Personal branding is about taking responsibility over how you present yourself. If you strive to position yourself as an expert or become an influencer within your niche, self branding can help increase your reputation as a leader. By showcasing unique character traits and having an active presence online, you can work towards building a personal brand that resonates with people all over the world. This article will guide you through the steps towards branding yourself with 10 personal branding tips.
Personal branding is important because it helps give a person more credibility. It’s never been more competitive to land a new job or earn a paycheque. With more people building personal brands, you need to put yourself out there to get noticed. Personal branding can let recruiters find experts like you with ease, especially if you’ve been blogging for personal branding. It can also help you land new opportunities like business deals or marketing partnerships that you wouldn’t otherwise have, especially if you’re a person of influence. If you’re trying to land a higher position at a new company, you can showcase key data such as the number of followers you have, how much traffic your website gets or other key metrics which can give you a competitive advantage over other candidates. Think of it almost like an online portfolio about yourself. Personal branding allows more people to get to know who you are and how you bring value.
Who’s the most authentic person that comes to mind when you think of individual branding? Yeah, none other than Gary Vaynerchuk. I met him a few years ago at the Traffic and Conversion Conference in the hotel’s lobby and he’s about as real as it gets. The most noticeable thing about him is that he just doesn’t censor himself. He’s probably more likely to turn down a speaking gig that asks him to tone down the swearing than he is to actually tone it down. But that’s what we love about him. He talks to you the way you talk to your friends. He doesn’t walk around in an expensive suit reminding you that he’s more successful than you. Even though he is. He’s a down to earth kind of guy. I once messaged him on Instagram and he responded to me within 10 minutes. Who does that? Nobody.
Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal branding journey started on YouTube when he was promoting his online store Wine Library. Have you ever seen the videos? Here’s his first video. It basically looked like a home video from the 90s despite being from 2006. He just sat in front of a camera and drank wine. Why am I mentioning this? Because even Gary Vaynerchuk started building a personal brand in the most low budget way possible. So you can too.
