Your own personal brand needs to be unique; something different that will appeal to ideally your potential customers. And once you know and have developed your own personal brand you now need to be able to portray this to people who you would like to work with and for them to be your customers in both the short immediate term and the long term future of your own business.
Below are some of the things you need to focus on when you are trying to promote yourself and build a brand name that people will recognise over time and remember.
Your history
Make sure your background history is not only detailed but it is also interesting for your readers/audience. In some cases you will always have a CV but to promote your own personal brand this needs to be in a better form, something snappier, a short resume, profile that people understand where you have come from and where you aim to go in the future.
Logo
Think of a good logo for yourself, something that is catchy but maybe also says a little about what you do. If you can design a simple but effective logo or name (most people working on their own just use their own name) but you could have a simple logo that will one day become recognisable as who you are. It’s for the long term thinking.
Business Cards
Make sure you get some decent business cards. Business Cards need to be simple yet effective. They need to tell anyone looking at it, what your name is and how they can contact you, quickly and easily. You could put a description of your services on the back of your card as a quick point of reference for someone.
Related: Effective Personal Branding Leads to Successful Career
Website
Can you do your own website which promotes your services, skills and experiences. Can you get some good endorsements from people you have worked with before that will do you some kind of reference to put on your website that new clients could refer to. Make sure you have a contact form; most people like to be able to contact people easily for services and we are in the day and age of websites and most clients refer to the internet first.
Using LinkedIn is a great way to meet different people by linking up with them and using it as a form of networking for business professionals. Once you have a few business professionals linked to you, you will see how easy it is to meet with other professionals across all areas that could be customers, clients or just like minded people seeking advice. Make sure your profile matches any other personal branding such as your business card or website and that you follow the same pattern so that people looking at you as a whole can see the continuity.
Sales Pitch – Sell yourself
When you are ready to unleash yourself on the big wide world then you need a proper sales pitch. To get this you need to know exactly what you want out of your dream. Who are you? Why are you trying to promote yourself, your skills and to who? You have one shot to get people interested so it is important that you are straight to the point and have skills that appeal to the people that you are targeting.
Related: 9 Ways to Improve Your Personal Branding to Get a Job
Listen
Once you do get yourself in front of a customer then you need to be able to listen. Listening is a big part of winning any business. Allowing the customer to talk and discuss what they want to before you tell them what you can do for them and how your skills and experiences can help them and how you can work together. Without listening and just focusing on yourself you will never build a good relationship together.
Follow up after meetings
If you want to create a lasting impression, follow up with that client after you have had a meeting. It could be a quick phone call, an email or you could send a simple thank you card which just reminds them who you are and what you provide and how you can help them. It also shows that you pay great attention to detail and like to follow things up which is important for most businesses these days.
Photo by: Eric Cuthbert
