Today’s business environment is a competitive, cluttered word. Finding an advantage that will set your business apart is one of the goals of an integrated marketing strategy. For large brands, small businesses and solo entrepreneurs branding serves to create trust and provides a comfort level.
People like to do business with people they know, like and trust.
There are two types of branding that are critical to success of any business large or small.
The first is branding that focuses on your products/services. The bottom-line goal of this overarching branding strategy serves as your north star in terms of all things customer-focused from messaging to customer service to tonality, content, product development and beyond. It helps set direction and provides a focus on how to prioritize tasks.
Another way to describe a top-tier brand strategy is a promise you make to the world. Yes, the world! Sounds a little grand but once you step out into the freelance world you are opening your doors wide, perhaps wider than you imagined!
The second type of branding, which you might think of as a subset of your services branding, is your personal brand. For entrepreneurs and small business owners your personal brand is often so interwoven into your offering that it gets lost. For people working for large brands a personal brand can be what sets you apart from internal competition.
People power is also what distinguishes an organization.
For entrepreneurs and small business owners — keep in mind, a personal brand is a supporting tactic in your overall marketing plan and should be developed to integrate into your master strategy, as well, as standing alone. The benefit of creating a personal brand is the opportunity to define it through your voice and interests.
Five Social Media Secrets
There are five secrets to creating a successful digital personal brand while leveraging social media: identify social media channels, consistent tonality, frequency of posting, engagement with your digital network and interesting content your digital network wants to read, watch, listen to and share with their networks.
- Identify social media channel/s– Most of us have limited time, money and support resources. To start – it makes sense to identify the Best For You. Start with two to three social channels.
- Consistent tonality– If social channels are the canvases, then words, graphic images, and music are your paint
- Frequency of posting– Intentions are great. However, you well know that it is your action which brings results and in turn success.. Anecdotally I’ve found the more time it takes to create content the fewer posts are needed to make an impact.
- Engagement with digital network– In the digital, social media world it’s much the same as in the offline world. The difference is a connection is made through your posts, comments or retweets. Each of these little communications is a touch point for your customers and prospects about your personal brand, aka who you are (and of course by default your services). Real relationships and business opportunities are made every day on social channels.
- Interesting content– Simply put content is what you create to fill the spaces of your social channels. Content includes video, photos, graphics, text, and/or music. Easy.
A well thought out personal brand can be one of the best assets in the growth of any business. The bonus is your personal brand offers a view of your products, services and organization through your point of view and is another way to tell the story.
How will you stand out from the crowd?
This post contains highlights from an article that I wrote for Freelancers Thrive Together.
