In the past, branding was all about products and businesses. But the world of social media and the internet allows people to get to know the face behind the company. That is where you come in as an entrepreneur. Customers always like to know who they are buying their products. This is what makes a corner store so popular in a community. People know the store owner, and they trust him. What your personal brand does is make you the face of your business. If the customers trust you, they will give your products a chance. But building a personal brand is not easy. Here are some tips that should help.
Work On Your Looks
While it is unfortunate, people trust people who look good. You don’t have to be supermodel attractive, but your need to be presentable. Customers will trust your personal brand more if your image fits the brand. Properly groom yourself and get a nice wardrobe that first what you are selling. For example, if your company sells tech devices, then you should look cool and hip with some of your latest products on display. But a very important factor is to have a great smile. If your smile is crooked or something similar, then you can go to an orthodontist to help with that. A smile from you can go a long way when you are dealing with customers.
Create a Signature Image
As part of your personal branding, you should try your best to come up with a signature look. A good example of this is what Steve Jobs did with his style. He constantly wore his turtlenecks and had a specific style. It was so effective that people could immediately recognize him years after his death. Building up a signature look can have customers recognize you immediately you and your products. It can be a certain frame of glasses or a hairstyle but associating your personal brand with a distinct style makes it easier to remember.
Be Ready To Stand For Something
It is not just physical things that can define your brand. Having a set of principles can allow people to better identify with you. It can also define what sort of product you stand for. If you present yourself as hard-working and honest, your customers are going to expect that out of your business. Choosing the principles that you will present as dominant is easy. You have to ask yourself what motivates you and what gets you going every day. Look for positive sides to your personality and emphasize those. If you’re having trouble, ask friends and family for their personal opinion. The important thing is that you are known for your values and principles. Customers who believe in those will identify with you and your business.
Put Yourself Out There
To establish your personal brand, you need exposure in the wider world. You have to get the attention of people but positively. This is more difficult than you might think. You want good publicity so that your brand is associated with positive things. This means that attention-grabbing stunts are out. An entrepreneur’s more effective approach is to position yourself as an authority by posting on your blog and guest-posting on others. That is just the beginning of the public exposure that you need. You’ll need to make public appearances, get interviewed, and the like. Don’t just appear to promote yourself. That is a quick way to negative publicity. You need to offer value to your customers, and that means giving good advice and solid opinions.
Keep Track Of Public Opinion
You need to track the performance of your publicity efforts. Personal branding is all about creating an image for yourself, and you need to see whether it is effective. Monitor public opinion and pay attention to what people are saying especially negative comments. While being led by negativity is a bad idea, some of them might have legitimate criticisms of your personal brand that you should respond to. You should also assess your search engine rankings and how the public sees you. Surveys can help with this.
Building and maintaining a personal brand is full-time work. But you can’t deny the benefits. People are not very rational when they are shopping. Most of the time, they go with their feelings when they make a decision. They know what they need to buy, but they will usually go with their emotions if they have to choose between products. If your brand delivers a positive image, then that may decide the sale.
