Current working habits are trending toward self-employment, freelance, remote work and personal brands. With the rise of working independently and outside the shadow of a known brand or agency, developing a personal brand is more important than ever.
Those looking to hire freelancers, contractors and other free agents want to know more than what they’re getting (quality of work); they want to know whom they’re getting.
By developing a concise understanding of who you are and what you stand for in the work world, you can become a more desirable personal brand that people want to hire, work with and support in career development.
Before we get into tips, let’s look at a couple people with exemplary personal brands.
Two Examples of Personal Branding
Ash Ambirge
Founder of the Middle Finger Project, Ambirge is famed for efforts in overcoming adversity and her blatant disregard for female stereotype expectations. Ambirge’s voice remains reliably consistency without offending others as she leaves a filtering option to read her site censored from her cynicism.
Peter Shankman
Shankman started HARO, a revolutionary bridge between PR reps and journalists that changed the way the two entities interacted. Shankman is always clear with his opinions, so people know exactly what to expect when working with him.
Now, let’s look at how these personally branded gurus managed.
Core values
As all established brands now stand for something larger than their business — the community, a global effort, human rights, etc. — so you must stand for something greater than your work in your personal brand. Understand your core values — what you’ll fight for, what you won’t work toward, what you’ll help build and propel into reality.
Your story
What’s your whole story? Why do you do what you do? People want to know what motivates you to succeed because it helps them know you’ll work to make the most of their mission and goals when you partner together.
Simplicity
Less is more when it comes to your personal brand. Enrich less content with more soulful meaning to get your point across about who you are, what you provide and what you stand for.
Consistency
Consistency is key! People want to know what to expect. This doesn’t mean you have to dull your personality and limit yourself to one skill. If you keep your diversity of services, opinions and tones consistent, your audience can adapt and find comfort with a wide variety of content.
Brand voice
Finding your voice is a critical element of personal brand development. While you want to speak as yourself, always keep a goal in mind to cater your voice to your specific business objective.
Make it obvious
Who we are inside is a complex journey that nobody but you needs to take. When it comes to personal branding, make what you do and who you are as obvious as possible. Consumers will get to you know as you show more work and they watch you evolve as an artist, designer or the professional you’ve become in any industry.
Authenticity
Be yourself, but be mindful of how your brand communicates and interacts with your audience. How can you authentically engage with this group?
Diversity
Everyone with a passion has other interests, too. What other topics related to your passion project that your audience might be interested in learning about? If it stays consistent, they will appreciate and respect your opinion on these other matters.
Are you interested in defining or refining your personal brand? Reach out to Rosy Strategies to get started on one, today.