Put A Little You In Your Marketing
Whether you're in sales or marketing, your success is largely determined by how well you identify and address customer needs. On the other hand, customer needs are always changing. With so many variables involved, one can easily become overwhelmed and unable to provide solutions that are truly effective. One of the best solutions for combating this challenge is to include a little of yourself in your marketing strategy… with your personal branding!
This blog post will explore why personal branding should be an integral part of any business' marketing plan, as well as give some tips on how to do it correctly. We'll also take a look at whether personal branding will actually be worth the time investment for your company's overall financial health.
Why Is Personal Branding Vital for Your Marketing Strategy?
As a marketing strategy, personal branding is a relatively new concept. While its power and importance can't be denied by any company that has recently seen success with it, it also hasn't been around long enough to have solidified itself as THE most effective solution for attracting new customers. It's worth taking a look at some of the top reasons why personal branding is effective:
Nowadays, many customers prefer to buy from an individual rather than a faceless corporation. Personal brands allow you to cultivate the feeling of one-on-one communication between your potential customers and your business.
Personal brands are more memorable and creative. Rather than creating a generic look that's applied to all of your marketing efforts, you have the ability to create a unique brand that truly represents your business.
Successful companies are starting to realize the importance of human-to-human interactions, not just with customers but also with their employees. An effective personal brand allows you to share your image and personality with other people, which increases the possibility of attracting new employees by 15% (Statista). By cultivating a strong brand and marketing it effectively, you can play an influential role in how your company is perceived by others.
Personal branding allows you to control your public image. If you're a smaller business that has just started to gain momentum, it's sometimes difficult to determine how you want your customers to perceive your business. By creating a strong brand, you'll be able to maintain a consistent image for your company, which will make it easier for new customers to recognize and respect your company. For example, a personal brand can help you keep an up-to-date look and feel that complements the latest trends in marketing (which change very quickly).
Personal branding allows greater awareness of what your business actually does. It's important for businesses to understand the difference between the products and services it sells, as well as how it's perceived by others. By creating a personal brand profile and getting to know your customer base, you will be able to make yourself more recognizable. It also allows you to identify your strengths and interests that can be used in different situations (such as on social media) or when talking with customers.
Another great benefit of personal branding is the increased variance in customer loyalty that can result from cultivating a strong image and a brand. According to research conducted by Hubspot, 67% of customers are less likely to abandon an account because they had a bad experience with the brand. However, this high loyalty doesn't necessarily depend on the company's overall brand popularity; it also depends on how well the company understands its customers and what they want.
How To Use Personal Branding Effectively
Looking to get started with personal branding? You've come to the right place. With this blog post and my previous article, you'll be able to create a strong brand for your business quickly and efficiently. In this section, I'll share some tips for how to maximize the potential of your personal branding strategy:
1) Create a strong brand around something that matters. Some people choose to develop personal brands around their interests or passions, while others choose an image and personality that helps them stand out from their competitors. Either way, you are better off if your brand relates to a specific activity or skill, rather than your general personality.
2) Use a consistent brand look and feel. Rather than creating multiple identities for each of your marketing platforms (such as a personal blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account), working towards a single consistent look and feel will help customers recognize who you are once they first encounter your brand.
3) Think about how you want to be perceived when others talk about you and use appropriate language when sharing information on social media or in writing messages to customers. This is a great opportunity for personal branding. If you want to share your personal brand, you can…
4) Lead by example. If you write a blog post or make a statement on social media about how being a customer-centric business will benefit your company, others may see this as an opportunity to learn more about the company and see that it really does care about its customers.
If you have questions about which approach would be better for your company, feel free to leave a comment below! I'll be happy to help.
Get More Help With Your Personal Branding Strategy
As you can see, personal branding is an incredibly effective marketing strategy. But the best time to get started is while your company is still relatively small and inching towards success. In order to begin implementing personal branding, we recommend taking the following steps:
1) Form a Vision: Before you can start working on a personal brand for your business, you need to have a vision for where it's going. This may seem obvious, but it's unfortunately common for small business owners to lose sight of their vision after they've begun experiencing success with their business. To avoid this, set aside a few hours each week to clarify your vision.
2) Get To Know Your Customers: The experiences you have when making a sale are much different than the interactions you have with your customers through social media. By taking the time to get to know your customers and what they want, you can begin creating a personal brand that you can use in multiple situations without needing to make significant adjustments.
3) Create Your Personal Brand: Once you've completed your research, it's time to develop strategies for how you want people to perceive your business. The best way to do this is by creating a strong brand for yourself and for your company. This means that you should spend time thinking about your brand's personality and how you want to be perceived. It also means creating a consistent look and feel for your brand so that other people will recognize it when they first see it (or hear about it).
4) Focus on Your Strengths: Now that you know your business's strengths and weaknesses, as well as what you're passionate about, you can begin thinking about how to create a personal brand that effectively markets these strengths. This is also a great opportunity for personal branding, since customers are more likely to remain loyal if they enjoy their interactions with the company and if they agree with its overall mission statement.
Conclusion: The Importance of Personal Branding
As you can see, personal branding offers a tremendous opportunity for small businesses to become more recognizable and create a unique image for themselves. If you're ready to get started, consider the guidelines I shared above and commit to developing a strong personal brand as soon as possible. In the next section of this blog post, I'll share three tips that will help you get started with creating your personal brand.
Personal Branding Tips: 3 Ways To Get Started
1) Create a Vision: You need to have a clear vision of who your ideal customer is and what he or she wants from your business.