Building a personal brand involves knowing what sets you apart in an industry and using that to develop an image that is marketable to your desired audience. You can show off your skills and qualities more effectively through a well-tailored brand. Other benefits include building credibility and trust with consumers, advancing your networking opportunities, and moving up in your career journey. In addition, a strong personal brand increases your brand value and allows you to have more control over what you want your audience’s perception to be. Utilizing social media to establish your online presence also showcases your adaptability to the ever-changing technical landscape. So what questions should you ask yourself before you start building a personal brand?
Topics to consider are: What am I passionate about? What am I good at? What makes me credible? What are my personal goals? Answering these four questions is crucial in forging the path that is right for you. Once you have answers to these, you can move on to the next steps, using content to formulate your brand.
Hooking your audience in is important considering the viewer's attention span being incredibly short. The first 7-12 seconds determine if someone will keep watching, so put careful thought into your storytelling. Our brains love stories, so use topics such as who you are, what you have overcome, what your current mission is, and what makes you credible to your advantage as you craft an authentic story to share with your audience.
When it comes to storytelling, you have three Cs. The first C is character. Identify the main character in your story (you) when developing your brand. Next, is conflict. What challenges have you encountered along the way and how did you overcome them? This humanizes your brand and fosters a connection to your audience. Lastly, is the conclusion. Share the breakthrough that led you to start your business. What clicked for you that kickstarted this new exciting venture? Make sure to have consistency across platforms as you begin sharing your story, while also being concise and tailored in your delivery. You don’t need to overshare or fill your reader’s feeds with a long story, just an impactful one that gets your perspective across.
Once you have defined the story you want to share for your branding, you can now define who your target market is. Think about who benefits the most from your product or service. You can also look at current customers and why they buy from you by looking at common pain points or interests. Another crucial tool is creating a buyer persona: considering a customer’s psychographics such as age, location, gender, income, education level, or occupation. When knowing your product in-depth, you can kickstart your market research and discover where your audience lies, especially on social media. All of this combined will help you uncover where the market you shine brightest in lies.
After determining your story and target audience, you are ready to map out your content calendar. This is useful in organizing posts 30 days in advance, knowing what important dates are coming up, and knowing when certain content forms need to be prepared. That can include long-form content such as articles, white papers, and press releases or short-form content such as quotes, quick hacks, infographics, micro videos, and blogs. Some tools we like to use when mapping out our content are Hootsuite and Metricool.
Once you have established your content routine and are posting regularly, it is important to brush up on how content monetization differs by platform. Payouts to creators can depend on factors such as platform updates and audience demographics. YouTube pays its creators per ad view, whereas TikTok offers a creator fund. In addition, those two platforms take the lead in generating income for content creators, with Facebook and Instagram following behind. YouTube also offers several high-paying niches within its platform, with content on finance and investing seeing the largest potential earning observed, from $1.61 to $29.30 per 1000 views. Success stories such as Joshua Mayo, a YouTuber who made $600,000 in his first year of YouTube content creation with investment-focused videos, stand out. Another example of a successful personal brand is ex-doctor turned YouTuber, author, and entrepreneur Ali Abdaal. His journey began through creating educational videos to help medical students pass their exams, creating a channel that has now grown to over 4 million subscribers. A commonly cited obstacle for Abdaal includes creating content that feels authentic. With the pressure to adhere to methods such as clickbait to drive views or likes, it is important to stay aligned to the core values and vision for your brand. During the process of developing your personal brand, a useful question to ask yourself is, how is what you create aligned with the greater values and vision for your business? Like these examples, there are many others who tapped into alternative niches that are lucrative, such as business, health and fitness, real estate, auto reviews, and digital marketing. Beyond ad revenue, creators can leverage brand deals, sponsorships, and product creation to build their monetization too.
Sponsored content is a common method of creating income from content creation, with brands partnering with a creator who promotes a product or service to their audience. The creator can also have an affiliate link, where a commission is earned on every sale driven through the creator’s link, providing a convenient way to promote products they love without having to hold any inventory. A step further is becoming a brand ambassador, where you represent a brand for a longer period and take on multiple campaigns to promote. A creative alternative is launching your merchandise such as t-shirts or mugs related to your brand, or posting educational content such as online courses, consultations, and workshops that showcase your expertise. Once you have built a loyal following, you can even offer paid subscriptions to exclusive content available through memberships, such as Patreon, where dedicated followers can support you directly.
Establishing what your brand will be, getting your storytelling and target audience down, organizing your content creation, and monetizing your work are all the ways you can build a successful personal brand for your business. Personal branding is an essential tool in creating credibility and building trust with your customer base, as well as standing out in a crowded marketplace. It also allows people to humanize your business and connect more deeply with the brand, fostering loyal consumers and creating opportunities for further success. By showcasing the expertise, values, and unique perspective you have to offer, you can position your brand as a thought leader worth investing in.
Speak with experts in personal branding by connecting with Amados Strategies for a free consultation to kickstart your digital marketing goals.