What is a Personal Brand (creation, promotion, examples)

What Do We Understand by a Personal Brand?

For many of us, whether you're an ordinary person or the owner of a large corporation, building a personal brand is not something we’re used to. Some believe that all the focus should be on business promotion, while others might find the idea of public exposure uncomfortable or even painful. To avoid getting lost in our own perceptions and fears, the first step is to understand the term itself—defining what exactly a personal brand is.

A Personal Brand is…

In broad terms, a personal brand is the image a person projects into the public space. Today, in the era of widespread social media and messaging apps, each of us has the opportunity to reach a wide audience. However, this doesn’t mean that any VK (VKontakte) page automatically becomes a brand. Personal branding is about promoting yourself as an expert in your field, with unique qualities and appeal, having earned people’s trust and respect—a thought leader in your niche.

Why Develop a Personal Brand?

The very first (and most important) question we need to ask ourselves when tackling any task is: "Why?" Why should you engage in personal brand promotion? Primarily, it’s an additional way to communicate with your clients. People are interested in people. They want to know not only about a company's products or services but also about the personality of its owner or key expert. Additionally, it’s a means to attract new clients, thus expanding the audience that trusts the company, as a personal brand is built on relationships of trust and interest. Promoting yourself helps strengthen your business brand, making it more multifaceted and transparent: people are more likely to trust companies that don’t hide information about their leadership and where experts are actively involved in the business community.

Finally, if you're developing a private practice (for example, as a psychologist or marketer offering private consultations), a personal brand becomes a necessity as it allows potential clients to get to know you before choosing you as a professional.

Do You Need a Personal Brand?

Although the benefits of personal branding seem obvious, it’s not always necessary in every situation. Undoubtedly, a personal brand is important for those striving to grow their business. However, for people who find public exposure extremely uncomfortable, personal promotion may seem more stressful than beneficial for their business development. In such cases, you might need to forgo publicity or delegate this aspect to more extroverted colleagues.

At first glance, a personal brand might not seem necessary for employees involved in routine company tasks. However, by making yourself more visible to others (for instance, by starting a blog or regularly updating your social media profiles), you might discover new career opportunities.

People as Brands

The impact of developing a personal brand becomes especially evident when we think of people who have managed to engrain their image in the hearts of millions. These individuals have captured their uniqueness through distinct elements of their appearance and other forms of public communication, winning the love and interest of the public.

Steve Jobs

Arguably the first businessman who comes to mind as a flawless personal brand is Steve Jobs. The image of a slender middle-aged man in a black turtleneck, with short hair, slight stubble, and a spark in his eyes immediately comes to mind. The black turtleneck became his signature style, firmly ingrained in people's consciousness. Alongside Jobs himself, the Apple logo also comes to mind, so closely does his personal brand align with the company he inspired for many years.

Tatyana Chernigovskaya

While the saying "people judge by appearance" is incredibly relevant when we talk about personal branding, appearance is far from the only element that sets you apart from competitors. Tatyana Chernigovskaya’s image is well-known to hundreds of thousands of people. Her signature style isn’t just about her hairstyle and way of dressing; it also encompasses her communication style, voice, personal charisma, and above all, her deep professionalism in neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and other scientific disciplines.

Igor Mann

Another compatriot of ours—marketer, publisher, and author Igor Mann—not only represents a personal brand himself but also teaches others how to build their own personal brand effectively. His signature style is calm and classic, and one of his standout features is his memorable last name. Many people developing their brand choose to create a creative pseudonym, which can also be a smart move.

Who Am I?

When comparing themselves to popular figures, many people may begin to doubt the success of their own personal brand development. The answer is to simply start. The secret is that each of us has unique traits, and even if your competitors have long been blogging, dominating social media, and appearing on every media platform, it’s essential to begin working on your own brand. How do you take the plunge and where do you start? Let’s take a look.

