Tips on Building a Personal Brand

Tips on Building a Personal Brand

After many years of building my brand, I am often asked for tips and advice on how I achieved this, as well as some of the things I would advise to help people avoid making some of the mistakes I made along the way. Recently, I was on Kathryn E. Strachan’s podcast, where we discussed this exact topic, which you can listen to in full here on Spotify.

In this episode, we explore how to stand out from the crowd when building your brand, a skill I have successfully employed over the years. Anyone can speak on a stage, on YouTube, or on any online platform; there are millions of people doing it, but how can you stand out?

One of the most important considerations when building a personal brand is how to stand out from the crowd. For example, I’m on a stage at a conference with 10 other speakers; how do I make myself stand out from the crowd?

I’ve made mistakes along the way, overstepping the mark, saying stuff to get a reaction that I probably shouldn’t have said, and being told I swear too much. I’ve had it all, but it was all done in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. I’m not advocating for extreme measures, such as swearing or using rude language, but it’s crucial to think creatively and stand out from the crowd. Below, I have provided some tips on actions you can take and considerations to help you avoid the mistakes I made.

Figure out what you want to be known for.

You need to first sit down and figure out what you want to be known for. Building a personal brand and being very generic like Mr Beast isn’t something that is easy to achieve; it is doable, but the reality is you want to be known for what you are good at first and foremost. For me, I aimed to establish a reputation for my expertise in SEO, business development, and online income generation, while ensuring my content was presented in a non-technical manner to avoid confusing others with technical jargon. I personally found it challenging to learn from people who often coined their own phrases and spoke incoherently. So my aim has always been to try and make it as easy to understand as I possibly can.

Be Loud and be Consistent

No-one ever built a personal brand by being quiet or polite. Look at any personal brand out there; very rarely will you find someone who is quiet, polite, and hiding in the background running with a positive personal brand. Consistency plays a massive part as well; putting yourself on as many different platforms as you possibly can is always a good thing to be doing. I don’t just post on LinkedIn or Twitter, speak at events, and create a tonne of YouTube videos by accident; it’s strategy, and you need to work hard and do it over a prolonged period of time to get your name out there and build up a following of people who like your content. It can be boring, and you may think no one is watching, but trust me, they are, even if quietly.

Consistency will always beat talent, so that part is the most important part; don’t get fed up and throw in the towel after a few weeks. Every single person who built their personal brand had times at the start where they asked themselves if this was worth it.

Document things; don’t pretend.

People can see through the “fake it till you make it” marketing. Prepare to document your journey; share your wins, losses, mistakes, and even experiences along the way. People will resonate more with this approach, and it is also an effective way to create content. Individuals appreciate a narrative and a journey, so consider incorporating that into your strategy.

Develop an opinion

A common mistake I see people making when building out their brand is that they are scared to have their own opinion. You can’t please everyone, so it’s pointless to try. Individuals may hold differing views regarding my SEO vision; it is unrealistic to expect universal approval of my perspectives. And those who value my opinion will follow, and those who don’t will move on and follow someone else. That’s how it works, but it allows you to automatically filter those people out of your ecosystem.

Show your Face

No personal brand was ever built without a face being put behind it. Your logo, website, and agency name are irrelevant; you are the brand, and you need to show your face. People buy into people, and it’s very hard to build trust when you are a faceless avatar. In your field, those who are doing well are showing their faces, so it’s time to show yours.

Make noise offline too

It’s not only about creating videos, speaking at conferences, or having a strong presence on social media; you can also obtain merchandise, sponsor events, and engage in many other offline activities that will contribute to your personal brand.

Have something to sell

There has to be a way of making money; otherwise, what’s the point in building a personal brand in the first place? It has to provide money in some way, shape, or form. You want to make sure that you turn this audience into cash, whether it’s done for you services, affiliate marketing, consultancy, courses, or whatever it may be. You have to figure out how you are going to monetise this. Surprisingly, many people build their brand first and only then attempt to figure out how to monetise it, which is quite foolish. Instead, plan this process in advance; it will yield better and faster results for you.

Always Evolve

If I were to continue doing client SEO over the years, I would have gone stale and would also have become boring and would have run out of content ideas. You have to evolve; technology changes, how we work changes, and how we make money changed for me too. I evolved from client work to mentoring, coaching, consulting, affiliate marketing, and so on. You have to be able to evolve and grow as your personal brand grows.

So these are some of my tips for building a personal brand; hopefully you can implement some of them and start building your personal brand today.