Well, friends, this has been a fun series, but I feel like it’s time to wrap this puppy up!
Let’s have a look back and talk about what we’ve learned.
1. Defining your Personal Brand. I define “personal brand” as your business’ personality. What is the face you present to the world? Is it professional? A bit quirky or cheeky? What’s your field of expertise? How do you “humanize” your brand? You’ll be successful if you can create relationships with people, and in order to do that, you need to be a real person that your audience can relate to. You can find some tips and exercises about how to define your personal brand in three words here.
2. Setting some goals. What’s it all for? Fame and fortune?? Yeah, okay, we all want that, but there has to be some bigger-picture stuff as well. Your goals cannot conflict with your most precious values, or else you’ll feel torn and stressed. You can read more about goal setting and defining your purpose here.
Next, let’s look at some tools for building your personal brand:
Social media: it’s what I write about, so it goes without saying that, in order to build a personal brand, you need to be online. That means having a Facebook business page, or at least opening up your personal account to subscriptions. You need a twitter account, and probably a YouTube channel and and Instagram account. Read more here.
Traditional media: Traditional media can get you exposure in a hurry. Can you get yourself onto the local morning news? Get yourself established as an expert in your field, and see if you can get interviewed by your local radio, television or newspaper. Alternatively, try HARO. Read more here.
Blogging: for my money, blogging is the best way to build a personal brand and establish yourself as an expert in your field. It’s the best marketing device I have ever used. Not a writer? Try a podcast or a vlog instead. Read more here.
Becoming a speaker: Getting out on the speaking circuit is a great way to get exposure to hundreds and maybe thousands of people. Put together a keynote, and do some research on conferences happening in your area. Then make sure you get video of you giving your speech so you can further market it. Read more here.
Write a book: Who wouldn’t like to have the moniker “author” behind their name? Writing a book is not as difficult as it used to be. Read more here.
There you go! Thanks for coming along, and now get out there and take over the world!