How to Create a Personal Brand: First Steps

Examples of superstars clearly show how different each of us is from the other. When starting to build your personal brand, you are in search of your uniqueness. It's important not to rush and to be consistent in your actions.

Personal Audit

A personal brand is created through careful self-analysis. Reflect or ask those around you about your distinctive traits, pick out the "quirks" that make you uniquely you, and thoroughly identify and record those qualities. To express your uniqueness through appearance, you can consult a stylist who will help you choose the most appropriate outfit details, suggest your style and color palette, and provide ideas for your hairstyle, etc.

Target Audience and Personal Brand Promotion Plan

To develop a personal brand, it’s crucial to understand who your target audience (TA) is—who you’re addressing during speeches, who you're creating social media posts for, etc. Imagine a specific person and create a detailed collective image of them: try to understand their needs, lifestyle characteristics, distinguishing traits, etc.

Personal Time

As you take your first steps, you’ll likely feel the urge to see results from your efforts immediately. Remember, building a personal brand is a long-term process that can take several years and will require constant time (and not only time) investments, especially in the beginning.

Building a Personal Brand

When promoting your brand, it’s essential not to limit yourself to one or two formats of interaction that are most comfortable for you. Not everything that feels comfortable will be effective. Moreover, this is a multifaceted process where you need to maintain a presence in public spaces not only through social media and media outlets but also by speaking at relevant events and engaging in various collaborations and partnerships.

Social Media

The most common form of personal promotion today is maintaining social media pages (blogs) or public accounts. It’s a convenient way to stay present in the public space, where your target audience feels closer to you than, say, on a corporate website.

Publications in Media

To broaden your communication, get to know industry-specific and business media outlets, and offer them interesting topics for articles and presentations. Publishing articles, interviews, comments, or maintaining a regular column in media outlets is an excellent way to enhance your image as an expert in your field.

Speaking at Events

To promote your professional brand, it's undoubtedly worth participating in industry events and speaking as an expert at both offline and online meetings, as well as initiating your own events. This is an opportunity for direct contact with your target audience.

Collaboration and Partnerships in Building a Personal Brand

Collaborations with colleagues in your field or media outlets and various cross-partnership projects are becoming increasingly popular today. These can be in-person events, joint live broadcasts, or collaborative social media posts.

Content to Attract Attention

As you’ve likely realized, creating and promoting your personal brand requires regular public presence—both in-person and online. Let’s summarize the potential formats for interacting with your audience:

• Promoting your personal brand on social media: posts, videos, live broadcasts, managing a group or blog, collaborative publications with other market leaders, and so on.
• Content on the company’s corporate website: running a blog, posting interviews and articles about you.
• Running your own podcast or YouTube channel.
• Media marketing: long-form articles, running a regular column, interviews, comments, participating in TV shows or as a guest and expert on YouTube, press conferences, and other public appearances.
• Participating in events (offline and online), networking, organizing your own events, and joining professional associations and communities.
• Partnership interactions: joint projects and meetings, expert participation in friendly initiatives, and more.

A Personal Brand as a Story

Without a doubt, creating content for your personal promotion can pose many challenges, especially in the beginning. Some of us might be convinced that we have nothing to share with an audience. Yes, we may be good experts in our field, but with so many well-established and equally professional people around, we might feel uninteresting in comparison. Remember that each of us leads a unique life, and people love to tell and listen to stories. A story can serve as a great example of your life—an example that will be memorable and appreciated as useful information. It’s no wonder that storytelling is becoming increasingly popular every year as the art of telling stories.

Observe how well-known personalities, especially creative individuals who are used to being in the public eye, tell their stories. Analyze what they say, how they structure their narrative, and what captured your attention in a post or interview fragment. Then try telling your own story about the main event of the day.

If it’s a story about overcoming difficulties, to make the story dynamic and cohesive, you can base it on the following questions: “Who am I? What did I want? What got in my way? What did I do in the end?” Share this story with close friends or send the text to people you trust and from whom you’d like to receive feedback.

