As a business owner, you must develop and manage your own personal brand. You may believe you're pitching your investors, division heads,partners, or employees a product, a service, or a financial strategy. Those are, without a doubt, important aspects of your business.
Individuals invest in people, therefore it's truly all about you. Every action you perform contributes to how people perceive you. Personal branding can help you cultivate your tribe as well as your consumer base.
To take charge of your own brand, follow these five steps:
Step 1:
Decide what you want to achieve. The first step is to be absolutelyclear about what you want to accomplish. Do you wish to introduce a new productthat expands your company's market reach? Do you need to secure funding for a large project? Do you want to assemble a dream team to assist you in turning your small firm into a global franchise? To attain that aim, who do you need to be? What image do you need to project in order to entice others to join you?
Step 2:
Recognize your current situation. What is your current position inrelation to where you need to be? What is the gap, and what adjustments do youneed to make to close it?
To respond to this question, ask the five people with whom you spendthe most time to characterize your brand. Then expand your circle to includepeople with whom you've had fewer interactions; information from strangers may be more important because it's based on more rapid first impressions.
You'll learn what has to be altered by understanding how others perceive you. If people describe you as standoffish when you consider yourself shy, this is an aspect of your self-presentation that needs to be improved. Such knowledge can be therapeutic on its own.
Step 3:
Recognize the impact of your daily routines on your personality. People'sperceptions of you might be shaped by your daily habits. People judge you byyour appearance, etiquette, and level of organization, and the appropriate presentation indicates that you're prepared and proud of who you are and what you do.
When someone is physically strong and takes care of herself, for example, she appears to be disciplined, committed, and likely to follow through.
People may immediately see and hear an energy in her physical presence. Even if it's only the fit of your clothes or the warmth of your handshake, the little things matter, and you can manage them.
Step 4:
Use technology to help you define and strengthen your brand. Whensomeone type your name into a Google search box or go to your LinkedIn,Facebook, or Twitter profile, they will be introduced to you for the first time.
They'll see the photos and videos you post of yourself, as well as what you're interested in. Make the most of these resources: Make sure you have a professional photo taken, provide a link to your website, and keep your copy short and to the point.
Step 5:
Be true to yourself. Authenticity is crucial while building apersonal brand. People will find out if you try to pass yourself off as someoneyou aren't, and your credibility will suffer as a result. Be unique and inventive. Present yourself as a genuine, exaggerated, but true representation of yourself.
Don't strive to be someone or something you think others want you to be. You want investors and customers to think to themselves, "This is a person I want to do business with."