How To Grow A Strong And Authentic Personal Brand
Building a personal brand requires slightly different strategies and tactics than building a business — why? Because, essentially, you’re marketing YOU, a one-of-a-kind individual with something unique to offer. Even if your personal brand falls under a saturated industry (like wellness, fitness, coaching, etc.) there are a myriad of ways to ensure that you stand out among your competition!
If you ask us, the most successful personal brands have a few things in common: they are authentic, personable, unique, and trustworthy.
Your personal brand should showcase who you are, what you have to offer, your mission, and what core values you stand for. Identifying these key elements of your personal brand set the foundation for you to advance both professionally and personally.
When done effectively, a strong, authentic personal brand can lead to new career opportunities, more leads for your brand, and more genuine connections with your community.
If you’ve been working hard to develop your own personal brand, but you’re struggling to see a return on the investment of your time and energy, there are some key steps you can take to find the growth and success you’re working for.
Here are seven tips to help you build a personal brand that shines:
Find your personal identity
Figure out who you are and what you want to accomplish! Think deeply about what you have to offer, determine what drives you (this is your “why”), and think about how you want to impact others. Once you begin crafting these different parts of your brand’s identity, you can create an online presence that aligns with your mission and your values.
Determine what you want to be known for and what makes you unique
If you’re exactly like everyone else out there, you won’t stand out. It’s that simple. To stand out, you need to find your niche within your industry.
Think of your niche as a cocktail-size umbrella under the big umbrella that makes up your industry. The space under that cocktail-size umbrella is your unique area of expertise that will draw in a *very* particular audience. By sharing your unique perspective and take on a topic, you will help establish your voice and presence within your industry!
For example, if you want to be known for being a hiker, try to think of a niche you can fit into under that umbrella. Maybe you’re a vegan backpacker who prefers to hike alone with only the company of your dog. That draws down from the “hiker” umbrella and adds specific layers that are unique to you and that will draw in a targeted audience that is interested in EXACTLY how you are showing up, and what you are saying.
Define your audience
Many people make the mistake of trying to appeal to the masses. It’s important to niche down and appeal to your target audience! While it’s tempting to try and reach everyone on every level, defining your audience will lessen competition and improve customer relations — two things that are essential for growth and success.
Optimize your personal website and profiles
This is going to be people's first impression of you, so take your time to figure out how your personality, values, and goals can best shine through. Focus on how you want your audience to feel when they look at your page and what you want their main takeaway to be.
Develop your content strategy
Figure out how you can provide valuable, genuine, and helpful information that proves you know what you’re talking about. You want to be known as a trusted authority in your niche, and that requires giving your audience content that they can learn from or be inspired by.
When developing your content strategy, you should also be thinking about where your target audience is showing up online. If they love Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, you should be showing up on all three platforms!
Experiment with mixing up your content mediums, too. From photos to videos, and shareable graphics, there are so many content types to try to see what resonates most with your audience. Find what works for you — and what best connects with your audience — and run with it.Tell your personal story
What makes you, you? How did you get where you are? What pushed you to start building your brand? What is your “why”? No one else's story is like yours, and that's what makes you unique! Your personal story is what is going to reach people on an emotional level and this will help to build a deeper connection, and build trust, too.
Build your community
While a huge following may seem impressive, it doesn't matter if nobody is engaging with you. Your social profiles should help to be a place for community, interaction, and connection. Make sure you’re always engaging with your audience, talking WITH them, not just AT them, and creating space for conversation.
Our goal here at AMR is to take the guesswork out of digital marketing and share actionable tips, tricks, and strategies to help you see the growth and success you dream of. If you’re ready to take your personal brand to the next level with the help of a team of social media specialists, reach out to us today at hello@amrdigitalmarketing.com, or send us a DM on Instagram @amr_digital.
Megan Odle
Megan Odle is a Content Creator at AMR Digital. When she’s not busy strategizing for clients or focusing on being a super mom, you can find her enjoying a long run, learning a new recipe, or just enjoying a quiet moment! She is a lover of kitchen dancing, cookie dough, lake days, and stargazing.