What Bloggers Talk About: Universal Content Ideas

When starting a personal brand, some of us may struggle with what topics to discuss with our audience. There are many clues: first, you can look at what other bloggers are discussing and identify the key topics you could cover. Analyzing the most popular search queries related to your subject can also help you identify the most in-demand information. Over time, generating content will become second nature, and you’ll not only easily find topics for posts or videos, but also develop your own distinctive style.

Commonly Used Topics:

• Work (industry news, daily tasks, events, announcements, and reports from events).
• Hobbies and travel (hobbies or one-off experiences like skydiving, unusual routes, adventures, and impressions).
• Family (including pets—don’t forget to post cat photos).
• Reflections on important topics (both professional content and thoughts on unrelated subjects).
• Impressions from everyday life (what surprised you, something new, unexpected, etc.).
• Collections of useful information, interesting quotes, and more.
• Questions and polls (people always appreciate when their opinions are sought).

The Flip Side of a Personal Brand

For some, public exposure can be a difficult challenge. We are used to a narrower circle of communication and may not fully account for the potential negative consequences that public exposure can bring. First and foremost, we’re talking about our reputation, which needs to be carefully protected from external attacks and our own rash actions.

Reputation

What should you keep in mind to maintain a positive image and the respect of those who are interested in you? When beginning to build a personal brand, it’s essential to conduct a thorough audit of all your social media pages and remove any questionable content. It’s important to approach public statements with the intent of being respectful and thoughtful. If you’re unsure about posting certain content, consider asking for feedback from your inner circle before publishing.

Content that should be deleted includes:

• Party photos or videos showing you in any compromising state.
• Judgmental comments that could offend various groups of people (statements on race, religion, politics, and any other sensitive topics).
• Public discussions of internal issues (relationships with colleagues, your circle), as well as discussions about competitors and partners.

When agreeing to collaborate with the media or a new partner, don’t jump at every opportunity. First, carefully research the reputation of the counterpart, as this collaboration could reflect on your image.

Too Personal

In addition to paying attention to your reputation, another challenging aspect arises when it comes to creating a public image. Many of us are willing to share our professional lives, but we may completely close off our personal lives from public view. This is understandable: the more public you become, the more vulnerable you feel. Additionally, many of us are hesitant to expose our loved ones to the public eye.

What to Rely On

So, what are the key pillars in shaping a personal brand? What will help you create an accurate portrait of yourself and stay on the right track? Keep these three elements in mind:

You Are Your Uniqueness and Authenticity

Your uniqueness is expressed in the traits that make you stand out from others, traits that are of interest to your audience (and not just external characteristics). When building your brand, it’s crucial to remain authentic and genuine. If you create an image in your head that doesn’t match reality, it will become apparent sooner or later, which could negatively affect your image and reputation. It’s much more beneficial and easier to show yourself as you truly are.

Consistency and Regularity in Promotion

If you’ve committed to building your brand, don’t give up halfway. Once you start, prepare for long-term work. Significant results will only come after years of consistent daily effort, trials, and errors. At the same time, this is a great opportunity for self-improvement. Don’t abandon your efforts and stay logical in how you present yourself. Maintain warm and respectful relationships with your audience.

More is Better

Don’t limit yourself to social media—use as many channels as possible and take the initiative to collaborate. Being present in various channels will increase your visibility and introduce you (even if indirectly) to a larger number of people than if you were only using one or two methods. Additionally, this is a chance to test different formats and perhaps find a more successful way to communicate with those you serve.

You’re Not Alone When You Grow

Finally, remember that you don’t have to develop your personal brand alone: you can always turn to professionals who can offer the most comfortable, interesting, and painless promotion strategies, pointing out the main pitfalls that can arise in your industry. We’d be happy to help you promote your personal brand! Contact 4D Agency.

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