Oprah Winfrey. You must know who this is.
What about Elon Musk, Seth Godin, LeBron James, or Gary Vee Vaynerchuk? The list could go on and on.
They are popular people we’ve come to know and maybe admire.
All the names I’ve mentioned above are directly attached to a business, company, talent, or expertise.
When you hear Oprah Winfrey, your mind runs to a famous talk show; The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Elon Musk; Tesla, and lately, Twitter, Seth Godin; Marketing, LeBron James; Basketball, Gary Vee; Digital marketing and social media.
I know these people because they have tactfully crafted a specific and consistent message about who they are, what they do, and why it matters.
That’s personal branding at work.
What Is Personal Branding?
According to Wikipedia, personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning them as an authority in their industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, widen their circle of influence, and have a larger impact.
Some people confuse personal branding with self-promotion. However, the idea of personal branding is to stand for something greater than yourself and not for what you do for a living.
Personal branding goes down to the very specifics that make you who you are. For example; values, attributes, hobbies, challenges, and achievements.
It’s your story.
Personal branding holds incredible power. Your life can change in so many ways once you establish a unique personal brand.
Let’s look at some of the benefits of personal branding.
Here are 10 Benefits of Personal Branding
- You get recognition and respect
When done well, personal branding can help you reach thousands, even millions of people. Imagine having your ideas, expertise, and opinions spread all over the entire world.
That’s what happens when you put yourself out there. You have the ability to build your own tribe of people who believe in you and support you.
You become recognized among circles of top people in your industry and start receiving invitations to exclusive events, which brings me to the next point.
- You join new networks and social classes
Building a strong personal brand opens doors of networking and job opportunities for you. The more you share your expertise on a certain topic, people start to think of you whenever there’s an industry event.
This means that you also get to improve your social capital.
- You build confidence
Once you start getting invited to spaces of people you always admired, it’s a sign that you’re doing a great job. This encourages you to talk more about your area of expertise with a newfound confidence that someone is listening and cares about what you’ve got to say.
You develop your skills
Practice makes perfect. You may not achieve perfection, but you’ll surely improve your skills. Whether you write, design, speak or make videos, working on your personal brand will enable you to learn more about your skill and eventually become very good at it.
- You improve your self-esteem
Getting recognition or praise for your work feels good. Even better, it helps you kick out imposter syndrome and improves your self-esteem.
Once you become confident about who you are, you won’t be afraid to show up at family or friend gatherings again. You get a sense of increased value and worth.
- You build an online community
Today, community is more important than the number of followers you have. Community members believe in you, support you, and want to see you win. Explore what you need to be known for and start connecting with like-minded individuals.
- You get more opportunities
You are a few pieces of content away from landing a business deal or getting a consultancy contract. Building your personal brand not only builds your confidence but also opens your doors to more and more business or career advancement opportunities.
- You become more motivated
Once you start reaping some benefits of personal branding, you become more motivated and work even harder in order to attract more opportunities.
The harder you work, the more solid your brand becomes and the higher your chances of attracting more deals.
- You build trust with your audience
By sharing your story through different pieces of content and mediums, your audience becomes connected to you and learns to trust you.
You become the go-to for questions related to your industry. For example, when I want to learn something about social media my mind usually runs to Vanessa Lau’s YouTube channel.
- Your business starts to sell
Another reason you need to start building your personal brand today is to get more customers for your business.
People buy people. Your potential customers are more likely to buy if they know the person behind the brand.
Take Kylie Jenner for example. She was able to build Kylie Cosmetics from 0 to $900 million dollars because she was already known.
If you start publishing an article once a week today, in November 2023, you’ll have more inquiries and leads for your business than you have now.
- You can impact lives
Lastly, building your personal brand could be the beginning of another person’s career. If I hadn’t been introduced to people like Vanessa Lau, Marinna De Giovanni, Adam Enfroy, and Neil Patel, I would not be on the career path I’m on.
Vanessa made me love social media, and Marinna taught me how to build my first blog. She opened my doors to becoming a blogger. Adam helped me improve my blogging skills and Neil taught me a lot about Search Engine Optimization.
Most things I have learned were inspired by these people. Because they created content on YouTube, I found them, and they helped me find my dream career.
Conclusion
Building your personal brand has its disadvantages, but the pros outweigh the cons. You will have to join 2-3 social media platforms and create relevant content there. This might expose you to criticism, harassment, or even hate from strangers.
But I promise, if you remain consistent on your course, you’ll soon thank yourself for not giving up.
