3 Ways To Bolster Your Personal Branding Strategy

Sometimes it’s imperative that we take a step back and try to view our business or personal brand to see if we are adhering to some of the basics of personal branding.

In a recent blog post for FastCompany.com, my business partner and I wrote about “forgetting what you know.” Our basic premise was that we as business owners and entrepreneurs can sometimes devalue the things we know, simply because we know them. We forget to understand that what makes our expertise valuable, is that not everyone knows what we know! It’s what makes us each unique. We each have certain talents and knowledge that others seek out.

It’s our personal achievements and talents that form the basis of our personal brand. Personal branding is simply a way of building and maintaining our reputation within our field of expertise. We all strive to be the “go-to” expert in our field, but it takes a solid reputation, an exceptional product or service and a marketing strategy that bolsters your reputation – or personal brand – to do this effectively.

Below are three basic steps to bolstering your personal brand. Regardless of whether you’ve been in business for years, or if you are just starting out – it’s important to always be aware of your brand.

Identify Your Personal Brand – This may sound simplistic, but it’s the most important part of growing and marketing your business. What is the first thing that people think of when they hear your name or business name? Great customer service? Great insights on one topic or another? Cutting edge? Traditional? Pinpoint this trait and focus on it – grow your business around it.

Think about it – if you don’t know in what areas you excel, how will anyone else know?

Take the time to identify the traits of your personality that you want people to notice. What aspect of your business will set you apart from your competition? Take your strengths and market yourself around what you do best.

Stay on Message – There’s nothing much worse for your business than causing confusion to your client base. Once you have identified the image that you want to portray, do everything you can to showcase that image.

For example, if you are a musician that excels in country music and have built a fan base of country music lovers, would you release a hard rock album? 99 percent of the time that would be a disaster. Your fans (or your customers) have chosen you for a reason. Why test their loyalty? Give them what they have come to expect from you – what initially attracted them to you in the first place.

Control Your Media – This is somewhat an extension of the last point. In order to build a successful and respected brand, you must be able to take control of your brand message. The best way to do this is to do everything you can to make sure that you send a clear message in all forms of media – preferably your own media sources. This especially becomes more and more important as your business grows and there are more people directly involved with you and your brand.

I recently wrote a blog about LeBron James and how he had complete control over almost every aspect of his free agency decision this past summer. If you recall, LeBron purchased a full hour of television time on ESPN to announce his decision to play for the Miami Heat. He had complete say over what questions would be asked, which sponsors would participate, etc. LeBron took control of one of the biggest sports news events of 2010, and was able to guide the next step of his career the way that preserved his personal brand.

All of us may not have the star power of LeBron James, but we can take his example and apply it to our business. From social media to traditional marketing, there are numerous media outlets at our disposal. Use them to shape and display your personal brand!