4 Steps to an authentic and revenue-generating personal brand
4 Steps to an authentic and
revenue-generating personal brand
March 7, 2019
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Personal Branding is all about you, right? Or is it? That tends to be the really big question. How much do we share? What do we share? What actually makes up a personal brand?
Personal branding is super hot right now and with good reason, but people struggle all the time with what does a personal brand actually mean? How much do we share? And I really want to lay it out for you in today's blog post.
Through showing up as my true self, I have been able to create a six-figure business in the online space and work with women every single day to lay a strong foundation, tap into their authenticity so that they can show up and make money doing what they truly love to do.
So today I want to break it down for you into some really actionable steps you can walk away, implement and start seeing your personal brand take form. There are four parts to a strong, captivating personal brand and I want to kick it off with a number one, my personal favorite.
1. Your Story
The first thing you really need to do as a personal brand is to actually identify your story. You need to identify the reason behind your brand. You need to identify the mission behind your brand and tap into the different ways that your story, your personality brings that to life.
One of the things that separate a personal brand from a regular brand is the personality behind it and so you want to be able to input you into everything that you do in the online space and there's no better way to do that and set yourself apart from other people than by tapping into your story.
I highly recommend looking at your business, looking at the brand that you want to create, and then look back at your story.
There are various chapters to see which ones connect to where you are now. This is going to help you get started and actually sharing your story in the online space and start to build that trust, like and know factor with your audience.
2. Your Superpower
Now I'm a big fan of the idea of a superpower because this is your little bitty specific niche that sets you apart from everyone else that makes you so irresistible. So for me, my superpower is my ability to support women and help them tap into their story.
Storytelling and branding is what I love to do. Every program, every video, every everything that I talk about always talks about story.
And so you want to find your superpower and you want to play this up through your personal brand. Make this a core element of your brand so you become that person, that go to person in the industry where people are referring you. “Girl, you want to know a story about branding? Go talk to Michelle”. That's ultimately what you want.
3. Know your audience
The third thing that you need to know is who the hell you're talking to. You cannot create a personal brand or you cannot show up in the online space if you don't know who you want to attract to that personal brand. Yes, a big part of branding is you, yourself. That's the big part of the personal brand, but if you cannot effectively communicate to your audience because you don't know who your audience is, then your personal brand will continue to just be you. There will be no community or fans around your personal brand.
So you really need to get in touch with who your audience is. Now, I'm a crazy person for market research. I love it, till the day that I die, it will be my best friend and I encourage you to do the same. But market research does not have to be scary. It can be as simple as having some conversations with people, creating a poll, emailing your list. If you have a list, just even five people and asking them some questions that are gonna help you get in touch with who they are, what they're struggling with, what they desire, and what's keeping them from the life that they dream of.
4. Messaging
And the fourth piece of defining a personal brand comes down to the communication or messaging. Now this is the last piece because you literally can not have this piece until you have one, two, and three.
So just a reminder, number one is your story. Number two is your superpower. Number three is who you're talking to. And now it's about how do you communicate who you are to your audience. In a way that has them wanting to take action.
A lot of people refer to this as the communication or the messaging. At the end of the day it's you showing up talking about what you do in a way that is appealing to your audience.
So I get this question a lot. “How much do I share?” “What parts of my story do I share?” And this is the communication component.
If you have a piece of your story that you think is really amazing, but you cannot connect that to your audience, it's not the right time to share that.
So some of the key things that I love to ask myself are, is this valuable to my audience?And what kind of value do they get?
This allows me to make sure everything that I'm creating with my personal brand, every way that I'm communicating it through my marketing, my email and my social media is always going to resonate with my audience. This is the key.
Make sure your messaging is clearly communicating the benefit of working with you, of your service, of your product, with your audience so they can really see themselves in the outcome of your product.
Now you understand what is needed to create a strong personal brand. It really comes down to these four pieces and I encourage you to take the time to dive into those pieces.
I love talking about storytelling. I love talking about marketing. If you want some more marketing tips that apply to you actually showing up and sharing your personal story then I encourage you to sign up for my free masterclass. I’m sharing How to Build a Better Brand.
If you want to get your hands on that, head to brandmerry.com/brandmasterclass.
Please share your biggest takeaways from this blog post and how you’re going to implement this information in your own business!
P.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.
