Building personal branding is very important for freelancers and entrepreneurs in this digital era. If you have internet and social media access, you can build an audience, position yourself as an expert, and attract clients for your business.

The freelance workforce is growing at 3x faster than the overall workforce in the US by 2027, according to the study conducted by Upwork:

Many people are accepting their entrepreneurial spirit. It means that self-employed freelancers, entrepreneurs, and independent contractors will face competition in the future. So, you need to build a personal brand to differentiate yourself from the competition.

This article will share the meaning, importance, and essential components of personal branding. We will also look into some of the strategies and benefits of personal branding.

Understanding Personal Branding

Personal branding is an extended image of your personality, skills, behavior, and experience that defines your unique identity. Building a defined personal brand is the best way to differentiate yourself in the competitive market. It lets people understand who you are, even when you don't know them personally. You can set yourself apart by sharing your personality and story and connecting with people who understand your vision.

Personal branding is all about the details available about a person. It is simple to create it, but it is difficult to change once an identity is set. Many people today only focus on being themselves when building their brand. But a brand is something that takes time to develop. It is the same as a company brand, where it appears constantly and cohesively. In the same way, you need to create boundaries around your brand. It is the best way to ensure everyone knows what you are, what you stand for, and how you present yourself.

Personal branding takes a lot of time and work to get it right. Building an identity that attracts people to your inbox is worth the effort.

Importance of Personal Branding for Every Entrepreneur

Building a personal brand that will benefit you and your customers is important. People can quickly able to decide if they want to work with you or not. A simple LinkedIn profile doesn't build familiarity and trust in your potential customers. They are left with more questions than answers like:

• Is this person trustable?

• Will they work according to my preference?

• What is their view? on current industry issues?

• How will they help me improve my work?

By openly expressing your viewpoint to your audience or potential clients, you can establish a solid and trustworthy relationship with them. Emphasize your unique perspective and showcase what sets you apart from the competition. 

When creating a brand according to your niche, personal branding comes naturally to you. Building personal branding will benefit you when you are the face of your business or work.

Your brand should differentiate you from your competitors. It will help to form a lasting impression in the minds of your prospective customers and audience. You may need compelling personal branding to build a profitable and stable business.

Even if you have a business brand, you need to create a personal brand, which has its benefits. Most people tend to follow people rather than companies. Building an audience for your brand personally can help you increase exposure for your company. If you look into the example of Elon Musk, he has more Twitter followers than his companies, Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity combined.

Essential Component of Personal Branding

Now that you have understood personal branding and its importance let's look into the essential components of effective personal branding.

Create a LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is the key component of your personal branding. Your target audience and customer will do their research on the social media networks before deciding to work with you. So, you need to build a strong and compelling profile on this platform. It is important to look into these key areas:

• Your Profile Picture should be a high-quality professional image. You can choose your picture depending on what you want to differentiate yourself. For example, if you are a trainer, you can post a picture where you are speaking or teaching others. Posting this picture wearing a suit, tie, and confidence is better. Your profile picture will be the first thing people notice in your profile, so make sure it is proper.

• Write a position statement as your headline. Don't just list your company and title.

• Create a summary stating what separates you from others, what results you have obtained working with your clients, and what you are passionate about. You can include contact details in your final paragraph. You can also add a gentle call to action, i.e., 'follow me on Twitter or visit my portfolio to learn more'.

• When you create content, you need to include eye-catching visual content. You can add infographics, carousals, and images to gain more impressions. You have to create content according to your positioning statement.

About Positioning Statement

When creating a personal positioning statement, always consider your target audience in your mind. Your proposition may be about you, but it is not for you. You need to express what sets you apart from others in your niches. You can research your positioning statement from peers if you don't know what makes you different. You need to stick to the following guidelines when creating a personal positioning statement:

• It should be short.

• You need to use verbs instead of nouns (designation at your company) about what you do.

• You must avoid mostly used words like driven, strategic, and motivated. Also, avoid technical jargon and acronyms.

