Gone were the days when only celebrities like Actors, Musicians, Athletes, and Business magnets had personal brands and dominated print and media.
Now, everything has changed and anyone willing to put their time and effort to build their niche can and will become a ‘Thought Leader’. However, that’s not going to happen overnight.
If you do a quick search on Google, you will see that ordinary people like you and me from across the plant are using innovative tools and strategies to craft their personal brands. This, in turn, attracts countless people to their websites and social profiles, and they go from zero to hero over a period of time. The trick is to know where to spend your time and the kind of results you’re after. Don’t waste your efforts in a lot of strategies and tactics to build your brand and gain online visibility.
Just follow these 7 simple steps to become a Go-to Expert in your Industry or Profession.
Find your Niche
You can’t just create search-demand out of the blue. You can only harvest it. This is a simple saying about SEO traffic that many people miss. You can’t force people to search for a specific keyword(s). You need to do some research on words that are popular on their own so that people search for it.
Believe it or not, Personal Branding is similar.
The number of people around the world using the internet continues to grow and explode. Don’t spend all your time and energy to link your brand in a niche that’s not thriving and not suitable for you.
There’s always one important pain point every person has to address and that is Traffic! You can’t grow your brand or get customers if there is no traffic to your website or social profiles.
How to resolve this issue? Here’s what you can do.
Pick something unique that you can do better than 80-90% of the world. You can do a lot of good things. Give something back to people that only you can—it makes you an expert at that. Become the go-to person on a specific topic so that everyone comes to you for that.
Personalise your Brand
Ask yourself this question. What do you personally bring to the table? It should be your ‘one or point of view, which will differentiate you from others who talk about the same topics.
What you’re saying is important, but how you’re saying it can be equally so.
Create your Identity
A lot of famous people have the same trend they follow. It has to do something with their brand message, logo or website. Design speaks a thousand words without explanation. 94% of people’s first impression is always based on design, and the main part of creating a personal brand is ‘Looking the Part’.
Impeccable design helps you become instantly recognisable no matter where you decide to interact or post online—from your website or social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
You should design your Brand mark or Logo. If you get it professionally done, you will stand out from the crowd. Start small and work with a designer you like. They will be worth their weight in gold when it comes to creating a website and brand logo.
Create your Personal Website
There is a lot of digital uproar out there. How will you break through it to be heard?
Your stuff needs to be good and needs to go out frequently, at least several times a week. Consistently putting out good stuff under your brand name will create the buzz and connection between you and your target audience.
That’s why you should work towards creating your site and raise its profile. It will become an invaluable part of strengthening your brand.
Curate a content and social strategy
Did you know that Content Marketing costs 62% less than the usual traditional marketing? It also generates three times as many leads! That statistic says a lot for branding.
Content is King in marketing. It is the only medium to communicate your brand message. If you want your website to rank high on search engines, drive traffic and generate leads, pumping out engaging and nurturing content is the way to go. The trick is to find out what your target audience needs and how you can deliver it to them. This strategy should also extend to your social channels.
It’s not mandatory that you have to present on every single platform to convey your brand message. Spreading yourself too thin and not updating frequently enough is much worse than not being present at all. So ask yourself where your target audience is.
For example, if you’re a wedding planner, you won’t gain much traction on Twitter. Instead, you can try image-focused platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
Post Blogs on Guest Sites to promote your Brand
In the early days of building your brand, no one will know who you are. That’s OK, as long as you realise that early.
Don’t spend all of your time posting good content on your site. You will be wasting your time. Spend more time posting on other blogging sites, which will have all the traffic and audience members you need. If you post on a site like Forbes regularly, it establishes your presence in the Industry. Some sites will allow you to add your title and bio too. Instead of just adding something generic like “Founder of a Company That Nobody’s Ever Heard From,” use valuable real estate to start planting seeds for your personal brand. Bring in elements of your personality and incorporate in that niche.
Leverage on people’s attention when they are looking for information about you and drive them back to your site.
Seek out thought leaders and mentors
No one is a “Self-made” successful person. Everyone needs help from someone, somewhere, at some point of time in their life. According to a survey, 80% of CEOs said they had a mentor to nurture them early in their careers.
Becoming a recognised authority in a particular field or industry can be incredibly challenging at first. You will need help from big-name players in the industry to ‘recognise’ you as an expert. This is the ladder you need to climb up until you can reach the top.
Tiger Woods, who is arguably the most successful golfer of all time, was mentored by a swing coach for almost his entire career. He was an ace in the sport and didn’t need to listen to anyone. Yet, he uses mentors to help him sharpen and elevate his game.
Spinta Digital is a Creative Agency in Chennai that offers Personal Branding Services for B2B and B2C companies. We will design a strategy that lays the framework of your brand persona and use various tools and Digital Marketing techniques to allow it to thrive in a competitive marketplace. Give us a call at +91 99625 08585 or visit our website at https://www.spintadigital.com for more information.
