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When you have a strong personal brand you are seen as an expert and in your case whatever the personality. If you leave your company or acquire it and you start another venture, guess what? Your personal brand will follow you, and you will be able to harness its power immediately.
As a branding strategist, I often find entrepreneurs looking for a PR firm to help build a strong personal brand, but it’s not something that can provide a “package.” This is something that takes time, effort and multiple platforms.
I like to review a very clear and straightforward personal branding approach that I often recommend to clients who interact with my company looking for ways to better position themselves in their industry. This is a simple but highly effective technique that you can use to your advantage, helping you to become an expert in your field.
Align yourself with the local traditional media
Your local media can be a gold mine of opportunity and often you can connect with local TV and newspaper personalities via email or Twitter, the social media platform of choice for most journalists, writers and journalists.
Just introduce yourself, let them know what you do and what you specialize in, and tell them that you are available to provide any insights or skills you need at any time.
Then, after the relationship has grown a bit and you communicate a few times, you can create ideas for a story or part. Many outlets, especially small ones, are always looking for new and interesting things to report.
Featured on the local NBC News affiliate provides you with a video clip that you can use in your marketing or display on your website that takes your credibility to the next level. When you scale it and secure a number of interviews and features, you become an expert in your field.
Related: 5 important rules of personal branding
Stay active on social media (especially Instagram)
Social media provides you a platform to share your thoughts on what’s happening in your industry and allows you to target potential interested people in what you want to say using relevant hashtags.
Create content that makes you the star of your brand. Create content that engages and distracts – something that keeps your audience from scrolling. Look for hashtags in your niche, and start scrolling through the reel section to see what’s hitting the top. You will see that it is not a corporate, but a fully generated ad. Instead, it’s selfie-of-the-cuff videos that are attached because they don’t come as scripts. Come up with a plan – a theme for a specific day, for example, where you dive deeper into a topic – and then share from the heart.
Start by posting once a day using popular hashtags in your niche, and be sure to engage with anyone who follows you, likes your post or DMs you. Don’t be discouraged at first because of less busyness. It takes time to build.
Stay tuned and if you stick to the plan you will see your followers grow and each reply and retweet over time will introduce your profile – and your information – to new users.
Publish a blog and create a subscriber list
Blogging allows you to talk about anything you want, and when it’s your own hosted blog, there are no editorial guidelines to follow, no topic approval, and so on. You are free to speak whatever you want.
This method rewards those who have a lot of great advice and knowledge to share. If you take action on the points mentioned above – in line with local news and media outlets – you will have a very welcome audience who will be interested in reading and subscribing to your blog.
If you do not want to publish a blog on your company’s website, consider using Medium. This is a great platform and can help introduce new readers and customers due to the large amount of traffic. Medium has a built-in feature that lets you create a customer list.
A large list gives you access to a highly responsive following that will welcome any news of new products and services. When you become an expert, you will find that those who follow you will first open their wallets when offered to buy from you.
Related: 7 Reasons Why You Need A Personal Brand
Start hosting a weekly podcast
Looks like everyone and their brother have a podcast these days and that’s because people like to listen to them. A podcast is portable content that can be used anywhere and whenever convenient.
Nowadays anyone who is serious about their personal brand needs to consider launching a podcast for them. You don’t have to be completely committed to a daily podcast, as this is not possible for most, but a weekly re-podcast is manageable.
You can do this at no cost, so don’t let it get you started. Anchor.fm, acquired by Spotify, is a great platform that is free and allows you to host all your episodes and distribute them automatically across all major podcast platforms.
Using the Anchor app, you can record and edit episodes directly from your mobile device. You can even monetize your podcast through anchors, giving you an extra revenue stream. If your podcast explodes in popularity, you may want to consider making more frequent episodes and upgrading to professional-grade tools.
There is absolutely no downside to starting a podcast. This is a great way to build an audience and expand your position within your industry in an additional platform and content format.
Guest blogs on relevant art websites
Guest blogging is one of the oldest personal branding strategies, and it is still very effective today. There is a lot of competition now so publications are more selective with who is allowed to publish content.
Focus on art blogs and websites, and start small. Use small blogs to gain writing experience and build your voice. It also helps you build a portfolio that you can use to equalize and secure guest blogging opportunities on larger sites.
The mistake that can easily get your claim denied is to fail. Take the time and effort to become a great writer and you will see more doors of opportunity open.
Related: Your personal brand is just as important as your business brand
