62. What is Personal Branding?
How is Personal Branding important for your business?
There are millions of other coaches, nutritionists, wellness experts, executives or like in my case photographers out there. There are millions of products that are very similar and solve the same problem out there: shoes, clothes, hats, cakes, cards, books, courses, you name it.
But you want to know what is the only true difference? It’s YOU!
Yes, you, with your uniqueness, your story, and the very special spin that you give to your business.
We have heard it also a million times, people rather buy from people (or brands) they know, they like and they TRUST.
Yet, we hide behind our posts, offers, content or products and think that those alone will make a difference.
But what is a Personal Brand?
A Personal Brand is the way you use to promote your product or services by presenting your unique combination of skills, personality, your story and experience that you have acquired along the way and that give you the authority to be where you are now.
How you communicate this to your audience is Personal Branding.
Why build a Personal Brand?
Using your Personal Brand as a platform to potentiate your business will make it more human.
Remember there is a story behind everyone of us and people love stories.
People love to hear stories of success, stories of the underdog who came victorious at the end, stories of how you got somewhere. People love to tag along on the story of the journey that you are on.
Let’s take an example - Clotsy Brand
Clotsy is an ethical, vegan and sustainable, slow fashion clothing brand from Spain. It was founded by Ángela & Álvaro from Valencia. When you follow them (in Spanish) they take you along on their journey, when they create new products. On all the behind the scenes where they work, where they produce the products, how they source them, what is important to them. They are now even taking their audience in creating a physical store and getting funding to do so.
Remember that you don’t always have to be everything or know everything, sometimes people like to cheer you on as you grow.
Three reasons why it makes sense to add a Personal Brand to your business:
People can relate to the brand and identify with the person or people behind the service or product. Makes it relatable.
If you have a small business and are not very well known, people who never heard of you might hesitate to buy from you. But if they check out your accounts, website and see a face that represents the brand, they are more likely to trust quicker.
To create differentiation and a channel to share your story.
Who is a Personal Brand for?
I believe that adding a Personal Brand aspect to any business can bring a positive perception of the brand. Big or small companies can certainly benefit of having a Personal Brand, someone as the face of the brand.
Take for instance, Richard Branson, multibillionaire and founder of a conglomerate of different businesses… so different amongst each other that they couldn’t possibly fall under the same brand (Virgin, records, airline, insurance, etc…), yet the one thing that they all have in common is Richard Branson, with a strong human, fun, Personal Brand.
When you follow him, you know his family is very important, he introduced the “Working from home” concept many years ago, so he could see his family grow.
He cares for his employees first, even before his customers, because he says that if they are well taken care of, THEY will care for his customers.
He is active, sportive, adventurous. He is a school drop-out and dyslexic, campaigning for a change in education systems.
Can you tell he is one of my favorite Personal brands?
However, personal brands are not only for millionaires. Small businesses can benefit from the creation of a personal brand, most particularly solopreneurs or small business owners, by creating something that big companies have a harder time doing… creating personal connection.
Personal Branding on Social Media
Building a Personal Brand, doesn’t necessarily all happen online. Networking, in-person work, speaking events, writing a book, are all ways in which you can establish several aspects of your Personal Brand.
However, we can’t deny that Social Media offers a much wider platform to promote your Personal Brand.
It is possible to promote your Personal Brand on Instagram or Facebook, for example. These platforms give you enough tools to share about your brand, your products, your why, your journey, behind-the-scenes, your opinions, photos, text and videos. It allows you to promote and target your content if you choose to advertise as well.
How about a Personal brand on LinkedIn? Absolutely! It is a common misconception that creating a Personal Brand is not for executives that work for a company. Guess what? Creating a Personal Branding strategy can be essential to your career success, because it helps you to position as an expert or a thought leader.
How about Pinterest or YouTube? Those two are less of social media platforms and more of search engines platforms where more of the “How to” content is often hosted.
All this exposure across several channels will help establish your brand and make it more widely recognized.
Examples of Personal Brands:
Here are a couple of examples of Personal Brands that I particularly enjoy due to some aspect :
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vayner Media & CEO & Chairman of VaynerX, he is extremely polarising, you either love him or hate him. He says things how it is (or how he believes them) and swears a lot. But he has grown some serious businesses and gives very direct and no bulls@x#t advice. https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/biography/
Kati & Kristine, OOIA Founders, two friends who start a company for Women Menstruation Underwear, where female empowerment and sustainability play a very important role. Check their story and brand here: https://ooia.de/pages/story
Joe Wick, The Body Coach. He is a fitness coach who became viral during the pandemic with his programm on YouTube: PE with Joe, where he encouraged the kids and families to workout, for the sake of entertainment and mental health. https://www.thebodycoach.com/
Kris Carr, Author, wellness activist and Cancer Thriver. She has built a brand around self-care with cancer and healthy lifestyle and as a cancer survivor myself, you can’t imagine how much I love her natural, kind approach and personality that she infuses in her business. https://kriscarr.com/
Max La Manna, he is a low waste, plant based chef and author. https://www.maxlamanna.com/
These are just a couple of my favorites, I like what they stand for (a.k.a. Brand values), their personality and authenticity. They are not a one person show, but they are the face of their brand.
Can you think of others you admire? Think why is that so? Do you see how this style of authentic, open, honest communication makes you trust them, even if you have never met them before?
7 tips to build your Personal Brand on Social Media
Develop the SOUL of your brand, your brand strategy, your strengths, your products, your brand values. Do this work first, this will support the rest of your communication strategy If you need help clarify your Personal Brand Strategy this resource can help http://www.blancamelendez.com/personalbrand-dwld
Clarify the Brand Message you want to communicate.
Define your target market and the ideal customer… clearly.
Choose one channel first and learn how to best use it to reach your audience. Make sure to know which social media platform is the one preferred by your ideal customer.
Develop a Social Media plan and include a mix of content elements that: educate, entertain and inspire your community.
Use behind-the-scenes, personal content and opinions on subject matters. To bring your personality and the human aspect of your brand.
Use consistent VISUAL BRANDING to create top of mind recognition for your Personal brand. (Article Visual Branding -Blog 27 ) or Article (Top of Mind - Blog 61)
You feel like you need additional support Building your Personal Brand, you can consider 1:1 Coaching sessions.
I have helped past clients in areas in which they needed help, whether it was setting up their entire online presence, step-by-step and holding their hand, or teaching them how to create a Personal branding positioning as an authority or focusing on one channel like Instagram.
You can book a free discovery call with me right here and explore ways I can help:
Hi there! I’m Blanca!
I’m a Brand Photographer and Personal Branding Coach, helping female entrepreneurs to create a Personal Brand online that STANDS OUT.
I bring your vision to life, help you come up with one and take you by the hand into the online World if you need me to.