How Personal Branding Enhances Performance

A business no one is aware of is doomed to fail, since the ever-growing brand awareness is the key to generating new clients. Yet, there are several approaches on how to generate goodwill and good impression, to name a few:

• Traditional advertising: billboards, TV commercials, radio spots
• Content marketing: blog posts, articles, video, infographics, podcasts
• Social media marketing: organic content, paid ads, social media contests, influencer collabs
• Influencer marketing: sponsored posts, reviews, partnerships
• Email marketing: promotions, updates, sell-offs, newsletters, and other personalized content
• Search engine optimization: relevant keywords, optimized layouts, high-quality content
• Public relations: press releases, media interviews, guest blogging, industry awards
• Events & sponsorships: industry and local community events, trade shows, conferences
• Referral programs: rewards, discounts, and bonuses to clients for bringing more clients
• Personal branding: personal values, expertise, and personality

The list is far from being exhaustive, but for the purposes of this article, we don’t need to name all the approaches. Today, we are focusing on personal branding as a unique way to facilitate your brand recognition. We will explain the phenomenon, see what makes it special, and tell you how to use it the right way.

Definition of personal branding

Historically, many brands (especially in the automotive industry) were named after a certain individual, e.g., Ferdinand Porsche, Mercédès Jellinek & Carl Benz, Michele Ferrero, Eugene Kaspersky, Hideo Kojima. When browsing YouTube, you can find many influencers, using their aliases or even real names to stay recognizable. But isn’t it too risky to put the fate of a brand, channel, or any other enterprise in the hand of a single, even the most talented person?

Perhaps, but the reward is worth it. Whether the name is fake or real, it does make your brand to stand out. Take for example Attila O’dree, a renown affiliate marketer, who has a website called IAmAttila. His website is unique and easy to remember, because the person behind it has the same name. Moreover, the website is highly recognizable, thanks to the uniqueness of the person in charge.

Besides being unique and memorable, a personal-brand-based website is easier to register as a domain — all thanks to the name uniqueness. Just make sure to rent in advance all the adjacent domains, so that you don’t fall a victim to domain squatting.

Pros & cons of personal branding

Much like any marketing technique, personal branding has both advantages and disadvantages to it. We’ll start on the bright side and then descend into the darker realms of this phenomenon. Here are a few advantages to personal branding:

1. Distinctive identity — every person is unique, and personal branding capitalizes on this statement like no other technique is able to. Brand uniqueness is an asset you cannot buy, at least affordably, which is helpful to stand out of the competition.
2. Exceptional trust and credibility — customers can’t feel equal to a corporation or its representative. Status inequality can be detrimental to mutual trust, because the client and the company have different goals, needs, and fears. Personal branding allows you to get as close as possible to the end user to deliver the content of quality, showcase expertise, and demonstrate authenticity.
3. Increased visibility and opportunities — a strong person behind the brand is a powerful magnet, very few can resist. While increased sales are not guaranteed, various opportunities, like speaking engagements, partnerships, collaborations, media features, and new business prospects are almost certain.
4. Career facilitation — personal branding forces an individual to reveal themselves and their identity. This, in turn, can inform the others about one’s skills, accomplishments, and thought leadership.
5. Strong networking — The Godfather’s main character Michael Corleone said: “It’s not personal, it’s strictly business”. Yet there is always a room for exception, and personal branding is among them. Thanks to the personal touch, you can foster a very supportive network of contacts that would not be possible by conventional marketing means.

Now let’s talk about what’s on the flip side of the coin and why personal branding is not always achievable.

1. Time & effort — a brand’s reputation is difficult to build on its own, but when a single person is in charge of it — it’s even harder. Personal branding requires unwavering commitment and devotion.
2. Privacy exposure — personal branding is about revealing a large portion of one’s biography to the public. Having to share personal information constantly resembles an interrogation and can severely cripple one’s well-being.
3. Expectations & scrutiny — building a personal brand can lead to higher expectations from the audience and industry peers. Any infamous act of the brand persona has greater impact on the brand itself, which is a big concern, considering how fast the information spreads, and how abundant sins are these days.
4. Personal & public identities intertwined — it might be challenging to maintain one’s authenticity and brand perception with the borderline between personal and professional identities blurred.
5. Limited scalability — personal brand is inevitably attached to a single individual, which usually limits your scaling potential, particularly when you want to go beyond personal offers or just switch a niche.

If you have read these cons and are fine with them, then it’s high time to learn how to develop one’s personal brand.

Development of a personal brand

Personal branding is typically an integral part of online advertising, which is why you are going to need an online page, or better yet, a personal website. But long before that, you need to conduct marketing research — chances are you won’t have a second shot to make an impact. Here is a basic plan of what you need to do:

1. Define your values and purpose: you have a long road ahead, and it’s better to enjoy the walking on it. So, think about your motivators, goals, and principles; they also have to be aligned with the values of your target audience, if you want to conquer their hearts and minds.
2. Know your target audience: learn the needs, interests, demographics, and pain points of your target audience. This way, you will be able to achieve greater precision and customization with your marketing efforts.
3. Find your unique value proposition (UVP): answer honestly to yourself why should the end user even bother with you and your product. If you are not able to put yourself into the shoes of a brand ambassador, consider finding somebody who is a better fit. The good news is, with charisma (which can be developed) you can start attracting people, even if you have not earned the name for yourself yet — just look at the YouTube beginners.
4. Establish brand identity: ponder over the colors, design an impactful logo, pick some memorable set of fonts, and invest heavily into visuals that align with you and your brand. Don’t take this step lightly, as every color evokes different emotions — from passion to composure.
5. Build online presence: this is the stage where an empty social media profile or personal website will come in handy. Double-check your posts before publishing them, as every word said online may or will be used against you from now on. Your reputation is at stake and this is a very fragile asset.
6. Share valuable content: blog posts, articles, videos, posts, social media podcasts — are just a few types of content you can use to hook up your audience. Provide insights, tips, and solutions to address the needs and interests of your target audience.
7. Engage with your audience: let the users pose questions, vote for the content to be created, take part in the creation — make them feel involved and heard. Don’t forget to respond to their questions, so that your expertise and authenticity are always visible.
8. Network & collaborate: doing personal branding does not imply you are alone. In fact, attending industry events, joining professional organizations, and engaging in collaboration opportunities are all excellent ways to expand your network and amplify your brand reach.
9. Get feedback and adapt: not all the feedback is good for your business, so learning to distinguish the beneficial suggestions from faulty ones is another kind of art. Yet, you can’t simply ignore the desires of your audience, because they know better which type of content they want to consume.

Conclusion

Personal branding is a great marketing strategy that requires total commitment. It has pros & cons, and knowing them is the key to success. Personal branding requires some sacrifices, but on the other hand, any marketing strategy does the same. All the efforts put in this type of brand promotion are worth it, because it enables you to look like a peer to the end users, which is a hell of a boon to engaging the audience. A person behind the brand looks credible and amiable, compared to a faceless corporation.