Create an SEO-friendly Profile

Make sure that you can be easily found online. You have created a compelling positioning statement, but what if no one sees it? To address these issues, you need to conduct keyword research for your personal branding journey. Don't just fix the keyword associated with yourself. Consider what your potential audiences are looking for. These could be:

• industry-specific

• role oriented

• outcome driven

You can use various tools available online to conduct keyword research. Once you have found your keyword, incorporate it organically into your LinkedIn profile. Avoid the practice of Keyword stuffing, for which you will be penalized by search engines. You can use your primary keyword in your LinkedIn header and the 'about' section.

Create Your Unique Voice

Your branding is defined not only by what you say but also by how you say it. If you sound the same as others, what difference would your branding make? You need to develop a voice that sounds exactly like you and shares your opinion. You can consider the following questions while creating your unique voice:

• How to describe me in 3-6 words?

• What should be my communication style - casual or formal?

• Are there any specific words to use and avoid?

• How do I excel compared to others?

• What unique value can I contribute to my audience, niches, and network?

Be Consistent in Posting

Once you have created your profile and understood the point of view, you need to start posting. To set yourself apart from your competitors, you can write your thoughts for all to see. You can use LinkedIn status updates to share your views on industry trends and workplace dynamics or create a post discussing a new product, your sales strategies, or your journey in the industry.

You should avoid overt self-promotion. You can leverage LinkedIn for personal branding with the right approach. Ensure that each post contributes to the comprehensive conversation while highlighting your viewpoint.

Also, remember that it is not just about sharing your thoughts; consistency should be your prime factor. If you break your consistency, you can damage your credibility, hindering your growth. You can schedule your post routine twice a month or a week rather than going cold.

Strategy of Personal Branding

Let us now look into some easy-to-implement strategies for personal branding:

Build Your Personal Branding Foundation

The first step in creating your brand is to lay a foundation. The key element is authenticity. Your brand should be an authentic image. You should not brand yourself as something you are not. It is about showcasing your authenticity to your audience and your customers. Personal branding should reflect your passions, values, beliefs, and skills.

To build a strong branding foundation, you can look at the assets that you already have. It can be:

• Skills and credentials

• Passion and interests

• Core values and beliefs

Once you have identified your assets, the next step is to mix them with key elements of your brand. The following elements can help you make your decision better:

• Brand vision

• Brand mission

• Brand message

• Brand personality

Selecting Your Target Audience

Remember this: everyone is not your ideal client. This is the common mistake one makes while building a personal brand, trying to appeal to everyone. You need to identify your target audience and build a brand that is attractive to them.

If you try to be liked by everyone, you will end up being no one's favorite. To truly make an impression, you need to be a bit polarizing. Not everyone seeing your post can resonate with you, and that's normal. You don't need to reach out to everyone to build a strong network. Your focus should be on connecting with your ideal audiences.

You can create a list of your ideal client profiles. With this, you can understand more about their needs and challenges. You can create a product or service that caters to their needs and problems. You can create an ideal client profile by looking at the following:

• Demographics include age, gender, education, income, profession, and relationship status.

• Desire, i.e., what dreams, aspirations, and goals do they have?

• Pain points, i.e., what challenges are they facing, and how can you prevent them?

Create an Offer

You need products or services to sell to your audience to build a successful personal brand. You must create an offer to help your targeted audience solve a problem or satisfy their needs.

The typical mistake entrepreneurs make is creating a product or service they want. What profit will you get if no one wants or is willing to pay for it?

You need to identify before creating a product or service that will cater to the needs of your ideal audience. It will give you ideas about who you want to help and what offer can provide the perfect solution for them.

Once you identify the needs and points, you must make an offer that combines what you love, what you do best, and what your ideal customer wants the most. When you answer these three questions, you will get a perfect offer that your customer can't resist. Next, you need to explain what you offer clearly. For that, answer these two questions:

• What do you do? The answer is a Value proposition, the value you will provide to the customer in exchange for payment.

