Developing your Personal Branding — the 6 Winning Steps

Personal Branding, or “Personal Brand” in French, is a concept that is on the rise, and for good reason. It refers to the digital identity of each individual.

Today more than ever, digital communication is essential. It takes place via a multitude of channels such as social networks, blogs and various platforms. The sum of all our online content will constitute our e-reputation; that is, the image that our audience perceives of us. From this set will emerge Personal Branding.

A true digital marketing strategy, it consists in “selling yourself” as your own brand. Whether you are the founder of a startup looking for investors, a freelancer looking for new customers, a candidate in job search, a student looking for a mentor or an internship... Personal Branding is a valuable tool to increase your visibility.

However, acquiring a powerful personal brand cannot be improvised. Here are the 6 main steps of this marketing technique that will allow you to effectively develop your Personal Branding in order to achieve your goals.

1. Be authentic to develop your Personal Branding

In this process, we would be tempted to observe the methods of our counterparts, to be inspired by them, and even to model them when they prove to be effective. And yet, it is the mistake not to make.

As Oscar Wilde said,” Be yourself, the others are already taken.”. The basis for optimal Personal Branding lies in being authentic. You need to build a strong image the way you build a brand image. This is reflected in concrete terms by setting up a communication system that suits you and through which you convey messages that reflect your values and aspirations.

In this sense, undertaking introspection work can be extremely beneficial. By refocusing on yourself, you can retrace your journey, analyze your previous choices, identify your strengths as well as your weaknesses, but also determine what makes sense for you or what you want to strive for.

The objective of this personal development process remains to get to know you better. A crucial step, this is how you will find the common thread from which you can develop your Personal Branding and therefore your brand image.

Mastering the art of storytelling is a considerable asset in presenting yourself to your audience. This writing method, which consists in telling a story, in this case your own, allows you to create a first link between your target and you.

2. Know your audience and define your goals

Before jumping headlong into content creation, it remains essential to precisely define the typical profile of your target audience you want to address, but also to be clear about the objective of your approach: “What is the purpose of my communication? What is my ambition? ”, “Who do I have to convince to reach it?” ”.

When you want to talk to everyone, you don't talk to anyone. This is indeed the trap of non-targeted communication. Your mode of expression, your content and your positions must be adapted to your audience in order to capture their attention and be consistent with who YOU are. Unfortunately, a discourse that is too general may have few positive effects. This is why its personalization remains the order of the day.

Once your audience is identified, you can choose the appropriate communication channels to address them. For example, LinkedIn will be preferred to develop a professional network, while Instagram will be more suitable for boosting a BtoC business...

3. Identify your added value in order to develop your Personal Branding

This step consists in becoming aware of your intrinsic potential in order to promote it to your audience. Your previous introspection work will already have revealed valuable answers to you.

Here are some questions that might help you: “What is special about me? ”, “what is the particularity of my offer? ”, “what makes me stand out from the competition?” ”, “why me more than anyone else? ”...

In order to promote your added value to your community, you must highlight your field of expertise, your skills, your know-how, your relational abilities, but also your style, your personality, your ambitions or your interests. This value proposition will allow you to start conversations with your audience and with your peers and ultimately build a reputation with a well-thought-out brand strategy.

In terms of structuring, make sure that your LinkedIn profile is perceived as a brand in its own right and where the product is YOU. The packaging corresponds to your entire profile (name, photo, photo, banner, experiences, etc.), the brand's DNA is your storytelling.

How to make the brand shine? By creating content that is just like you.
What can you do to ensure that your network has a positive image of your profile? By providing added value in your content creation.

4. Communicate less to communicate better

Faced with the endless flow of information we are confronted with, it is sometimes difficult to select the information that is of real interest. With the emergence of social media, this constant solicitation comes from a multitude of sources, so much so that it creates a real mental load that is harmful to Internet users.

Communicating less in order to communicate better then makes perfect sense. This editorial sobriety strategy is based on the writing of quality content, unique in its kind, with a lower frequency but which meets the real needs of the audience. Develop your image by defining your own editorial strategy to write your content (editorial pillar, list of hashtags, keywords, etc.), a visual identity with a graphic charter to illustrate your content and highlight your personality. This will allow you to gain notoriety and legitimacy by making yourself known and recognized as an expert in your field on social networks.

In addition, your content will be more likely to be better referenced, which will make you more visible. Finally, your community will not be overly solicited and will surely thank you for it. Remember that your personal communication is broadcast through your LinkedIn profile. It is therefore your professional image that is at stake as well as your reputation in your sector of activity.

5. Take care of your communication

The best content can lose credibility if it is riddled with spelling, syntax, conjugation, or grammatical errors. To do this, do not hesitate to reread yourself several times, to have yourself proofread, or even to help you with a correction tool.

As for the style, it is meant to be simple, precise and intelligible. The logic “1 sentence = 1 idea” remains relevant for communicating on social networks. Indeed, it facilitates the understanding of messages and facilitates reading.

Finally, when you relay content or are inspired by it, it is better to ensure the reliability of its sources in advance. Participating in sharing erroneous information could damage your reputation. A lack of vigilance impacts the good image of your profile with your audience and therefore their perceived image of your expertise. It would be a shame if this had an impact on your professional activities.

As employees, it will also be important to ensure that your personal branding is in line with the digital strategy and image of your company so that it does not harm your success or that of the brand of the company in which you work. In this case, get closer to the marketing teams, talk to your manager to find out how to combine your content marketing and that of your business. Having internal communication in advance is essential to optimize the best possible implementation of your personal branding without worries! Attention, just because you want to start creating content on your profile does not mean that you must disclose a corporate image in the negative sense of the term.

6. Maintain and develop your network

It would be a shame to underestimate the importance of the network, which certainly remains a powerful way to increase your Personal Branding.

Some people you have worked with during your life could prove to be great allies at some point in your journey. In particular, they could recommend you to those around them, or even share their experience with you. These valuable relationships deserve to be maintained over the long term. Start conversations to exchange, develop your network and then engage your community with your content.

In order to broaden your circle, professional events remain interesting. They allow you to meet new prospects or colleagues, to create links and to make yourself known. If this approach does not suit you, you can consider making contact more traditional through a personalized message.

What you need to remember is that it is important to think carefully about your personal branding beforehand. Your Linkedin profile is just a virtual business card, so it is important to be yourself and control your image.

Do you want to go more and see How to optimize your LinkedIn profile ?