Creating Your Personal Brand Online

For those of you still wondering, your personal brand is the cornerstone of everything you do online from marketing to Web copy, blogs and thought leadership articles.

Without a personal brand, you're at a disadvantage for presenting a consistent voice to your target audience and won't present your thoughts effectively because of it.

So what, you ask? Well, if your personal brand is lacking or doesn't exist, you won't be able to communicate effectively.

Your ears should perk up when I tell you that without a personal brand, you're falling on deaf ears with the people most likely to buy from you or become part of your network.

Obviously, you need to think about your personal brand much more seriously than you realized. Now is not the time to assume your personal brand can wait until later.

It can't.

This is because your personal brand can change over time as your business grows and shifts focus. But, you need to find a voice to use consistently across all communications from the minute you hang out your shingle.

You should think of a personal brand in the same way you'd think about your end of a face-to-face conversation. 

With a personal brand, as in conversation, questions get asked and answered, opinions are asserted and authority established. 

Your consistent personal brand enables you keep up your end of an online conversation, no matter where it's happening or how many times you “talk” to your audience.

Look, people aren't going to pick up your message to them if you don't have a personal brand. It takes more than three exposures to a single phrase, tagline or brand for people to remember what they heard or saw.

You can see how a personal brand continually drilling home the same messages and voice gives people something to link back to you.

Suddenly you are someone with specific online personality traits with something worth listening to. Well, it's not sudden. You worked hard to cultivate your personal brand. 

It just takes time for people to hear your brand's unique selling points. 

I know. You're thinking this whole personal brand thing is silly or at least not worth this much time. After all, you already know who you are.

Well, personal branding is not silly, I assure you. Sure, you know your own personality and your personal brand is “just” an extension of that but it's much more. 

If you aren't sure how to establish your personal brand, you're kind of screwed.

OK. Now, that we're clear on why it's important to build a personal brand, let's talk a little about how to hit the ground running with your own personal brand.

Like I said earlier, your personal brand is really just the online manifestation of your own personality. 

But, when you start your online business, you can decide to tweak your personality and have it reflect in your online brand. Personal brands can be more assertive, more ambitious or even more positive than your offline personality.

This doesn't mean you're trying to put one over on anyone. It just means your personal brand takes into consideration what your audiences want to hear and runs with it.

To help you establish your personal brand, think about some of the aspects of your personality or personal situation that led you to start your online business. 

Chances are there is also a compelling back story you want to incorporate into your personal brand. Your experiences and background say a lot about who you are and why you choose this path. 

Think of something you do better in this business than anyone else and incorporate it into your personal brand. Maybe you're more compassionate or a genuine leader or crazy good at remembering facts and figures.

Your audience (readers) are drawn to you because you are unique and your personal brand must reflect this. If you have nothing of value to say, people will look elsewhere.

In the end, the goal of your personal brand is to repeatedly drive home what your audience wants to hear in order to spur sales and grow your network. 

You are the product here so your words must be chosen carefully and motivate people to take action and your personal brand is your primary vehicle for getting the job done.