2: Find One Platform and Stick with It
Lewis Howes, @lewishowes: Former pro athlete, New York Times best-selling author and podcast host of The School of Greatness
“When building a personal brand, you can stretch yourself too thin. It’s better to start with one platform and master it. In the beginning, it was LinkedIn for me. I’d spend six hours per day on there.” (As told to Trever Oldham for Addicted2Success)
*photo courtesy Lewis Howes via Children’s Miracle Network
Tip 3: Give People an Inside Look at Your Life
“My business goal is to reframe fashion as a wellness tool and help make getting dressed a fun and fulfilling experience. It has been a business priority of mine to create a space that is inclusive and accessible, but also aspirational. To successfully achieve this, I realized that I had to let my followers into my world a bit. The moment I started sharing more about myself, my wardrobe, and the knowledge I have gained by working in the industry, I was able to gain both credibility and trust. I want every single person to be able to look at my content and learn at least one new thing or be inspired to try something new!”
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*photo courtesy of Allison Bornstein
Tip 4: Be Your Authentic Self
Bozoma Saint John, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix @badassboz
“There have been very few moments in my career where I’ve made a change and people have said ‘yeah, that’s a good idea.’ It’s all about following the intuition, or as some call it ‘the inner voice’ or even God. That voice that comes in and says, ‘you should really go and do this thing over here.’ Regardless of what the rest of the world is saying. It has always been about following my passion. I liken it to falling in love. If I’m feeling it, I’m going that way, regardless of what the temperature is. Because at the end of the day, my brand is my passion. It comes through in the authenticity of what you feel from me. And I can’t be authentic if I’m over here strategizing. To me, the real brand is the authentic self. And it only comes true when you are following the path that is set for you.” (As told to Girlboss) *photo courtesy of Uber via CNET
Tip 5: Be Relentless and Be a Good Person
Gary Vaynerchuk, Entrepreneur, Investor, New York Times best selling author, CEO of @vaynermedia & @vaynersports
“The pandemic has created the most competitive digital landscape the world has ever seen. Whether for your company or for yourself, it’s never been more crucial to build your personal brand. To sell yourself to a world of customers reluctant to spend, one thing is for certain: Your branding must be relentless, authentic, and powerful. ‘It’s the only thing you’re going to have…Your reputation online, and in the new business world, is pretty much the game. You have to be a good person. You can’t hide anything, and you’ve got to be out there at some level.’” (As told to Jonathan Jeffery via Entrepreneur) *photo credit VaynerMedia
