Personal Branding: Path To An Independent Leader

Personal branding refers to marketing yourself in a way that establishes credibility and authority. Personal branding can help you establish yourself as a leader in your industry. It’s the process of creating a personal brand.

It’s the most effective technique to reach out to a wider audience and establish a worldwide presence. Customers want to feel linked to you, and this connection aids in the development of trust.

Through personal branding, you want your followers to notice your skills, expertise, and personality.

Nike, for example, has established a brand around athletes, high-performance products, and consumer support for active lifestyles.

You’ll see illustrations of branding elements as well as everything Nike does, from magazine and television advertisements to social media profiles.

Thus, when it comes to building a personal brand, that’s exactly the strategy you should adopt.

Although you may not place advertisements in magazines or create television commercials. Instead you must consider how your personal brand looks when communicating with your audience online.

“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room,” remarked Jeff Bezos.

Why Is Personal Branding Important? 

Consider a few of the most well-known names like Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson.

Oprah Winfrey is the undisputed queen of personal branding. According to Forbes, she has a net worth of $2.6 billion and is constantly developing equity in her business.

Moreover, she has never drifted from her primary competency. That is: inspiring millions of people to live their best lives by realizing their full potential. She has encouraged millions to be their best selves by staying true to herself.

On the other hand, Richard Branson is without a doubt one of the most well-known, successful men on the planet. He has never swayed from his primary principles, which include adventure and risk-taking. 

Although, he has often done exactly what other business leaders have advised against. Which includes outrageous promotional stunts such as dressing up as a flight attendant for a rival airline. His unconventional style and dedication to his causes have helped him build a strong personal brand.

Therefore, Personal branding is the most effective way to establish yourself as an expert in a particular field. It helps you to take advantage of high-volume exposure while maintaining a clear focus on your company’s objectives, values, and ambitions.

Hence, having a well-established brand can help you gain new clients. Which will then make customers more inclined to buy from you if they are aware of your existence. It is important to choose the best agency that does branding for your business to ensure that your brand is established in the most effective and impactful way possible.

So, it fosters brand trust, loyalty, and community. This can lead to stronger customer relationships and greater business from repeat customers.

Why Is Personal Branding Critical For Freelancers?

The most difficult aspect of being a freelancer is finding work and, more importantly, finding the ideal clients with whom to work.

It’s difficult to convince clients that you’re a freelancer, not a ‘free’ lancer.

‘Personal branding’ is the key to unlocking the door to excellence. If you have the want to win, desire to achieve and attain your full potential as a freelancer. Here are some of the reasons why personal branding can help you achieve this :

1. Helps you get in touch with the ideal clients

2. It helps in building professional connections:  

3. Makes you stand out in a crowd

4. Provide you with better opportunities

5. Provides a competitive advantage: 

The freelancing market is flourishing, with more people joining as a full-time job or a side hustle. Hundreds of freelancers contact a client with a quotation when they post a project on freelance job marketplaces like Refrens. 

Besides, if you approach the same client by emphasizing your personal brand, the client is impressed. Branding yourself will make you stick out in the crowd, just as identifying a branded product in the market.

As a result, it is clear from the above points that a freelancer’s personal branding is essential to stand out and gain recognition. 

What Personal Branding Is Not & What It Should Be?

Your personal brand is your promise to the world and the marketplace. Everyone makes a promise to the world, having or not having a personal brand is a no-brainer. Everyone has at least one.

The true question is whether a person’s personal brand is strong enough to be important to both the individual and the market.

Here’s a list of things to think that personal branding isn’t about:

• It has nothing to do with what you say about yourself.
• It is not a reflection of your company’s image.
• It’s not just about power.
• It is not your social media presence.
• It’s not the way to become famous. 

Personal branding isn’t a new concept. It has always been a part of our lives. Branding existed long before it was even named. 

Furthermore, In 1997, Tom Peters, the man who popularized  the phrase “personal branding,” in an article for Fast Company titled “The Brand Called You” states: 

“We are the CEOs of our own businesses”  

“And if you’re very brilliant, you’ll find out how to stand out among all the other really smart people with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and polished resumes. If you’re really smart, you’ll figure out what it takes to carve out a distinct role for yourself along the road – you’ll establish a message and a plan to market a brand ‘YOU’.”

Therefore, you’ll need to put in some effort to gain a hold on your brand. You must dive deep to identify the distinct set of strengths, personal characteristics, and motivators that set you apart from your peers and competition.

