Whether you’re a freelancer, business consultant, or an entrepreneur, your personal brand is the oil your lamp needs in these uncertain times, so make it a priority to understand:
- Personal branding and its role in the market
- How to build a personal brand you’d be proud of
- Easy steps to naming your personal brand
- How to keep your passion alive
Personal Branding’s Role in the Market
It shouldn’t be news to you that in today’s world, brands without solid images quickly wither and die under the scorching heat of fierce market competition.
In March 2020, there were over 800,000 businesses all less than a year old. Every industry is flooded with countless brands. In order for your business to break through and establish itself as a brand to be recognized for its amazing potential, you need to engage the power of your personal brand.
Personal branding is all about discovering what makes you unique and building a reputation on it. You can then boost your credibility, distinguish yourself from your competitors, and position your brand as an authority in your industry.
And why does personal branding work? Well, because people are naturally curious and would love to know as much about you as they can. In the words of Marie Forleo, ‘The world needs that special gift that only you have’.
And here’s how to create that special gift.
How to Build a Personal Brand
Prominent figures like Tony Robbins, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, and Gary Vaynerchuk all have compelling personal brands.
And whether you realize it or not, you have a personal brand already. Here are five trusted ways you can spread those personally branded wings and fly.
1. Know Your Audience, Know Your Business
Your personal brand will flounder if you don’t have a perfect understanding of your customers, their needs, their plans—and most importantly—how you can help them meet their needs.
Here’s a secret from the experts: To understand your audience, don’t guess. Instead, get a balanced understanding of your customers through surveys.
2. Get a Concise Value Proposition
A value proposition gives your audience a quick glimpse of the benefit your personal brand would provide for them. Getting a memorable value proposition would instantly place your brand in the minds of your customers.
3. Craft a Catchy Slogan
In creating your business, you need a short and catchy slogan to make your products easy to identify. Think of a brand’s slogan as a condensed mission statement.
Consider some of the best catchy slogans in the market:
- Dollar Shave Club: “Shave Time, Shave Money”.
- Airbnb: “Belong Anywhere”.
- Burger King: “Have It Your Way”.
- Wendy: “Where’s the Beef?”
- Redbull: “Gives You Wings”.
The best slogan is memorable, reveals the benefits customers stand to gain from a brand, and also establishes positive feelings in the minds of your customers.
4. Put Yourself Out There: Visibility Is Gold
Understand that knowing your audience and crafting a superb value proposition and a catchy slogan will do you no good if you remain cooped up in your home, hidden from the world.
So put yourself out there! Allow people to get a firsthand taste of your personality, creativity, charisma, and experience. Then the next time they think about you, they won’t see a generic face trying to sell them stuff; they’ll see a face they trust.
5. Establish Your Voice
By now you know that your brand isn’t just a business, it’s a living entity—a person, and it needs to speak with an appealing voice. So make sure that every piece of content on your website and social media platforms reflect your brand’s amazing personality.
Easy Steps to Naming Your Personal Brand
Having a great name is a head start your personal brand cannot afford to neglect. Many brands rise and fall based on the strength of their names.
But don’t worry. We’ve got some easy steps you can follow when naming your personal brand.
Step 1: Understand Your Business and Audience
Like we said earlier, understanding your business and audience is the most crucial step when coming up with a brand name. Why? Because it makes setting up your naming criteria easy.
Take the time to know every facet of your business, and its target customers. The last thing you want is to create a personal brand that’s not properly aligned with your market.
Step 2: Get a Team
It always pays to enlist help when trying to generate a name for your personal brand. Whether it’s an in-house team or naming professionals, the extra perspective would do you a world of good.
Getting professionals to guide you through the naming process would save you immense time and would quickly lead you to the perfect name.
Step 3: Brainstorm
A good brainstorming session is another crucial step in developing the perfect name, either for your personal brand or just about anything. The best way to go about brainstorming is to write as many names as you can think of that align with your brand’s mission, vision, and goals.
Pull ideas from business name generator tools so you can craft unique, creative, and appealing names that’d make your personal brand stand out from other competitors. The ideal name is easy to say, easy to spell and evokes an emotional response from your audience.
Beware!
Although by now you must’ve found a few names that align with your brand’s needs, the journey doesn’t end here. Make sure:
- Your chosen brand name hasn’t already been trademarked.
- It’s been tested with an audience and is the best fit for your brand.
- It isn’t cringe-worthy and has the potential to support large-scale growth.
How To Keep Your Passion Alive
It’s like running with a burning torch. If your fire—your passion for your brand—isn’t burning well and strong, your brand will die out without making an impact in the lives of your audience.
And sure enough, one of the best ways to keep your passion burning bright is to choose a great name that you love. Remember, your audience won’t love the name of your personal brand if you don’t love it.
