You may have heard the term personal branding, right? What comes to your mind when you hear this term?
Before we think about it, it is good to emphasize first that personal branding is not only for business owners. Even lay people need to build good personal branding.
So what’s the point? Why do many people say brand building is important? To understand it, let’s see the full explanation below.
What is a personal brand?
Definition of Personal branding is a strategy to create a personal image of a person so that society and others can judge a person based on his achievements and accomplishments. This is your chance to show your uniqueness and individuality.
Pharko Sisoyanto Raharjo states in his book “Personal Branding Master Book” that the meaning of personal branding is how someone controls other people’s assessment of him.
So basically, everyone needs a brand: entrepreneurs, researchers, programmers, writers, influencers, students.
Read: Tips for Understanding and Practicing Creative Thinking Skills
The importance of personal branding
The purpose of personal branding is to gain and increase the trust of others towards an individual. Beyond that, the following reasons explain how important it is to build a personal brand.
1. Build your self-confidence
The importance of building a brand for yourself is that it can build trust in others. Because many people already know you well, people will feel more comfortable and trust you, even if they have never met you in person.
2. Build trust
The benefit of personal branding is building your credibility. Having a good brand will automatically and indirectly create respect, admiration, and trust from your audience.
3. Building self-confidence
One of the reasons why building a self-brand is important is because it can increase a person’s self-confidence. This is because you are more motivated, believe in your own abilities, and maximize your abilities in doing something.
4. Expand communication
Building a good self-image can easily increase your exposure! This is especially true if you are active in networking. As a result, your relationships will go beyond your field of work.
5. Be yourself
The purpose of personal branding is to show your personality. Because you are building your own brand, not someone else’s.
You can’t create a fake persona that doesn’t represent you at all. Branding helps people feel authentic, making it easier to achieve things in life.
Read: Rebranding: Definition, Goals, Strategies and Examples
How to Build a Good Personal Brand
Once you know the importance of branding yourself, you should also know how to build a good personal brand.
1. Find out who you are
First, you need to know who you are and what are your strengths and uniqueness compared to others. Make a list of questions to ask yourself. For example:
- What areas of work do you excel in? What motivates you? Which projects require repeated assistance? Which projects require you to work on them for hours without getting tired?
- What are you good at?
- What is your motivation?
- What other people compliment you about
- Which recurring projects need your help?
- What roles drain your energy?
- What project takes hours without getting tired?
If you have trouble answering the above questions, ask your family, friends, and colleagues how they would describe themselves.
This will help you understand more about the different aspects of your personality and help you make the right decisions to build your brand.
2. Set clear goals
Setting clear goals is the next step in building your self-image. Once you have successfully discovered your strengths and uniqueness, you need to determine the goals you want to achieve.
How do you want others to see you in the future? As someone they can trust with anything, as an expert in your field, or as something else?
This will help you choose the right strategy to shape people’s perception of you.
3. Be consistent
Building a personal brand means that you want people to know you as a unique person. To achieve this, you must build public trust by projecting your image consistently.
4. Create content that fits your style
For those of you who enjoy running social media, we recommend using this platform to build your own brand. For example, create content that suits your style.
Show your creativity or skills through social media, be it speaking or designing. This way he will impress others.
Examples of personal brands that you can use as inspiration (for example Gary Cruz)
I am a copywriter from the United States. To promote his brand, Gary blogs about his work with brands such as P&G and Slack.
So when other people want to use his services, they can see the quality of Gari’s work through his blog.
5. Expand your relationships
Networking is an important part of how you build your brand. Having a lot of connections will help you discover new things and insights that you didn’t know before.
If you make a good impression on your contacts, it is not impossible that they will become someone who can boost your self-branding.
Well, here’s what you need to understand about personal branding. Understanding how to build a personal brand for yourself is important because it will help determine your future.
So, are you ready to build a strong brand? Then visit the Populix blog for advice on business and other related issues.