A personal brand is the result of the branding process. Personal branding is a creative process intended to attract your dream clients to work with you. It gives your business a face, a story that is relatable, and a character that people can connect to and eventually want to work with. The process of personal branding process takes time and resources but adds a lot of worth to your business and ensures that you get more clients.
In this article, I’ll be discussing the essential elements you need to look at when branding or rebranding yourself.
1. Brand Identity
What makes a brand identity strong is shaped and defined by being clear on who you are, your purpose, and how you define and serve your dream clients. Your brand identity a.k.a. how you want to be perceived is shaped by who you are, your purpose, and your ideal client. Being clear on who you are, your intentions, and who you want to serve goes a long way for your service-based business.
Personality
Your unique personality is a huge part of who you are and you can leverage it in attracting your dream clients to work with you. If you only think business is business, think again. Business is also a personal babe. Clients want to work with a human they can relate to and connect with. Think of a personality type of yours that you want to come out of your brand.
Are you a driven, ambitious, alpha female type or are your clients attracted to working with you because you’re warm and nurturing?
Your Purpose, Mission & Values
You went in business for a reason, right? I bet it’s not just to make money but rather a need to fulfill your purpose in life. If you are not sure of your purpose, take this brand archetype test here – www.kayeputnam.com/brandality-quiz
Take efforts to get clear on your mission, vision, and values. Your vision is the end goal or transformation you want to create. Your mission is the process of that transformation. Your values are what guide your business. What do you believe to be true about the world and how do you want to make an impact.
Client Avatar
The secret sauce to brand loyalty is knowing whom you are selling to. You have brand/s that you keep coming back to I bet, am I right? This is because you feel like they have thought of you as if they know you very well in terms of what you want. The same is true for service clients, don’t try to serve everyone because not everyone is your client. Trust me on this, you want to avoid working with bad clients. So, defining your dream client and knowing what they want is a great start so you can formulate a perfect solution for them.
Brand Visuals
Your personal brand needs to look appealing to your dream client. To do that, you need to create a visual representation of who you are that connects with them. Are you using the right colors, fonts, images that portray your personality? Talk about what is it about you that people will remember. It could be your logo, color scheme, fonts, brand images, or your own photos. Check out my blog on Parts of Branding here.
2. Brand Positioning
Brand positioning isn’t just a fancy term for big businesses, nor competing products on a store shelf. Solopreneurs like you will also benefit from creating one.
What you offer – and how you offer it
This is less about what you offer and more about how you offer it. This is known as Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Unless you have a service that you exclusively developed and offer, then what you need to highlight is your way of working that is valuable to the client and distinct from your competitors. This is where you get to show how passionate you are about your business and giving great client service. Are you a graphic designer whose turnaround period is a bit shorter than your competitors? Or are you a baking homepreneur who offers same-day delivery services for your lactation cookies? Styled Web’s UVP is creating a brand style that is aligned to who you are and your ideal clients.
3. Brand Messaging
Messaging defines what and how you will communicate to your dream client. You need to have a compelling brand message that will not only catch their eye but stop what they’re doing and drive them to learn more about you on your website or social media channels. Your brand message should reflect what you do, who you do it for, as well as your personality and values.
How you introduce yourself
Having a tagline can do wonders for your business. An effective tagline helps people remember what you offer. Ideally, your tagline should be short and mention what you do to help people.
For example, for me, it’s “Showcase your brand online with Style”.
If you think a tagline isn’t for you, then try thinking of an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a one-sentence introduction that tells people about your service. Here’s mine:
“I’m Jephany Barut and I help female entrepreneurs showcase their business online with STYLE”.
Here it says who I am (Jephany Barut), what I do (help Female Entrepreneurs showcase their business online), and what I value and offer that’s different from other web designers (STYLE).
How you communicate
Having a defined brand language and voice helps you deliver your message persuasively. Brand language refers to the type of words you use in your message. Voice refers to the nature of communicating that message. It’s either serious, fun, or warm and helpful. Use which is most authentic to who you are.
4. Brand Story
Your Why
“Why are you offering your service?”
Your “Why” is your brand story, or why you built your business. Usually, you’re why is driven by a passion to solve a particular problem, that either you, your friends, or your family encountered. It also tells people what you value and believe what is true.
Sharing your brand story not only helps your audience get to know you more but what you offer and why they should choose you over others. It tells them that you can relate to them and understand them, so they can seek you out to help them address their own needs.
My “Why” is driven by my passion for web design and development and desire to help female entrepreneurs stand out online with memorable branding and web design. Before pursuing my passion, I worked in a 9-to-5 banking job that I didn’t love. My passion allows me to live out what I value, which is connecting with and helping empower women to take control of their own business and working using my creative juices while managing my own time.
Sharing my “Why” helps me connect to fellow females who have their own businesses and believe that standing out online is key to expanding and achieving success as entrepreneurs.
5. Brand Visibility
Now that you’ve worked on the different elements of your brand, you need to launch it! Having a logo, a website, and creating a presence in social media channels is a must for your brand. Additionally, you can also make printed marketing materials so that you can expand your brand’s visibility offline.
How do you want to be known, what is your medium of showing up of marketing yourself?
Conclusion
In truth, there are many more elements that make up a personal brand. The bigger the business, the more elements there are. But for service-based solopreneurs like you who are new to personal branding, having these essential elements set in place will help you build and expand your business.
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