In the previous post (http://www.nerveng.com/why-you-need-a-strong-personal-brand-and-how-to-build-one-part-one/) we established how important personal branding is and why you need it. The question is, how do you build a personal brand? How do you become more recognised? How do you build your authority and your following?
Here are five tactics for building and strengthening your personal brand.
1. Determine Your Area Of Expertise
What would you like to be known for? The world of personal branding is flooded with competitors, so it isn't enough to choose a general field like "marketing" or "coaching." Instead, it's best to develop yourself in a very specific niche. Focusing on a particular niche, will create more opportunities to prove you know what you're talking about, and while your potential audience might be slightly smaller, it will also be that much more relevant.
2. Understand Your Authentic Self
Your brand should be a reflection of who you are. What do you believe? What do you stand for? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Never forget -- people connect with other people not products or services. If you don't appear to be a real person, or if it just looks like you're faking it, how likely do you think others are to trust you? People do business with who they know, like and trust. Even if they do buy into your fake persona for a while, the slightest bit of inconsistency could prove catastrophic.
3. Speak At Events
Speaking engagements are opportunities to be seen and heard. Start small, and keep building. You may not land high-quality speaking engagements off the bat, but if you keep swinging, you'll build your following and get invited to speak at bigger, more notable events and conferences. Speak from a place of knowledge and power. Show that you know what you're talking about, and answer questions in a way that serves your audience.
4. Build Your Online Presence
Content is the fuel for your personal brand, and social media is the engine. Take the time to flesh out the details of your social media profiles, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and make sure they're consistently in line with your personal brand standards. This gives you considerably more control over your online presence.
5. Build Relationships
On social media and in the real world, the key to growth in your personal brand is networking. Nothing is more powerful in building your career brand than what your network of contacts — your friends, colleagues, customers, clients, and former bosses — say about you and your set of skills, education, and accomplishments. Engage with other individuals in your field, social influencers. Attend professional networking events to meet influencers in your area, and in the online world, engage in community discussions whenever you can. The more opportunities you have to meet people and talk, the better for your brand.
Once you identify and build your brand, remember, the key is to continue strengthening and protecting it. As you continue to develop your personal brand, stay consistent with your efforts, pay close attention to how your audience responds to your content, and keep moving towards your direction until your focus is crystal clear. The more you do to cultivate your career brand, the more successful you’ll be at building a strong personal brand.
Leave a comment below to share your experience building your personal brand.
Thanks for reading