As a brand strategist and branding photographer, I get a lot of questions from corporate clients and headshot clients. I hear the following questions a lot. What is a personal brand? Who needs a personal brand, and how do you develop a personal brand? Over the next few weeks, we are going to do a deep dive into each of these topics, starting with today’s topic of . . . What is a personal brand?
What is a personal brand?
To put it simply, a personal brand is your personality infused into your business. In the age of social media and the internet, people buy from personalities and no longer just purchase goods and services. These personalities have established an emotional connection with their clients through building the know, like, and trust factor over time. Their personal brand has allowed them to establish a clientele because they’re making that emotional connection.
Why do you need a personal brand?
A strong personal brand allows you to connect with your client and build a know, like, and trust factor. Your personal brand is a way for you to, one, promote yourself. I know that when many of us think of self-promotion, we all think of the Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons of the world, but in reality, all entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, and thought leaders need to promote themselves on some level. Bottom line is, If people don’t know who you are, how can they do business with you?
A personal brand done right will allow you to position yourself as the guide or expert to help you find your ideal client and solve their problems. Your personal branding also puts you in a position as the go-to professional. They will be singing your praises with glowing Google reviews and share all of their amazing experiences with their friends. We will take a deep dive on this topic and strategy in a future post.
Personal branding is about making a full-time commitment to the journey of defining yourself as a leader and this will shape the manner in which you will serve your audience. The process allows others to know who you are, what you’re all about, and how you can help them.
A strong personal brand does not come across as sleazy or self promoting. You should go well beyond showcasing your achievements, accomplishments and success stories. An effective personal brand communicates your values and your expertise to your ideal client and allows them to see how you will help them solve their problems. They have a problem that needs to be solved, and they will spend money with someone to solve it. You can show up with the mindset of serving and providing value to your clients, and the conversation will naturally shift to them, their problems, and how you are the right person to help them.
I hope this high level overview of personal branding was helpful.
In the coming weeks on the blog, we will be doing a big deep dive into all things personal branding and how you can benefit from developing your personal branding regardless of who you are and what stage of life you are in.
That’s a wrap for this week! I am so grateful that you have stopped by my little corner of the internet to learn more about personal branding. Have we connected on social media yet? If not, what are you waiting for? You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. I would love to connect with you and know more about you as well! I hope you will send me a DM so we can continue the conversion offline!
Shelly Niehaus Photography is a Boise, ID-based branding and headshot photographer. Shelly specializes in professional headshot photography, personal branding photography and lifestyle photography. Shelly serves the greater Treasure Valley area including Boise, Meridian, Eagle, and Nampa.
[…] that we have established what exactly is a personal brand, it’s time to go over the three important components of your […]