Why is Personal Branding important?
As a Production Company, we often work with individuals who are interested in Personal Branding. In this article, I wanted to explain what Personal Branding means and why is it important not to ignore this topic.
You use your Branding to differentiate yourself from others within your field. Not to mention, when appropriately done, personal Branding can help with your business and corporate Branding. Which often means they overlap.
Nowadays, social media plays a massive role in everyone’s lives, which means people are looking at you and compare with others. We live in a public world, with less anonymity compare to pre-internet days. You every move can result in a discussion on social media for days. So, make no mistake your every move counts.
What is Personal Branding?
The best example of personal Branding is influencers. We all know who they are; we all follow them, and we count on them to deliver recent trends and talk about things that interest us. And all of them created a personal brand. They try to stand out from other people. Many influencers you see online, who portray their life as effortless, have a whole team of people working to create just a few images. So, it is essential to understand; your Personal Brand is the image of you that people see.
For example, you find an online profile, “health & fitness” let’s say. And you look at Social Media profile expecting to see some photos and videos of exercises they do, meals they eat and vitamins they like. And adequately set up page will have all of this. It will be informative and visually appropriate. In other words, you trust this person on delivering content about fitness and health. You follow them closely. Most likely, you will buy the same products they purchase and monitor their lifestyle because you see it is working.
In other words, personal Branding allows you to present your best self and your passions. In time, people believe they know you, and moreover, trust you. And, if one day you decide to monetize your page, you will have a good start. It will help you to present yourself to potential clients and maintain current clientele
Trust shift
If you dig deep enough, you will find than nearly 85% of Millenials don’t trust advertisements, especially if it comes from a brand itself. They often do thorough research before buying a product. Instagram, youtube, Reddit it all comes to play when deciding to buy a specific product. And often they trust influencers, people they have never met in real life. They listen to a few short videos about the product, read a few short articles, and that often convinces them to buy it. This major “trust shift” made brands, especially new companies, to rethink their marketing strategies. They will usually send free products to qualified, selected candidates, and expect a trustworthy review. This is the main reason influencers become so successful lately. Even amazon.com started the influencer program recently.
Another Example?
Personal Branding plays a huge role in politics. While many people have time and interest to research candidates’ political views and policies, others focus on the picture they see and names they remember. Which we see in votes later. How many people you talked to have no idea of the political stands of the candidate, but they vote for him/her, just because they heard the name often enough. So let me be clear, candidates with strong Personal Branding are often more successful in politics than their opponents.
When talking about politics and personal Branding, Donald Trump would be the best example, in my opinion. Regardless of your opinion on him as a person, politician or else, he won the election. And all thanks to his strong personal brand, which inspired and encouraged many people to vote for him.
Personal Branding within the company.
You probably noticed many companies now personalize vital people within the business. And it is equally important to recognize the value of Personal Branding as well as corporate Branding. In reality, people tend to connect with a person first and then learn more about the company. Let’s say you discover a CEO of the brand you never even heard. And you see how much charity work he does, how many people he helped, etc., you will trust the company. As a result, you are more likely to buy their product or service. You believe the person and then you learn to trust to brand.
Advice: Be consistent.
As we already agreed, if you want to be considered influential, you have to have a strong personal brand. It will help you to stand out from hundreds of others within your field of expertise. Use it to demonstrate your knowledge and skills, but do it with style. And remember, it is essential to be consistent.
And when I talk about unity, I mean not only you have to stay true to your brand, but also be consistent with your designs. It is important to be recognizable across all social media profiles. Be it a website, Instagram page, Facebook page, or else. You have to use a Unifies Theme, which means color schemes, fonts, logos, etc. Those are the basics of business branding as well.
Besides, check out this article from Forbes: 10 Golden Rules Of Personal Branding
Where to start?
First, think through a few questions, for instance, who are you and what is your final goal. What separates you from your competitors? Secondly, do your research: is there anyone who does the same thing, and how can you do it better? Thirdly, pick the theme, colors, fonts, etc. Think as far as email signatures and business cards. And last, but not least if you have no idea where to start and how to design your Branding: consult with a professional. We are all great in one thing, and not good at others. When it comes to personal Branding, you have a choice of learning graphic design, web design, SEO marketing, and Photography/ Videography yourself. Or you can fill in the blanks in fields you are not comfortable.
Under the Sun Production Company can help you boost your online presence. By creating high-quality content, finding unique styles in graphic design, and managing your online presence, including SEO. With all the right tools, you will have an advantage at the start. So, all I have to say, answer all the questions you have to answer, and if you decide to hire a professional: drop us a line or give us a call. We will not only create beautiful images and flyers for you but also create a strategy for the future.