• How do you do it? The answer to this question is to provide a detailed process, product, or service with a unique name. This sets it apart from the existing available and competing offers.

Content Strategy

You need to generate the content to build your brand. With this, you can earn the trust of your target audiences. You can create content that helps the audience instead of convincing them that you can help them. For that, you need to have a content strategy.

You can start by creating a list of your potential topics to help the target audience. Once you have created the list, you must decide which content you want to create. Common LinkedIn content types are

• Carousals

• Text posts

• Images

• Slideshows

• Case studies

• Videos

• PDFs, Worksheets

• Infographics

You should focus on the content quality and consistency. Content marketing is for long-term strategy and will provide incredible profits if done correctly.

Benefits of Personal Branding

Now that you have covered all the basics and strategies for building personal branding, you need to know what its benefits are in the long run.

• Personal branding allows you to gain trust and authority as a leader in your niche.

• It will be easier for you to pitch and be visible in the search engines.

• You can build your community where you can share who you are, what you do, and how you help others. With this, you can build your network quickly and effectively.

• You can gain more clients because you are positioned as an industry specialist.

FAQs

Q. What is personal branding, and why is it important for freelancers and entrepreneurs?

Personal branding is an extended image of your personality, skills, behavior, and experience that defines your unique identity. It's crucial for freelancers and entrepreneurs as it helps differentiate them in a competitive market and builds trust with potential clients.

Q. How can I create a compelling LinkedIn profile for personal branding?

To create a strong LinkedIn profile, start with a professional profile picture, a value-driven headline, and a summary highlighting what sets you apart. Also, use eye-catching visual content and incorporate relevant keywords for SEO.

Q. Why is it essential to have an irresistible offer in personal branding?

An irresistible offer combines what you love, do best, and what your audience wants most. It's vital because it helps you stand out and attract clients. It's important to clearly articulate what you offer and how you do it uniquely.

Q. How can I develop a unique voice for my personal brand?

Your unique voice should reflect your personality and opinions. Start by describing yourself in a few words, deciding on your communication style, and using words that resonate with your brand. Always focus on being authentic.

Q. What content strategies work best for personal branding on platforms like LinkedIn?

For personal branding, create content that helps your audience rather than self-promotion. Use various content types like carousels, images, slideshows, videos, etc. Focus on content quality and consistency for long-term success.

Q. What are the benefits of personal branding in the long run?

Personal branding helps gain trust and authority in your niche, enhances visibility on search engines, builds a strong community, and attracts more clients by positioning you as an industry specialist.

Q. How do I find my ideal clients when building a personal brand?

You must identify your target audience by considering demographics, desires, and pain points to find your ideal clients. Create an ideal client profile and tailor your brand to attract them effectively.

Q. What's the difference between personal branding and business branding?

Personal branding is about promoting yourself as an individual, while business branding focuses on promoting a company. Both are important, and personal branding can complement business branding, especially when you're the face of your business.

Q. How often should I post content for personal branding, and is consistency crucial?

Consistency is crucial in personal branding. It's better to create a posting schedule that you can maintain, whether twice a month or weekly, rather than posting frequently for a short period and then going cold.

Q. Can personal branding benefit individuals in traditional employment, or is it mainly for freelancers and entrepreneurs?

Personal branding can benefit anyone, including those in traditional employment. It helps individuals stand out, gain credibility, and advance in their careers by showcasing their skills, expertise, and unique qualities.

Personal Branding is the Key to Online Growth

Building personal branding requires getting to know yourself first. When you create personal branding, there may be no competition left. You will ask how there is no competitor, right? There will be other people and companies who sell similar services or products as you but understand that they are not you. There is no person the same as you in this world. As a human being, you are 100% unique.

This is the reason why personal branding is so important. When you build a personal brand, you ultimately distinguish yourself from the competitors. We hope this article has provided you with sufficient information on personal branding. We hope you initiate the process of creating personal branding as early as possible.