9 Steps Towards Building a Personal Brand
Building a “personal brand” has become a buzzy term and one that many small business owners have questions about. We covered what a personal brand is in this blog post.
If you’re already familiar with the term, you may have asked yourself questions like: “Do I need a personal brand?” “Is it relevant to my business?” or “Should I build a personal brand separately from my business account?”.
The short answer is that building a personal brand for yourself as a small business owner or creative entrepreneur can benefit your business. A personal brand can add humanity, credibility, and awareness to your business – which are all important in building trust and connecting with your target audience.
To get started on figuring out how to build your own personal brand, read through the 9 steps below.
Reflect
Step 1 towards building your personal brand is to reflect and get clear on what you want to be known for, your areas of expertise, your values, and your unique personality traits. Your personal brand should be authentic and reflect who you really are both personally and professionally. Download our Personal Brand Reflection Exercise which guides you through a series of reflection questions.
2. Pick 3 areas of expertise you want be known for
Based on the answers to your reflection exercise, and the nature of your business, narrow down to 3 or fewer areas of expertise you want to be known for. For example, “parenting, natural living and family activities,” or “conscious fashion, travel style, and wellness.”
3. Outline how your personal brand will support your business goals
With your short term and long term goals for the year in mind, consider how your personal brand will support you in reaching those goals. How can your personal brand add another dimension – such as credibility, humanity, or relatability – to your product or service? For example, if you own a clothing business, could you show how you style your own clothing on Instagram Stories? If you are starting a business selling products based on your cultural heritage, could you share your favorite recipes and traditions from your family? If you are a jewelry designer, could you share your design process and the inspiration behind your designs?
4. Determine if your personal brand is separate or one with your business
One question we are often asked is whether to have a separate Instagram account for your personal brand rather than show up on your business’s account. While this varies from person to person and there are certainly exceptions, our overall recommendation is to decide based on the following criteria:
If you are a creative entrepreneur - such as a photographer, stylist, artist, influencer, interior designer, cooking instructor - where you are offering a service directly related to you and your expertise, build your personal brand alongside your business as one and the same. If you don’t want to share all of your personal details on your business account (such as photos of your kids, etc.) you can create a private personal account for friends and family to follow. A few examples would be Matilda Goad, Allison Bornstein, Marcia Smart.
If you are a small business owner whose product or service is not directly tied to you – such as a clothing line, store, kids’ products, beauty & wellness brand, home wares, etc. – you might consider building your personal brand separately. A few examples of this would be Loeffler Randall and founder Jessie Randall, Maisonette and Sylvana Ward Durrett, The Everygirl and Danielle Moss, and Halogen Ventures and investor Jesse Draper.
**Note: Managing multiple accounts takes more time, so if you do not have support and this feels overwhelming, focus on one business account that shows you as the founder through behind the scenes, IG Lives, etc.
5. Decide channels for building your personal brand
Determining a strategy can be summed up as 1. selecting channels and 2. determining how often you want to post.
When deciding which platforms to build your personal brand on, consider where your target audience is most active and which channels you feel most comfortable using. Do you like writing long-form content? Then a monthly blog post or newsletter could be great for you. Instagram tends to be a go-to because most of us are familiar with how to use it. For Instagram, consider introducing yourself on your brand’s social media page 1 x a month, scheduling Instagram Lives with like-minded small business owners or people you admire, or showcasing your expertise through Reels, which the algorithm shares with a wider audience than a static post or Stories. There is also an incredible opportunity to build brand awareness and share your expertise through TikTok, if you have time to explore how to use a new platform. For inspiration, look at @wealthedit and @iamdulma.
6. Be consistent
When determining how often you want to post, the most important factor is consistency. Think about how often you can realistically commit to posting with everything else you have going on as the founder and stick to it. It might only be 1-2x a week while you are getting in the groove. To help you stay consistent, create content series – such as Reels with tips, words of inspiration, Friday favorites mentioning other brands, or behind the scenes IG Stories once a week of your creative process or new projects. Planning ahead is also so helpful. Create a monthly outline of what you will be posting every week, and set aside a day to shoot Reels or photos and create graphics to go with each post. We provide a content calendar template in our online course.
7. Draft a professional bio
A bio is an important asset to have on hand as the founder of your business, especially when you start proactively reaching out to media, podcasts, or potential partners about features on yourself. Your bio can be a one page document outlining your professional background, why and when you started your business, and a few personal details about you. We provide a bio template in our online course with additional direction.
8. Update your headshot
Whether it’s for your own website, a traditional press placement, or a social media graphic promoting a partnership, a professional headshot is another important asset to have on file. Make sure that your headshot reflects both your brand aesthetic and your area of expertise / what you want to be known for. We provide additional guidance on headshots in our online course.
9. Pitch yourself as an expert
Now it’s time to start putting yourself out there and pitching yourself for opportunities, such as podcasts, Instagram Lives, blog features on other websites, and traditional media outlets. A good starting point is to research opportunities you think would be a good fit for you and your areas of expertise. For inspiration, look at where other small business owners and creative entrepreneurs in your industry have been featured.
Organize your research and keep track of outreach in Google Sheets by creating a list of contacts. When you reach out over email (or Instagram DM), introduce yourself and offer up your area of expertise as a resource for the editor or potential brand partner. Attach your bio and headshot and offer to hop on a quick call to chat through details. Remember, this process takes time and it could be weeks or months before a feature comes to fruition.
Pro tip: some traditional media outlets have guest contributors, which is a great way to build your credibility. For example, if you are a health and wellness expert, consider pitching yourself as a guest contributor to Well + Good or mindbodygreen.
Thanks for reading! We hope you found this guidance on building a personal brand helpful. Please email us at hello@allyouneedmethod.com with any follow up questions that you would like to see answered.
