With the development of the 2.0 world, there is great concern about a concept that is becoming increasingly popular among us: personal branding.
Do you want to know how to differentiate yourself from other professionals in your niche? Do you want to make a name for yourself in an increasingly competitive market? Then keep reading. Below I explain what a personal brand is and how you can develop your own.
What is a personal brand?
The concept of personal brand refers to considering oneself as a brand. We can also say that a personal brand is your hallmark, that is, everything that is perceived of you.
What image do you show? Do you provide confidence and credibility to others? What does Google say about you when you do a search for your brand? What do you inspire in people?
The fact of leaving a mark on other people depends on many factors; from your professionalism, your charisma to how well you make others feel. Emotional intelligence is often associated with a strong personal brand. After all, that someone easily recognizes you and remembers you depends on how you impact people’s emotions.
This term of personal brand was devised by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, in the late 90s in the US and quickly spread throughout Europe due to the need to differentiate in a market where there is an excess of professionals. “A personal brand is what they say about a person when they are not in front” – Jeff Bezos.
Just as if it were the brand of a company, the personal brand must be created and developed with the aim of being different and recognizable in your market niche.
Why is it so important to have a personal brand?
Broadly speaking, we can say that having a personal brand will give you the option to stand out as a professional and have greater success in the world of work. But, do we go into a little more detail?
- You stop being one more and become the leader of a niche. This allows you greater differentiation and opportunities in a competitive environment.
- Credibility. It is not an easy path to be considered as a reference or expert in your sector, but if so, that will generate trust and credibility in your target audience.
- Recognition. The fact of impacting others will make you occupy a privileged place in the minds of other people.
- Self-employment and greater professional opportunities. The fact of having a well-developed personal brand will make you recognized by a fairly wide audience. This will allow you to attract customers very easily if you want to start your own business, or greater opportunities for collaboration with other professionals or companies.
How to develop a personal brand?
I prefer to talk about developing a personal brand instead of creating it. Why? If we take as a basis that our personal brand is our “identity”, that is something that we cannot create, we are all born with one, what we need to do is develop it to strengthen or improve it. Each person has their own personal brand, but not all want to or are able to develop it.
In the 2.0 world, having a good personal brand is an advantage at a professional level, but… will it become a requirement for many large companies? I think so. So let’s see some aspects to take into account to develop your personal branding:
1. Define a strategy
First of all, do you have a clear strategy that you are going to follow?
The most important thing is to define which market niche you are going to target and establish the objectives you want to achieve. Would you be able to answer the following points?
- Why you want to develop your personal brand
- Which audience you want to target
- Where you want to go professionally
- What message you want to convey
- What resources you need to achieve it
- What channels you want to use
2. Choose the name of your brand
You can use your first and last name, a combination of both or simply your nickname or a name you have invented. The most important thing is that it is a name with which you identify and with which they can easily recognize you.
If you already have it in mind, register it and don’t wait for someone to take it! Registering a domain name will help you protect your brand on the Internet and prevent others from misusing it.
Consider the possibility of registering more than one domain extension. For example, if you move in a digital environment, the .DEV domain can be a good differentiating aspect, although registering a .com and .es will also help you prevent others from getting your name with questionable intentions.
3. Have an online presence
Although it seems obvious, you need to be on the Internet so that people can find you. Third-party platforms such as social networks are very good for creating community and making yourself known, but having your own space is essential to capture and publicize the identity of your brand.
Creating a website and a blog are essential to position your brand on Google, but also to publicize your best work, create content and share your knowledge. Think that your website will be your showcase, so you must take care of it as it deserves.
4. Take care of your online reputation
Online reputation is the reflection of your brand on the Internet. Keep in mind that this reputation or prestige does not depend solely on you, but also on the opinions that others generate about you. Many of the elements that intervene in the online reputation escape our control.
This does not mean that we should not take action on the matter. The ideal is to do a digital reputation audit through a series of searches on the Internet. For example, you can start searching by your name, add the word “opinions” or keywords of your sector. What are they saying about you? What are your weaknesses? In what aspects do you stand out?
Once you gather all this information and know what negative points affect your personal brand, get to work. Some of the actions you can take to improve it are:
- Be more human: With this I mean that you are closer, that you interact with your community and get closer to your followers. This will generate greater credibility and trust.
- Accept negative opinions: And learn from them. You learn from everything negative, so fit the comments they make about you and understand what has led those users to have that opinion about you.
- Relate to other professionals in the sector: You are not alone. Try to create relationships with other experts and collaborate with them. Creating content on their blogs or some collaboration on a podcast will help you to make yourself known and improve what others think about you.
- Take care of your social networks: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have become the main communication channels between brands and users, in addition it is very easy to measure how much and how they talk about you. Think that everyone is in them, so you should be too. Dedicate time to them, participate in conversations and carefully select the content you want to share.
4 mistakes you should avoid
When we talk about developing a personal brand, it is also necessary to mention some very typical errors that, due to impatience or ignorance, could be limiting our scope.
- Improvise your personal brand: Do not make the mistake of not planning your actions. Everything must have a reason. Create an editorial calendar, style guides, generate reusable design resources… Never underestimate the value of a personal brand and measure the actions as if it were your favorite sports brand.
- Don’t obsess over the results: When you develop a personal brand, you must be aware that the results do not come overnight. It requires work, effort and perseverance, without it it is impossible to start noticing the results.
- Try to please everyone: Don’t try to do it because you’re never going to get it. The important thing is to find a suitable niche in which you can grow your personal brand.
- Think that social networks are enough: No, never. As we have already seen, having your own domain name and a website or a blog will help you to capture your brand, use your colors, your design… your talent!
Now I leave the stone on your roof. Don’t keep wasting time playing Fortnite!
