Building a Personal Brand.

In the last couple months, we’ve gotten the most questions about Personal Branding. Whether it’s from CEOs, founders, industry leaders, or music artists and photographers, those who represent themselves are looking for support. 

Why now?

For a few reasons. One, consumers today expect and require CEOs to speak out on social issues. They no longer respect leaders who choose to stay silent.

Secondly, consumers are “82% more likely to trust a company if the CEO is active on social media, but as it stands now, only one in five CEOs use social media to connect with their consumers” (Smith- Entrepreneur.com). 

Thirdly, consumers are looking to connect and relate to brands, and you give your brand an opportunity to create these relationships by putting a face to the brand.

We could go on. The short summary is: those who represent themselves are looking for advice on how to better position and develop their personal brands.

So, we’re sharing our perspective…

Our goal here is twofold:

1. To explain the benefits of a strong personal brand- both for yourself and your business.

 2. To tell you HOW to build a brand identity. One that is public, while honest and authentic. 

Here are 4 Benefits of a Strong Personal Brand.

1. Humanize your brand.

2. Increase your business’s exposure.

   • People care about the stories behind the businesses. By sharing your perspective and behind the scenes stories, you educate your audience and build community. 

3. Differentiate your products/services.

   • No two companies are the same. There is only one of you and you are a driving force behind your brand. Your perspective and experiences matter. When you are authentic in your values, goals, narrative, and voice, you individualize your brand. 

4. Build Credibility for Capital Raising

   • Investors invest in people, especially in early stage investments. 

EXAMPLES.

Let’s look at a few examples:

1. Steve Jobs used his first VC check to hire a PR expert. He knew he had to identify and portray his image right the first time. He knew the media cared most about underlying stories, and he had to give them something to talk about. Because Jobs knew the importance of being the face and spokesperson for Apple, he created an industry standard for all product releases to be done in person. 

2. The CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, learned how to exemplify his brand’s value: Happiness. Instead of becoming an expert on shoes or retail, he became an expert on Happiness. He wrote a book called “Delivering Happiness”, and started a ‘Happiness Bus Tour’. This contributed to the brand’s cult following. 

You’re bought in, you understand that the only way that someone can choose to work with you is if they know you. Next step: how to put yourself out there. How to build your personal brand. 

You have 3 avenues.

1. Visual

   1. Instagram video

   2. FB video

   3. Youtube

   4. Speaking engagements

2. Audio

   1. Podcasts

   2. Instagram 

3. Written

   1. Blogs

   2. Articles

   3. Newsletters

   4. Twitter

   5. Captions

How do you choose between the 3 avenues? There’s no rule, you can do it all or you can hone in on a niche, but use the approach that highlights your strengths.

OUR PROCESS.

Here’s how we do it with our clients and hopefully this helps you.

We start by honing in on their individual strengths, goals, target audience, and even personal interests. We then decide which platforms will serve them and their community. Then, we develop a targeted strategy for each approach.  We show them how they can humanize their brand values. We give them a blueprint for the type of imagery, content, and messaging that will serve them.

Whether they’re working on a product release or book/movie release, we show them how to maximize what they’re already doing.

Any questions? DM or email us. 

@constanthousela

dana@constanthousela.com

jenna@constanthousela.com