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How focusing on brand ‘you’ can make your business more successful

If the saying ‘people buy people first, product second’ strikes a chord with you, you might want to start giving a bit more thought to how you market yourself. Or, in other words, your ‘personal brand’.

As a leader, it might seem a bit extravagant to focus attention on yourself; after all, it’s the company you want customers to do business with and your employees who deserve the limelight, right?

But with people increasingly choosing brands whose people they trust, it makes sense to balance raising your company’s profile with building your own.

Throwing aside modesty to grow your personal brand can make a significant difference to your customer base and turnover, so it’s important to give it proper consideration. But where do you start?

We’ve put together five questions to help you devise a personal branding strategy aimed at complementing and supporting your business’ success. 

• How do you want to be perceived?

As the figurehead for your company, the perceptions people have about you will often be what propels them to do business with your company over one of your competitors. Which qualities and attributes do you want people to associate with you when they see your face or hear your name? A passionate business champion? An expert in innovation? An advocate of workplace equality?

By being clear and open about your values and living and breathing them in every interaction, you’ll be able to build meaningful connections with and influence the right people.

• What unique value can you offer?

To successfully grow your personal brand, you need to understand what it is you can offer that others in your field aren’t or can’t. Whether it’s time, support or knowledge, taking the time to provide added value for the benefit of others can really pay off.

Perhaps you could deliver free expert talks, provide mentoring support to start-ups, or offer industry insight through a blog or LinkedIn Pulse articles? These may sound time consuming, but they are relatively easy to do – and if you successfully help someone with a problem they’re facing it could lead to a lucrative referral or a big client win.

• Who are you talking to?

Are you continually looking for opportunities to grow your network? Who’s following you on social media? If you have a specific area of expertise, are you being approached by the press for comment? If not, connect with journalists and volunteer your guest commentary as an industry leader.

Even when business is booming, it’s important not to be complacent when it comes to establishing and maintaining personal connections – seeking customer feedback, networking with your target market or peers and increasing your online audience can give you a sustainable competitive advantage.

You might not need more business right now, but investing in this type of ‘relationship marketing’ will keep your company at the forefront of new and existing customers’ minds.

• Where are you visible?

Are you attending the events your target market frequent? Industry or business networking events like those run by the Club offer a great opportunity to strengthen your personal profile.

If you’re not gaining visibility in the press, why not offer to take part in an expert interview or Q&A or contribute a guest post to a blog or publication your target market and peers read?

Are you actively engaging and contributing useful content to discussions and groups on social media? Social media provides huge potential to be seen and heard by stakeholders, partners, clients, investors and journalists. And the more visible and vocal you are, the more you’ll be seen as the go to leader in your field.

• What’s your online profile?

Your digital footprint can make or break your personal brand so be sure to keep up-to-date with what Google is saying about you. By taking some of the steps listed above, you can start to build a stronger, more positive profile – you might even consider setting up a personal website to showcase your portfolio. And if there’s anything particularly damning there, you can make a request for Google to remove it.

Consistency is also key. If you have multiple social media accounts, make sure your image and biography is the same across all professional platforms. It’s also worth triple checking your privacy settings to make sure prospective clients or partners don’t see anything too personal.

It takes time to build and maintain your personal brand, but by creating opportunities to market brand ‘you’, you will go a long way to humanising your business and building trust – which can only lead to great things for your company.