Branding yourself authentically, both on and offline, is one of the most beneficial steps you can take for the success of your business. Yet, many of us feel overwhelmed about how to start and know how much of our personality to put out there. In our recent Masterclass Online, “How to Turn Your Personal Brand into an Asset,” expert brand strategist Sarah Skeats taught us the ins and outs of branding both yourself and your business to maximise success.
Determine the ‘who’ of your brand
We have moved from the era of ‘why’ marketing, to ‘who’ marketing. As business owners we need to ask the question, who are the people we are trying to emotionally connect with, and who do we want representing the brand and communicating with our audience?
The emotional connection we have with our audience is everything. Increasing scepticism towards brands within the current market means that as business owners we have to win the trust of consumers. If consumers can emotionally identify and connect with the brand, you establish long lasting and trusting relationships that is a valuable asset to your business.
As a business owner you need to decide on the relationship between your business’ brand, and your personal brand. Do you want to have a strong personal brand that is identifiable with your business? Or do you want your own personal band to be separated from your companies’ brand? These decisions need to be made based on your companies’ market, audience and your own personal preferences.
Pull (instead of push) markets towards you
Pulling markets towards you refers to attracting the market to you, instead of having to constantly hustle and sell (pushing) to keep your business thriving. Obviously, we would rather the ease of having our audience pursue us, and this is where your brand can help.
Your brand is a key tool that can attract the market towards your business through building relationships. In order to achieve this pull, you have to ask:
- Who do you need to influence and connect with and what are they feeling?
- What do you want to be known for?
- What is the unique element of your business?
- What is the customer journey so that you can understand and relate to them?
It is also helpful to keep in mind that leading out to the market with product features rather than brand is a way that insights a pushing mentality, rather than a pulling mentality. Make sure that the focus is not on your product but rather the nature of the relationship between the customer and the brand.
Brand yourself correctly and authentically
Your brand needs to be attractive to your audience, but also authentic to you. Within the modern marketing era you need to possess an omni channel strategy that takes your brand both on and offline. Online marketing needs to target platforms of which your target audience has an overarching presence, whilst your offline presence needs to enforce the ‘who’ of your business and the building of relationships with your audience.
Branding yourself via the internet is obviously a crucial channel within our digital age. To authentically brand yourself online some helpful tips include;
- Utilise video and podcasts that better establish a relationship with the consumer
- Become an influencer that has an established community around you
- Have a particular style (clothing, colours, etc.) that is identifiable to your brand
- Share what you do and campaign everywhere and anywhere
Sarah Skeats is a global partner at The BoB group and is an expert on brand strategy, specialising in brand communications, employee experience, and digital B2B and B2C. She has worked with companies such as NAB, Telstra, and Microsoft. Sarah has over 15 years of experience in Australia and the UK.
Our monthly Masterclass Online is FREE for Premium members and only $24.95 for non-members. To register for our next Masterclass Online, How to nail social media advertising, visit here.
