The 7 Secrets of Truly Successful Personal Brands Creating a solid brand is essential to your success in whatever field you enter. These seven tips will help you build the perfect personal brand.
By Jon Michail Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The choice to launch your brand is noticeable. But creating a solid brand is essential. Authenticity, consistency, initiative, confidence, courage, and time are required to complete everything.
Personal branding is not a thing to do because social media says so. Today it's an essential element in your communication strategy, used by not only famous and influential people and big businesses but also every individual that wants to be seen, heard and ultimately valued.
Globally, everyday people are already creating their own brands. The corporate branding machine enslavement is too much, so many professionals are leaving employment. It is crucial to build your brand authority because other than leading to commercial and reputational opportunities, it's also positive for your self-expression.
Better clientele, industry recognition and financial gains result from it. Due to declining trust in our institutions, customers trust individuals more than businesses; therefore, you should concentrate on establishing your personal (and business) brand as part of your elevation strategy.
Check out these seven personal branding success secrets:
1. Find and curate your "A-Team"
A new brand's path can be pretty tricky and resemble an endless race of overcoming technical, emotional and personal obstacles. A key component of overcoming these obstacles is finding and building a solid team that shares your vision and mission.
Co-founders, workers, advisers, consultants, mentors, coaches and even dependable family members may be a part of your team — link your team selection to your values and ideals and favor compatibility above competence.
Related: I've Interviewed and Hired Thousands of People. Here's What to Keep in Mind Before Offering the Job.
2. Tap into future trends and needs
Adapting based on future trends and customer needs is pivotal because the world is evolving daily. For example, if Jeff Bezos tried setting up an online bookstore today, he would most possibly fail miserably. However, his foresight to know what customers need drove Amazon to a global ecommerce store today. Timing is everything!
Likewise, knowing the market's future can help your brand make the right moves and become successful. But it doesn't imply it's impossible to foresee how the corporate world will develop. What matters most is how analytically sound you are and how well-equipped you are to anticipate future events.
Even though it won't always be exact to a tee, this will give you a solid idea of where things are going. Making assumptions about future trends carries some calculated risk, but staying safe will never help you or your brand grow.
Related: Looking for a New Business Idea? Here's How to Identify What People Really Need
3. Unlearn outdated trends to make way for the new
For a brand to flourish, it is vital to unlearn in business. We can only build something fresh and distinctive if we let go of our outdated attitudes and practices—discovering a new project or closing a transaction with unexpected customers results from curiosity.
Unlearning is a systematic strategy to advance and overcome barriers one at a time.
Entrepreneurship success is composed of 20% learning and 80% unlearning. Remove the restrictive presumptions to make room for helpful information.
4. Think fast for solutions and act fast
One of the secrets to a great brand is having the capacity to think and respond quickly. Since environmental issues are worsening, the brand must move soon, seek eco-alternatives and sustainable solutions that reduce their adverse effects, and convey the concept of conscious living to the next generation as quickly as possible.
Simply acting quickly and moving quickly to find answers can give you a competitive edge. If you are not in a technology-dominant business-like distribution, manufacturing, or something not typically controlled by technology firms, your rivals are probably advancing slowly. We must make many daily decisions, but some are more crucial than others.
For example, eating is essential, but whether you choose a salad, chicken or a Big Mac is less important at the moment. You can think more rapidly if you can swiftly pick what to eat. Even if your choice weren't the best, the effects would be minimal in the short term.
5. Be adaptable and flexible
Being an entrepreneur entails weighing possibilities and dangers equally. This will help you create a distinct brand and ensure its long-term survival and competitiveness. Many new brands tend to concentrate on a single item or service.
Meanwhile, they frequently need to see the value of brand creation right away. Startup brands often think that the benefits of their products are evident and that the brand can speak for itself. You can only place that much faith in some potential consumers.
You must include the development of your brand skills in your content strategy and make sure that the visuals reflect this.
You must evaluate new items in light of your company values as you grow. Check to see if your objectives are compatible, and if not, make any necessary modifications.
6. Become an autodidact
After college, education for most people typically comes to an end. However, your reputation will continue to rise if you develop a passion for studying and being an autodidact.
However, in this day and age of information overload and many online distractions, being an effective autodidact can be taxing. Therefore, staying focused on your mission is more crucial than ever.
Some people contend that the age of the autodidact, or self-directed learning, is currently upon us. After all, the internet is brimming with tools for self-learning that you can utilize to build your brand. However, beware that some may lack substance and are merely shiny bells and whistles.
Related: 6 Little-Known Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
7. Be street smart
Being "street smart," or able to foresee and handle unexpected everyday business issues, is generally seen as a crucial ability for brand owners and entrepreneurs.
Most investors claim to be able to spot this capacity when they see it, but the experience is necessary to describe it. To be a street-smart person, you need to comprehend your brand's surroundings or condition well.
You are consciously aware of your surroundings. Moreover, you can see what's happening around you even when you can't see it. You can form opinions about the situation based on lived experience, the environment and the people in it, giving you the confidence to put your faith in these opinions.
Related: Are You 'Intelligent' Enough to Be an Entrepreneur?
Conclusion
To succeed at personal branding, you must be a brand new, evolving you. In a world full of imitators, be genuine and authentic to yourself.
Authentic personal branding is more than simply self-promotion and marketing commonly seen online. It focuses more on making a courageous difference in people's lives and inspiring them to live better lives. It can also be about inspiring humanity to do good. After 33 years in this game, I believe and practice that "doing good" is all possible.
You must invest time and effort to be the "go-to" authority in your chosen area. All things worth doing must be done well; therefore, it's better to make the most of that time and effort!
Applying the seven tips above will help you create an authentic personal brand that is true to you and enjoy the success that will inevitably follow.
