Best Practices for Creating Your Personal Brand

Why does having a personal brand matter? 

A personal brand is one way to ensure that you stand out from the crowd and grow your business. It is also your voice and your reputation that draws attention and determines whether you will gather leads or get recruited by a prospective employer.  

In short, your brand is a representation of your values and what you stand for as an organization. If not set up right, people may run far away from you if they detect anything phony, whether intended or not. 

So what can you do to ensure you get your brand right? Well, let’s go over some of the best practices for creating your personal brand.

Define Your Mission

First thing’s first: what is your mission or goal? Moreover, what is it that you want to accomplish, do, or provide as an organization? Define what your values are and what you stand for. Keep it as simple as you can, and try to narrow down the main focus of your brand. If you don’t have a vision in mind, your brand won’t have much of a voice or purpose.

Define Your Audience

Once you’ve defined your mission statement, identify who your target audience is. Don’t say everyone because not everyone will want what you have to offer. Think about who needs or wants the services or products you’re offering. After all, those are the ones you want to be targeting, as they are the most likely to want to do business with you. 

Be Genuine

Ask yourself, “what kind of personality do I want my brand to have?”

Your values, beliefs, strengths, and skills should be reflected as part of your brand and will make you more authentic to your audience.

As you create your brand, you want to show that you’re out to benefit your targeted audience and that you understand their needs. You can be relatable by showing or sharing personal experiences that will tell your audience you’ve been through their situation. With that said, share your strengths. Let them know that you are an expert in what you do. 

Lastly, avoid mimicking other brands and sounding like a robot. You want to sound like a human, and your brand needs to be unique from all the rest. Otherwise, your audience may not trust you or have a reason to pick you over someone else. Ask yourself, “what do I have to offer that no one else has?” What will people gain from you? Or how will they benefit from what you have to offer? Answering questions like these can help you to figure out what sets you apart from your competitors.

Create a Unique Logo

A unique logo is an excellent way of standing out. It summarizes not just what your brand is about but its personality and voice, too. It is a simple method that will enable your audience to connect with you and establish some form of trust. Your logo should be professional, memorable, and describe, in some way, who you are as a brand.

If you need to create one, there are free and easy-to-use tools like Canva that can help you make a professional and unique logo for your brand.

Use Relevant Keywords for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Try implementing relevant keywords that match what your brand is about and what your target audience is likely to search on the internet.

Using keywords relevant to your personal brand will help you to rank higher on search engines and enable them to identify topics in your content. These topics help search engines to know what information to list based on a user’s search query. The more relevant your content is to a user’s search query, the higher your chance of them finding your brand.

Network

Even after creating your personal brand, people won’t know it exists unless you talk about it. Networking gives you an advantage in that it’s a much faster way to grow your following rather than letting it sit and hope that some lucky person finds it.

Using an electronic business card is a great way to network. Not only can you share your contact information, but you can add your social media links, websites, and anything else you want them to see. It is quick and easy to share. 

For example, our smart business card enables you to share your brand and gather leads quickly. All you need to do is whip out your card and have the other person scan it with their smartphone. A link will appear on their screen and will take them directly to your profile once they select it. There is no need for the other person to download an app or for you to hand out costly, printed paper copies of your business card.

It’s also important to note that the actual process of creating your personalized electronic business card with Linq is quick and easy to do. Setting up your account is also free! And we can help you get started with our recent post detailing how to make a digital business card.

Finishing Up

Whether you are looking to impress recruiters or reach your targeted audience, creating your personal brand the right way will set you up for success. 
Need somewhere to begin? Start growing your brand by checking out our free Linq app today!