Nowadays, it’s more important than ever to totally own who you are. In a world that’s increasingly digital, your personal brand is what tells people who you are, what you do, and what makes you worth caring about. It’s always a good time to take a good look at your personal brand for ways to elevate and be noticed for all the great things you do and help others with.
Here’s my step-by-step checklist to elevating your personal brand to help people discover the real you!
1. CHOOSE YOUR NAME – As you’re building your personal brand from the ground up, decide how you’d like to be known. Will you go by your first name? your full name? Your childhood nickname? Something that’s more descriptive of what you do, like The Baking Babe? The Gardening Guru? Start there, then make sure your social media platforms and website domains all sync up.
2. THINK OF YOUR VALUES – What’s most important to you? What beliefs or characteristics make up who you are? Are you family-oriented, independent, quirky, sharp, trustworthy, or a mix of all of those things? Think about what you stand for and write it down.
3. ESTABLISH YOUR SKILLS AND PASSIONS – What do you have to offer? What are you the most excited about? What sort of expertise or experience do you have that might make someone hire you over someone else? Consider the professional value you offer to potential customers.
4. DREAM UP YOUR VISION – Think big. What do you want to accomplish through your business and personal brand? What does success look like to you? What are your main goals? Knowing where you’re going is crucial in order to know what steps to take.
5. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE – Who is your ideal client? What sort of content do they want to see? What are they lacking in their lives? What problems can you help them solve?
When I did this exercise to elevate my personal brand it was a total game changer for me and my business and actually helped me with many of the other points on this checklist. Defining and knowing your ideal client means you have a detailed understanding of the things they’re looking for, can speak to their desires, offer the solution to their problems and provide the guidance, information and support they need.
This all funnels into the marketing content you create for your audience, sometimes referred to as your CONTENT PILLARS. These are the few topic areas you identify and adopt to ensure your content is relevant to you and most importantly to your audience.
Instead of post after post being about your products/services and business-related activities, which let’s be honest, can come across too salesy and may have the effect of repelling the very people you are trying to engage, flip your marketing into acts of services for others with content rich in your knowledge and knowhow. This is huge on the like and trust factor and so instrumental in building connection and long lasting relationships.
My advice is to dedicate time to this task. Don’t be tempted to skip over and produce broad-brush content appealing to everybody – in the end you’ll appeal to no body. It’s much better to find your niche and knowing who your ideal client is will really help.
If you need some help to get you head in the space, download my free guide PERSONAL BRANDING – KNOW YOUR CLIENT to get you thinking!
6. CREATE YOUR WEBSITE – Through colour, design, and great storytelling, create a personal website that helps your ideal clients get to know you both personally and professionally.
7. CRAFT YOUR LOGO – Get an expert to help you craft a simple yet recognisable logo that captures who you are and what you do through design.
8. GET PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS TAKEN – This is the element of a personal brand that is very close to my heart (wink, wink!), professional photos of you can add a personal touch to your brand. Hire a personal branding photographer to help visually tell your story, using your content pillars as the guiding light. You’ll see once you have images authentic to you and your message, you’ll get notice and better connect with your audience.
And there you have it! Building a great personal brand takes time, effort and a lot of thought but it’s worth it to create an enduring personal brand you’re truely proud of.
