This is the third part of a series about personal branding.
Find the first part here: What is a Personal Brand?
And the second part here: Who Needs a Personal Brand?
I keep hearing a lie.
The lie is : that you need to build an audience before you can focus on personal branding.
If you’ve found this thought bouncing around in your head, I want to take a moment to point it out to you.
This is not a truth.
This is a limiting belief.
And it’s one that is hurting the growth of your business.
You can indeed, work on building an intentional personal brand, and a cohesive experience for your audience before you have one.
“But Becca, why would anyone pay attention to the brand I’m building without having the audience first?”
That question stumps me and I’d like to flip it on it’s head.
We should be asking:
How do you have an audience, if you haven’t done anything to intentionally attract them in the first place?
When you have focused on what your brand is, and stands for, you then know how to talk to your audience.
You know what content to create to help them!
You know how to show up consistently so that they see you as a trusted source of info and help.
And that, my friends, that in turn attracts more of your audience!
The thing is if you have an online service or education-based business…. especially if you are a coach, then you are already a personal brand. Because you are your brand.
The problem is, without being intentional in how you present your brand, you end up giving a mish-mashed smorgasbord for people to learn from.
And that my friend isn’t exactly enticing. Nor will it attract many people.
When you haven’t been intentional in your branding, you don’t have a road map to guide you and ensure you show up consistently in all aspects of your brand.
Up until now, what you have been doing may have gotten you some clients, and gotten your business off the ground.
But what got you here won’t get you there, and if you want to make a larger impact and attract those clients you dream about, you need to show them a consistent experience. And this is the power of branding.
The experience, that you cultivate is what creates your brand.
You do it through being intentional in:
- how you help,
- what you say,
- how you say it,
- what photos you share,
- how consistent your look is,
- and how you deliver upon your promises
But you are going to hit a ceiling at some point where you just can’t get more traction.
And this is where you will be wishing you had intentionally cultivated your personal brand from the get go!
You see, your personal brand is how people feel about YOU and how you can help them.
When you are selling your services and education, YOU and your business are seen as one.
That is what a personal brand is, a melding of the person and the business.
When you hop on Instagram and start sharing your content, you see it as promoting your business.
But your audience sees YOU and hears YOU.
They build a feeling of familiarity and trust with YOU.
So… wouldn’t you want to cultivate that experience they are having with you?
The first steps to an intentional personal brand are:
Share your content using your voice and personality
Don’t make it sound like everyone else!
Make it YOU.
Put a stake in the ground and you’ll attract people who like what you are saying.
Show your face in your business through your photos
More than you are comfortable with.
People want to see YOU, so show that pic of you smiling and laughing. Hop on video for your stories and connect with your people.
Personal branding is how you attract people. How you create a human connection.
For Gen Z, sharing photos and videos of them is something they grew up with. Even for some of the younger Millenials.
Building a personal brand comes naturally to them.
Because, they’ve been sharing their lives, their photos and their videos online their entire lives.
But for anyone over the age of 34, this doesn’t tend to come as easily. Which means Gen Z has a leg up on you.
But, by showing up in your business and creating content AND photos you can attract your audience too.
People want and EXPECT to be seeing the person in the business. They don’t want to follow a corporation, and they don’t want to take tips from someone that is faceless to them!
So show your face through all your marketing (meaning photos of YOU). Infuse your voice and personality into your content.
Create an intentional experience where your audience feels like they know who you are and how you can help them.
our people are out there. They are just waiting for you to show up and show them the way!
What are you waiting for?
Do I have you invested now? Great! I’m so excited you are committing to showing your face and intentionally building your brand!
I have a super helpful free 8 step personal branding checklist for you. Grab it here!
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