Hence, that’s what personal branding should be about. 

Mistakes To Avoid While Building Your Personal Brand

You Have No Notion What Your Brand’s Mission Is

Building credibility will be difficult if you do not have a clear knowledge of your brand’s objective. People are drawn to brands because they can identify with them, resulting in a meaningful connection with their peers.

Therefore, whatever industry you’re in, having a clear vision of what your brand is renowned for is essential for cultivating beneficial partnerships and collaborating with other brands.

You’re Not Adding Any Value To The Table

Making sure the information you’re providing to your audience is valuable, relatable, and shareable is the next crucial pillar in developing a successful personal brand. It all boils down to the amount of value they provide to their community. 

Therefore, you should make your audience feel as if you care about them on a personal level. Your material should be : relatable, create a specific feeling/emotion, and assist others in overcoming a common problem or concern that you can assist them with.

You Don’t Have Enough Self-awareness

Gaining self-awareness is a big step in understanding who you are now and who you aspire to be. This is such a crucial aspect of your personal brand since staying consistent with your brand’s message will be tough if you lack self-awareness. 

Likewise, you need to discover more about yourself because the more you know about yourself, the more vulnerable you can be with your audience. As a result, people are motivated to learn more about themselves.

Your Brand & Business Aren’t In Sync

A personal brand may help you acquire more leads, affect more people, and become the industry leader.

In doing so, you must be consistent when creating a logo and building a brand.

While also helping you develop a long-term business and income stream.

Therefore, you’re wasting money, time, energy, fulfillment, and freedom if you’re not leveraging your personal brand for your business.

Moreover, people underestimate the value of a personal brand, but it might be just what you need to go from zero to six figures, seven figures, and beyond.

You’re Inconsistent

Being inconsistent with your content is one of the easiest ways to lose brand credibility and exposure. Not blogging for a few days or a week won’t hurt you as much if you’ve built your brand. 

However, consistency is one of the most successful and proven ways to gain more attention and growth on social media when you’re growing your brand.

Batching your information is the easiest way to overcome the problem of inconsistent posting.

Taking a few hours each week to focus solely on content development and planning is what batching your content entails. 

Additionally, You can also set aside time each day to produce and upload content, particularly for yourself.

Resources, Tedx Talks & Books That Would Help In Building Personal Branding 

Reinventing You, by Dorie Clark, is about aligning yourself with your professional goals. Some of the suggestions include:

• Creating a portfolio, getting ready for the role
• Developing your online and offline reputation
• Identifying mentors and many more. 

The LinkedIn for Personal Branding by Sandra Long is a seasoned LinkedIn and TEDx Speaker. It includes:

• Hundreds of real-life case studies submitted by LinkedIn users
• How to position yourself
• How to use endorsements to strengthen social ties. 

“The Brand You Podcast,”  hosted by Mike Kim. Discusses personal branding, your particular talent, and how to develop a highly profitable company.

Designing a purposeful personal brand by Tai Tran. It talks about how to create a distinct personality for oneself in TedxBerkeley 

Powerful Personal Branding by Ann Bastianelli in TedxWabash. It discusses how big brand marketing techniques help to develop one’s personal brand. She encourages people to think about how we are different and what we have to offer to every future chance.

Additionally, there are a variety of courses available on the following sites :

1. Strengthen your professional reputation on Udemy
2. Personal branding mystery on Udemy
3. The Power of Personal Branding on Skillshare
4. How to speak personally on Camera on Skillshare
5. Introduction to personal Branding on Coursera
6. Strategic Self-marketing and Personal Branding   On Coursera
7. Digital Body Language on Udemy
8. Digital Branding and Engagement  on Edx
9. Personal branding- Be seen as a celebrity in your niche on Udemy

It has programs from beginner to advanced, which will help you improve your personal branding game by providing you with all the necessary tips and techniques. Some of the courses are free, while others have a price associated with them.

Conclusion

Personal branding is essential for freelancers who want to advance in their careers:

• It distinguishes your expertise and your professional identity from the crowd
• Providing you an advantage over many other professionals  

Personal branding is more crucial than ever, whether you’re seeking a better career or thinking to launch yourself as a freelancer. It is not necessary to be any of the individuals named to build a strong personal brand.

It’s a matter of constructing and curating your internet presence, and staying authentic! In the long run, your honesty, transparency, and authenticity will set you apart. 

Are you thinking about creating a personal brand? Let us know what you think in the comments!