As our world becomes increasingly more digital, building a personal brand is more important than ever. It represents the voice behind you and your brand and how you want to be perceived by your audience.

Moreover, building an online presence can take various forms, like creating online content for social media, websites, blog articles, online courses, etc. These may help broadcast your message to your audience and establish your identity.

We all know how daunting it can be to craft one that truly represents our core values. One that helps creates more sales, new opportunities and stay ahead of the competition. One can never underestimate the power of personal branding being a valuable asset.

But the question is, how do you create a successful one?

In today’s post, I’ll walk you through the importance of building a personal brand for your digital business and some of the main elements that will help you differentiate yourself from the rest.

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What Is A Personal Brand?

Think of your personal brand as a mishmash of who you are, what you stand for, your expertise, and your values which defines your identity. It’s like your online “reputation.” For instance, what do people say about you and your work? What does your audience think of your message? How relatable are you to your audience?

Building a unique, authentic, and trustworthy brand will help you establish yourself as an expert in your niche. The primary intent is to connect with people by sharing your story and how you can be of value to them. Many entrepreneurs mistake personal branding to showcase themselves as mindless hard workers rather than their authentic selves. Likewise, it doesn’t mean you need to show the private version of yourself.

You may want to keep some aspects of your life separate from your brand. Your brand’s story should center on your customers and their pain points. The more relatable, the better.

Just like any other corporate brand, it has to be maintained to remain consistent and relatable. And when marketing yourself online, you have much more control in presenting your brand in a way that you want to be perceived than offline.

Although this presents a lot of benefits, it has its pitfalls. When starting out crafting your brand online, it can be intimidating to put yourself out there. You may find difficulty trying to depict an accurate description of who you are and what you’re willing to offer.

You begin to ask questions to yourself like:

What is it that I’m trying to achieve?

What do I stand for?

What skills can I bring to the table?

What is my USP?

What can my audience benefit from me?

With all of this in mind, you build clarity and are on your way to creating a powerful brand.

What Are The Benefits Of Building A Personal Brand?

Building a personal brand not only helps you tell your story but also helps you stand out from the competition. People would want to come to you as the only solution to their problems.

Let’s look at how building a personal brand can help you as an entrepreneur.

Online Presence

You become more accessible to your online audience when you start engaging online. People want to know more about you and what you’re willing to offer. Be it by offering courses, coaching, or other digital products that qualify you as an expert.

Even though it might be daunting to put yourself out there, it’s absolutely necessary in order to build a personal brand.

Build Trust

Your personal brand tells your audience the “why” you do what you do. You can use your story to educate people who are interested in you. So, the more genuine and clear your intentions are, the more likely people will invest in your digital services or products.

Building credibility is crucial in this day and age. With so many quick rich schemes out there, no wonder people are very skeptical of the internet.

Fortunately, with the right branding strategy, connecting and sharing the exact knowledge needed for your audience becomes more effortless.

A Strong Network

One of the main benefits of a personal brand is leveraging your skills and uniqueness in a way that helps grow your client base and develop an-ever growing community. As you grow, having an audience can be extremely valuable when you want to be referred to others, launch a new product or take your business to new heights.

People will want to return the favor if you provide value to them. If they know it can benefit others, your network will be willing to share your content with their audience, potentially reaching new customers.

Opportunities Knocking

Growing your brand that’s authentic and unique will attract like-minded people who share the same value and goals. You’d be surprised when opportunities present themselves when you least expect them. Making sure you constantly maintain your online presence may help develop long-lasting partnerships.

Similarly, you start to repel opportunities that don’t resonate with your purpose. As much as you may want to say “yes” to someone, you realize you would instead want a connection that aligns with your goals.

Brand Image Narrative

I mentioned above how essential it is what you share with your audience. If your online reputation doesn’t line up with how you want to be known, people will form their own opinions about you.

Creating online content that’s purposeful about what you do while maintaining the narrative will help eliminate any negativity or backlashes you might have. You put yourself in the driver’s seat and maintain authority over how you want your brand to be known.

Achieve Goals

Building a solid personal brand takes a lot of effort. However, the fruits of your labor will be justified once people know who you are and what you stand for. You will attract more clients, sell more products, create a loyal fan base, and can charge premium prices.

Whatever target you set for the future becomes easier to achieve because of the personal relationship you’ve built with your audience. They will continue to buy your digital products knowing that you consistently deliver valuable content every time.

You Stand Out

People say that competition is bad; I say it’s necessary (in a healthy way of course). There are so many entrepreneurs probably doing the same thing as you. But if you give up for that very reason, you may as well quit and be doing that 9-5 you always hated.

Personal branding done right will ensure that you are unique and help solve people’s issues. In addition, over-delivering expectations build credibility as well.

What Are The Main Elements Of Building A Personal Brand?

• Don’t be shy to show your face on social media because you’re the face behind your brand. People want to know who the boss running this fabulous brand is.

• Do not only publish picture-perfect photos and edited captions. Be vulnerable and share your obstacles and difficulties. That’s far more relatable for your audience than another caption, showing that you have all your sh*t together.

• Have a specific niche and a specific audience to talk to, and get consistent in your messaging. Lay an authentic foundation and not a façade. Branding is about purposefully showcasing why you’re the expert in the niche. It should be a true reflection of your skills, values, and vision.

• Don’t only talk about your business but also about yourself. Show your unique personality. Apart from the usual business conversations, people would love to know your story and how you got to where you are.

• Share the raw, behind-the-scenes, and journey of your business. This could mean showing that you’re not afraid to be vulnerable and can sometimes make mistakes. Not everything is smooth sailing. This helps your audience how to deal with the same setbacks if they face them in the future.

• Engage with your audience, and show that you genuinely care and want to help. A conversation is a two-way street. People would love to get in touch with you and ask questions they have in mind. You can maybe do a live webinar or a stream, so you engage with your audience.

• Share your “why.” Why do you do what you do? What are your core values? Make sure you mention these. It’s not about sharing details to the T but rather some aspects of the business that you know are important for people to know. Things like “Top 5 steps…”, “Things to know before……”, “How I started my…….” All these help in delivering your message to your audience.

• Be consistent with your branding elements, colors, vibes, pictures, clothes, and filters you use on your pictures. Although there will indeed be times that you have to adapt your business, that doesn’t mean steering away from your end goal. Changes can be introduced to improve your brand image and stand out.

Related Reads:

• How to Become a Digital Nomad as a Freelancer
• Cultivating A Success Mindset As A Solopreneur
• How To Stop Self Sabotage For Once And For All
• Daily Habits For A Balanced Life
• What’s Self Awareness? And How Can You Cultivate It?

Let’s chat!

What have you done to build a stronger personal brand? Let me know in the comments down below!