Revealed: 5 Ways a Great Personal Brand is Cash in your Pocket.
Maintaining a great Personal Brand - online and off - can pay big!
Whether you're a wannabe influencer, a cosmetic surgeon, or running a daycare centre, what people say about you or your business online - matters. A lot.
Everyone has a Personal Brand. Whether they like it or not.
It’s how you dress, what you weigh. It’s your teeth and your taste in music or aftershave. Whether you’re a budding sports star, or collect rubbish for a living.
It’s easy to forget the old addage to “dress for the job you want, not the one you have”.
So what is YOUR Personal Brand? How important is it to you now, and how important can you make it? Have you considered how to monetise that Personal Brand?
Perhaps to get the job you want, not the one you have? To raise funding for your startup, or to make a starting line-up in your chosen sport?
It's widely known that branding plays a critical role in the success of a business. For years, companies have meticulously strategised the branding of their business to achieve success in their chosen market.
Today, branding can be slightly more complicated, and it’s VERY personal.
The importance of branding has expanded rapidly in recent years to include our own Personal Brand, as well as that of our business. Often the two are linked.
In fact, many banks, and investors look very carefully at the "saleability" of the principle of a new business before investing.
Would you lend money to a surgeon setting up a private practice that had 2 stars on Google, and/or negative comments online from former patients? What about investing in the owner of a financial services business that has 1 star on TrustPilot? At least, it would most likely prompt an awkward conversation or two.
Why is Personal Branding so important?
Only 33% of customers trust messages directly from a business, whilst almost 90% of them trust products or service recommendations from people they know (Nielson).
This proves that potential buyers trust individuals, and therefore Personal Brands, far more than they do corporate branding.
Modern audiences prefer to do business with people rather than machines or faceless corporations.
Creating a great Personal Brand, BEFORE you need one, is a simple and effective way to rise above the competition and/or acquire the funding you need.
What is a Personal Brand?
When people meet you they form opinions and judgements based on how you present yourself.
This includes some very personal judgements on your name, accent, manner, body language, clothing, and reputation.
Your Personal Brand determines how you're perceived professionally as well as personally. The way you present yourself at work can greatly influence how your customers and colleagues view your abilities and expertise as a professional. Keep the phrase "dress for the job you want, not the one you have" in mind.
Personal Branding is not the same thing as marketing. It's personal and it's about being genuine and providing value with integrity.
People invest in products as a result of marketing, but invest in you as a result of Personal Branding.
A customer's loyalty and profitability is significantly higher when they believe in you as opposed to a product. It is much easier to gain their personal support if they believe in your Personal Brand and what it represents. A great Personal Brand will not only increase the number of sales but also increase the reliability of those sales.
Building a brand takes time and effort, so start now to get the most out of it.
If you can learn how to make money off your Personal Brand, you will have more creative freedom to do the work you are passionate about.