When you build a brand, you are not just building the look of your business: You are creating a look for yourself. This is called a personal brand.
It is how you build trust between your business, colleagues, and clients alike.
Not only that, it also enhances your reputation as an entrepreneur and motivates others to want to do business with you.
Especially now, in the age of the Internet, there is no excuse for not exposing your personal brand.
Social media is the ultimate tool for doing so, providing you with an array of tools to branch out and express your personal brand in the written, visual and audible form.
The next step is to hone in on your niche, this is what will set you apart from the rest. It will enable you to focus on nailing your brand identity and all the benefits that come with it.
Why nobody laughs at your joke?
Let us use a relatable anecdote to show the importance of personal branding. (It doesn’t happen to me all that much – I promise!)
So, you are sitting there in a bar with a group of colleagues from work. Everyone is in high spirits as you toast to another successful week.
Then you crack a joke, you think it is a killer, but it is just met by dead silence.
Has this ever happened to you in a social situation? You came up with what you thought was an amazing joke and no-one even did as much as break a smile.
Then to top it off, Brett from accounts says the same damn joke and everyone bursts out laughing.
Now, was the joke better when the second guy told it? No, not at all.
The key thing is – his personal brand is better. That is what made the difference.
Brett is probably known as a funny guy that always tells the best jokes.
Because he is known for that kind of thing, it means every joke he tells has more credibility.
Brett has most likely built his own “social proof” within the niche of telling jokes.
This is what you need to do with yourself. It is an example of the power of a niche personal brand, and it is no different in business terms.
It is the same reason why quotes perform a lot better if you take a person with credibility in that niche and place their picture behind it.
Think about your niche
Whenever you are thinking about working on your personal brand – whether you are considering what your next tweet is going to be or what photo to upload as a profile picture on LinkedIn – ask yourself this question:
Does this make me more credible within my niche?
If you keep this on your mind you will start to really come into your own, and with more and more practice it will all just seem natural. Just like Brett’s knack for telling jokes.
