What is personal branding? (And how to create yours)

Whether you know it or not, everyone has their own brand. After all, it's all about how others perceive you. Fostering a positive reputation can positively affect this perception, while a negative reputation has the opposite effect. So, if everyone already has a personal brand, why focus on building or rebuilding yours? Well, just like public relations, you can intentionally develop your personal brand to portray who you are to the professional world, which can help you connect with others with a similar mindset and open up new opportunities.

Why is building a personal brand important?

Before launching into rebranding or building your personal brand, it might be helpful to learn why you might want to do this in the first place. Here are some ways that creating a personal brand that reflects your values, experiences, and beliefs can help you in the professional realm:

• Helps to distinguish yourself from other candidates: When job searching, it can be easy to get lost in the numbers as companies often receive dozens, if not hundreds, of job applications for an open job. Developing a personal brand that separates you from the crowd can help you stand out to potential employers, increasing your chances of landing that interview.
• Increases likelihood of receiving new opportunities: When you put yourself in front of those who have influence within an organization, you might receive an influx of new opportunities. Companies may see those with a large audience as a way to reach new target consumers, which can benefit your brand even more.
• Enhances your credibility: Establishing a strong, well-known brand improves your authority in your niche, which can enhance your credibility with the audience. For example, having a brand that focuses on promoting work-life balance while also having a background in something like psychology or human resources can support your claims.
• Expands your network: As you gain a larger audience, you have the potential to expand your professional network as well. Connect with people in new niches by creating career profiles on professional sites so employers can find you. This way, you'll build a varied network that you can use to your advantage in the future.

"Understanding that your personal brand is just a reflection of who you are can help you take the right steps to build it and reach those you want to impact or help."

How to build a personal brand

Building your personal brand doesn't require a huge investment in changing your lifestyle or adding new things that aren't sustainable for you in the long run. It all begins with self-reflection, which can help you really define your purpose and envision what you want your personal brand to look like. From there, it's just a matter of reinforcing that brand in your social media, content creation, and life in general. Here's a detailed breakdown of what you can do to help build a strong personal brand.

Discover your purpose

Finding your purpose and the impact you want to make on your audience can help you create unique and specialized content. People enjoy new types of content over iterations of past trends. To help you find your purpose, it's essential to take some time and reflect on yourself, your values, what brings you joy, and how you want to help others. During a quiet moment, ask yourself questions such as who you want to help or how your experience can help others to guide you toward finding your purpose.

Connect your goals to your ideal company

Connecting yourself and your values to the company you want to work for or already work for can help you advance your career and establish your authority in your niche. For example, you work for a company that creates high-performing SEO content for a manufacturing company. This helps educate the target audience about manufacturing practices and the company's products. Having this experience in your toolkit can help you speak to your audience about creating SEO content, manufacturing practices, or even safety in the workplace, as all of these already relate to what you do every day.

If you want to connect with a company during your job search and they are a publishing company in the fantasy fiction realm, incorporating your values to mesh with theirs can help you stand out as an ideal candidate. Maybe you post book reviews about fantasy books or create content about how to maintain a personal life while creating content. This supports your own values while also addressing the company's.

Reflect on your target audience

Your target audience is perhaps one of the most important aspects to consider when developing your personal brand. After all, they are who you want to connect with and are the ones who can help you build your reputation. Considering your content strategy and social media content with them in mind can help you reach that audience.

For example, say your target audience is parents with young children. Creating content such as how to travel abroad on a budget or blogs describing your crazy nights out might not appeal to that target audience. Instead, creating content around topics such as fun things to do with the family for free in your area or ways to network with other parents can help you reach this target audience.

Increase your visibility

The digital age is here and is not going away anytime soon. That means that technology and social media are your friends if you want to increase your visibility. Portfolios, blogs, and social media accounts all contribute to your visibility and can further establish credibility in your niche.

Saying you're a content marketing expert means nothing if you don't have an easily accessible portfolio to support that. The same goes for creating content in any niche; people want to see your experience rather than just relying on your word. Social media also lets your audience better connect with you because you become more than just a face on a screen.

Adjust as needed

Flexibility doesn't mean caving to every trend just to get in front of people. Adjusting and remaining flexible with your personal branding means being able to tinker with how you voice your brand to stay true to who you are, just with better reach to your audience. For example, if you market yourself on social media and that isn't reaching the audience you want, finding the platforms your audience interacts with and adjusting your approach gives you the flexibility you need without compromising your brand.

Example personal branding statements

Here are some examples of personal branding to consider:

Example 1

You have five years of experience managing your company's social media accounts — in the accounting and finance industry — and want to help other companies do the same. Create a brand statement such as "I can teach finance firms how to expand their reach on social media to reach their target audience and improve revenue streams." Because you have years of experience doing just that for a finance company, your audience is more likely to trust your statement and take your advice.

Example 2

With 12 years of experience in the technical recruiting space, you want to help other job seekers improve their chances of landing an interview with a tech company. Your brand statement might be "Helping new information technology graduates find and land their dream jobs." Having 12 years of experience finding candidates just like those you want to help can improve your credibility and reach your target audience — new information technology graduates.

Understanding that your personal brand is just a reflection of who you are can help you take the right steps to build it and reach those you want to impact or help. Fostering a positive reputation in your niche and creating a diverse network are two ways to do just that.

More tips on creating your personal brand

Need help talking about your brand? Storytelling is an essential part of creating your brand and learning how to tell your story can help people connect with you.

Want to extend your brand into the creative space? Seeking a creative career can help you develop a strong creative background that also brings you joy.