How to develop a personal brand from scratch: 5 steps to success

No business can survive without constant advertising. The brand is fueled by various sources: outdoor advertising, TV commercials, and, more recently, social networks. But not everyone uses the new means of promotion to the fullest. For example, a personal brand. And this despite the fact that anyone can develop a personal brand from scratch.

In this article we will tell you what kind of beast it is, how to develop it and use it correctly.

How to develop a personal brand from scratch

A personal brand is a public image that has developed in the minds of society, your customers, readers or individuals.

In simple words, this is how other people see you. A personal brand combines the concept of reputation, professionalism and expertise. A person with a developed personal brand is considered a real ace in his field. The one to whom they turn first when questions arise related to their field. Therefore, we advise you not to abandon the idea of ​​developing a personal brand.

In addition, developing a personal brand from scratch is much easier and cheaper than investing morally and financially in traditional advertising.

Think of names like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Pavel Durov or Sergei Mavrodi. You know these people, their names are familiar, and you already have an idea about their professional or personal qualities. Someone is a brilliant inventor, an innovator in information technology, or, in general, a talented swindler.

All these characteristics of popular people sit in our heads thanks to a well-built personal brand. Numerous PR professionals had the task of developing the personal brand of these people from scratch, and they succeeded. But this does not mean that one person cannot do it. On the contrary: one person knows his strengths and weaknesses better, and easily builds an appropriate strategy.

But anyone, even the most knowledgeable person, relies on the basic steps of building a personal brand, which we will discuss below.

1 Build a personal brand in your field

A personal brand will not be developed if it is built on a lie. Therefore, choose the area in which you, as they say, have eaten more than one dog. You don’t have to eat any dogs, just be a professional. Confidence attracts people. And no one oozes confidence quite like the person who knows the subject.

To develop a personal brand from the ground up, stick to your theme from day one. If you are a charismatic speaker, speak at conferences. If you are a chef, arrange master classes in molecular cuisine and make a blog about it.

You already understood the pattern: show that you understand your topic. Tell us about how you achieved your result, what interesting stories happened to you along the way. In other words, broadcast yourself in terms of your topic, and then you will begin to be strongly associated with it.

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2 Analyze competitors

Let’s say you are the founder of an English language school. You have gathered the best teachers in the world, and even Shakespeare himself happily goes to evening classes and improves your pronunciation. There is no doubt that your services are the highest quality services in the Wild West.

But they still go to competitors more actively and longer. Even though they cannot pronounce “London is a capital of Great Britain" without an accent. And all because the creator of the competing company is known for his old chanson album, which blew up the British music market.

In such a situation, the main thing is not to hang your nose. Even if they haven’t heard about you today, they will probably hear about you tomorrow. And to make that day come as soon as possible, start studying the steps that this competitor was taking.

Explore his social networks, find out how he positions himself on the network. Pay attention to the subject of posts, the frequency of their release and other details of the content. This way you will be able to develop a personal brand from scratch, and at the same time have at least some foundation that is easy to rely on in your work.

3 Decide on an image

Each personal page on social networks is an image of its owner, which he tries to create for subscribers. This is a kind of bridge to the best version of yourself, in which others willingly believe. This is what the personal brand is based on.

And, as a rule, the image of a person in social networks is stuck in several layers around his real personality. Some character traits are enhanced, while others, on the contrary, are weakened or cut out altogether.

Because a personal brand is first and foremost a tool. Do not confuse it with a personal photo album from your vacation. Each message for your communication channels, ideally, broadcasts specific values, shows the status.

In a word, it demonstrates the best sides in such a way that potential customers themselves go shopping to you. And it becomes easier to develop a personal brand in such working conditions.

4 Choose a development platform

Instagram is first on the list of social networks for turning followers into customers and buyers. And so this social network is suitable for promoting a personal brand.

It offers everything: wide audience coverage, active involvement in your life and the life of your company. And all this is free. You probably already realized that it is easy to develop a personal brand from scratch in these conditions. This is evidenced by the growth in the number of those people who succeeded.

5 Develop your personal brand constantly

Throwing things halfway through is the wrong decision. As well as throwing the case at every kilometer of the way, and again returning to it after a while. This analogy also applies to brand promotion.

To develop a personal brand from scratch, take the time to develop it. At least half an hour a day is already an impressive result. Because most of these initiatives fail in the first month of existence. And only leaders, bloggers or individual entrepreneurs who have overcome themselves reap the fruits of their perseverance.

The gradual, systematic development of a personal brand, moreover, will show you as a responsible person. It’s not enough to be a responsible person. It is important that people know this.

Think about who you decide to go to to solve the problem. To a person about whom you know nothing or to someone whose professionalism has already been seen on the Internet? The question is rhetorical.