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.
A great Personal Brand can help you reach professional success in the medium to long term, and in the short term, it can generate cash in your hand.
So, what are your choices? How exactly can you get money from your Personal Brand?
1. Consider getting help
Consulting involves identifying flaws in specific sectors of a business and providing recommendations for how to correct them.
Hiring a consultant, or seeking free advice from friends and family, can give you the information and tools you may need to establish a great Personal Brand.
Even if you don't think you need help, getting a second opinion can require less effort and is more likely to be effective than trying to figure it out on your own.
2. Build your Personal Brand based on what you want your audience to see
A true, authentic reflection of who you are serves as the foundation of your Personal Brand. This means that you should think about what your values, beliefs and goals are personally AND professionally, or what you want them to be - before your build.
There is no point trying to build a skyscraper on foundations of sand.
Here are some things to consider as you polish your Personal Brand:
Personal Values & Interests: People will be able to connect with you better if you share your personal values and interests with them. This differentiates you from a faceless corporation and humanises your business. Additionally, people will be able to relate to you if they share similar values and interests. If people relate to you, they are more likely to invest time and/or money in you and your vision.
Business Principles & Beliefs: Your Personal Brand can include the principles and beliefs of your business. These could be authenticity, connection, helping others, a quality customer experience etc.
3. Extend your Personal Brand online
Your friends and followers are connecting with YOU. You're putting your face, voice, and, to some extent, your life on the internet. There is no doubt that the opportunities your "brand" receives are strongly linked to the opportunities you as an individual represent.
You can build a level of trust and connection with your followers by developing a strong Personal Brand online. However, it's vital your Personal Brand actually reflects what you want people to know about you and your business.
It's important to extend your Personal Brand online as well as in person. Most potential customers will Google you to decide if they want to do business with you. What will they find if they Google you now? Anything? Nothing? Worse?
Careful planning and self reflection, followed by active Personal Brand Management online and off, will allow you to present the best possible you to the world.
4. Offer a service
A service can be the most expensive “product” you sell, because it requires the most valuable asset you have - your time.
The profits you make from a service can be increased with a great Personal Brand.
Often services require not only a great deal of time, but a direct one-on-one focus with your client. This one-on-one experience is vastly improved when the client appreciates or relates to your Personal Brand.
The success of the service you provide may depend on the excellence of your Personal Brand.
5. Create an eBook
Present your expertise by creating an informational eBook or eGuide.
An ebook is a way for you to sell yourself to potential clients as it allows you to promote yourself and your skills as part of your own Personal Brand.
If you have enough existing content, you can combine old blog posts, expand and improve them, and then publish them as an eBook. People are willing to pay for a well-structured approach to achieving their strategic goals.
Many people would prefer to pay £15 - £20 for an eBook as opposed to searching through endless blog articles.
A great Personal Brand is more valuable than you can imagine.
Even if you don't yet generate revenue from your Personal Brand directly, it will enable you to build a network with similar views, generating countless opportunities for growth.
You're probably wishing you had started building your Personal Brand years ago.
The good news is that it isn't too late.
So what exactly are you waiting for?
Let's get started!
YESpbm's dedicated team can assist with developing a great Personal Brand with a guaranteed result.