The Harsh Reality: If You Do Not Become A BRAND Then You Become A Commodity!

Personal branding entails creating a name and reputation for yourself in both the personal and professional spheres. This involves your goals, accomplishments, career growth, current projects, success stories–anything that would contribute to future objectives.

People naturally create a personal brand for themselves, but what separates those who are successful is the dedication they put into controlling their narrative. Oprah Winfrey is one prime example of how consistency and hard work can build an incredible personal brand that spans the globe.

20 Personal Branding Strategies for 2023

If you do not want your online brand to take on a life of its own and control the narrative, here are my top 20 brand-expert-approved strategies you should be implementing today.

Personal Branding Strategy #1: You Need A Website

If you want to be known, having a website is key. Whether it’s acting as your portfolio to showcase your talents, or simply outlining what you do and where people can find more information about you and your services, having an online home-base is essential and any brand consultant will tell you that.

If you’re considering building a website, start with the basics: make sure it has information about who you are and what you do, portfolio pieces that feature the projects that you’ve worked on, and contact information so contacts can reach out to have a conversation. Starting simple will help build a great foundation for later expanding by creating content that elevates your authority.

Personal Branding Strategy #2: You Need A Brand Voice

A strong personal branding strategy needs to include an established, consistent brand voice. Your audience will look for that when they engage with you so make sure it’s recognizable! Knowing and owning your unique tone helps you stand out in the crowd and sound like the real you. 

Keyword here: the real you!

Personal Branding Strategy #3: Embrace Vulnerability With A Balance

Every social platform allows us to share a piece of ourselves with the world, but too much can come off as unprofessional and overly personal.

When crafting your personal brand, aim to be genuine and transparent, while still maintaining boundaries that are respectful to yourself and others.

Showing a vulnerable side allows you to connect more deeply with viewers, because they can feel seen and understood through your stories. To build rapport with your audience, open up about certain aspects of life, but make sure you don’t give away too much. You want to be personal, but not private.

Personal Branding Strategy #4: Develop Relationships

One of the best ways to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry is to cultivate meaningful relationships. Make an effort to meet new people, engage with influencers and build strong networks.

Personal Branding Strategy #5: Leverage Email Marketing

Email marketing is an essential part of forming and maintaining your personal brand. Consistency is key to a successful personal branding strategy!

When done right, email marketing can help you build a strong base of loyal customers and followers who will recognize you as an expert in your field. 

How to get more referrals from email marketing?

Adam Boyd, Sales Expert and founder of The Northwood Group shared a powerful 5-step email cadence to get more referrals. In his words:

– I’d have a first conversation with someone. Most people do that.

– I took copious notes in our CRM. Some people do that.

– I loaded the person’s contact info into Salesloft with a sequence I’d built.

– The first step of that sequence was an email I sent the following day, which we personalized. It included the types of deals we wanted to see.

– A second step involved sending a mutually beneficial introduction to someone within the next 2 weeks.

– The third step was following up on that introduction within 3 weeks after.

– The fourth step was a handwritten note (time consuming, yes, but there are services that can help) that included the type of deal we wanted to see. This was usually 2-3 months after the first call.

– The fifth step was asking for another call to see how things are going.

Not rocket science. Just a little work all the time.

Personal Branding Strategy #6: Showcase Your Expertise

A great place to start is by writing long-form articles. Putting your knowledge and expertise down on paper (or digital) provides an effective way for your personal brand to break through the noise in any market. Long-form content offers substance, credibility, and personal insights that cannot always fit into simple posts or tweets. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and open about sharing your true wisdom can really help you stand out from the crowd and enhance your reputation as an expert.

Personal Branding Strategy #7: Get Creative

Try out different platforms, test out different content types (e.g., podcasts, videos, images) and experiment with different formats, including edu-tainment (mix education and entertainment).

Personal Branding Strategy #8: Use Social Proof

Leverage the power of user-generated content to show others how passionate people are about your work. Get customer testimonials, reviews, and case studies in order to build trust and credibility.

Personal Branding Strategy #9: Build A Community

Encourage engagement and foster relationships within your network by creating an online community to engage with like-minded individuals. It can be a Facebook Group or a Telegram group.

Personal Branding Strategy #10: Give Back

Find ways to give back to your industry or local community through volunteering, mentoring, or donating. This will create goodwill and demonstrate your commitment to making a positive difference in the world.

Personal Branding Strategy #11: Know Your Audience

It’s important to know who your target audience is so that you can tailor your content and message accordingly. Find out what they care about, their pain points, and what type of content resonates with them.  Especially their pain points. You want to create content that adds value so they come for more.

Personal Branding Strategy #12: Create A Clear Brand Image

Have an eye-catching logo, website design, and consistent color palette to help create a recognizable brand identity.

Personal Branding Strategy #13: Monitor Your Reputation

Keep an eye on what’s being said about you and your brand online so that you can address any issues or questions promptly. You can automate this process with social listening tools such as Hootsuite or Later.com for your social media, and create Google Alerts to get instant notifications.

Personal Branding Strategy #14: Promote Yourself

Advertising yourself and your personal brand is one of the most important things you can do to increase your exposure. Whether it’s sponsoring an event that aligns with your values or promoting yourself on social media, there are endless opportunities to get your brand out there.

Personal Branding Strategy #15: Influencer Marketing

Leverage relationships with industry influencers to give yourself a boost. Invite them to collaborate on projects, have them review your products or services, or just follow their content and comment on it.

Personal Branding Strategy #16: Measure Success

It’s important to track the key performance indicators (KPIs) of your personal branding strategy to see what’s working and what can be improved.

When it comes to optimizing a website to generate more conversions, co-founder and SEO expert at MFG, Alex Rodríguez it’s important it is to track KPI’s for the success of a website. One KPI he highly recommends paying attention to is how much time users are spending on your pages, as tracked through Google Analytics. This metric measures how long visitors are staying and how far they’ve scrolled down your page.

Knowing this KPI can give valuable insight into what content interests your users, meaning you can adjust your strategy accordingly and increase engagement, or make the necessary pivots until you see results.

Consider reading next: How Will Small Businesses Grow In 2023? 

Personal Branding Strategy #17: Leverage SEO

Optimize your website, blog content, and social media posts to ensure they are easily found by potential customers or employers.

Personal Branding Strategy #18: Create A Personal Brand Statement

Take some time to think about who you are, what makes you unique, and your mission. Develop a personal branding statement that succinctly explains what you do and why people should care.

Personal Branding Strategy #19: Wear Your Brand

To make life a little easier and have fun in this process, why not take your personal branding to the next level by wearing it out?

Pick one word or phrase from your personal brand statement and have it printed on a t-shirt or even accessories like keychains, caps, and mugs! This can be your chance to show everyone what makes you, you! Get creative with this idea and personalize merchandise to ensure everyone remembers who you are while having fun doing it.

Personal Branding Strategy #20: Embrace Failure

Everyone makes mistakes – it’s part of life. Learn from them, take risks, and don’t be afraid to fail in order to succeed in the long run!

In Closing

By utilizing these top personal branding strategies for 2023, you will be able to build a powerful and successful brand that will capture the attention of your target audience. With hard work and dedication, you can create an impressive personal brand that will help catapult your career, open doors of opportunity, and set you apart from the competition.

Considering Hiring A Personal Branding Company?

We might be able to help. Our approach to branding is revenue-driven. We give brands visibility and conversions. For us, a website needs to be more than pretty. It needs to assist in growing your bottom line. 

So, if you’re looking for a branding company that can grow your brand and grows your revenue, let’s have a conversation.  Click here to learn more.