Personal Branding Pays: Why You Need to Start Investing in Building Your Brand Online

The richest man in the world has one of the most outstanding personal brands.

Coincidence? Not really.

He spends exactly $0 on advertising and marketing his companies – yet you’ll struggle to find a single person who hasn’t heard of them.

Elon Musk is everywhere.

You can ignore his electric cars and dismiss his space quests – but you can’t deny that Musk’s presence is ubiquitous and his personality piques your curiosity.

Most people don’t think of Tesla and SpaceX as businesses, but rather as the realisations of Elon Musk’s vision for the world. Musks’ personal branding has us convinced that his products and firms exist for reasons that are more compelling than just turning a profit.

For instance, when he bought out Twitter, he didn’t call it an acquisition. He called it a victory of free speech. The conversations that happened around Musk & Twitter and the narrative around Zuckerberg acquiring WhatsApp are starkly different, though they pose the same questions around private ownership of influential media. The only difference? Musk has built such a compelling personal brand that no one separates him and his reputation from his business decisions.

You don’t have to be an eccentric billionaire CEO to grow your influence and guard your reputation. You simply have to work on defining and building your personal brand, online and offline.

Here are just some of the unique advantages you enjoy when you invest in developing your personal brand:

Build Trust

Every business pitch is about building trust. Subsequently, you show your past successes, proof of your competence, and think carefully about what you say. Imagine if this isn’t a one-time thing, but an ongoing exercise, something you invest in consistently. You end up growing trust among a larger audience. An audience who could turn into customers or valuable connections.

It’s easier for people to trust people, and not businesses. This is the cornerstone of influencer marketing. People follow trends that fashion influencers model. They listen to other parents about the best ways to care for their children. They trust YouTube reviews of cars. It works the same way when you spend time and effort in garnering this kind of trust among peers and stakeholders in your industry – the possibilities that open up are incredible.

Make Yourself Known

As a business leader or founder, you’ve probably told your marketing teams to aim for increased ‘visibility.’ Visibility is a key benefit of building your personal brand online; it gets people noticing you, and with the right approach, convinces valuable audiences to listen to what you have to say.

Consistently posting content that’s strategically aligned to your personal brand and goals keeps you top of mind among your audience. When this happens, you’ll be one of the first people they think of when they have a potential opportunity to work with you.

For a business leader, that is always a good thing. It’s marketing at its most effective.

Generate Leads

Leads don’t always refer to sales. They also show up as speaking engagements, opportunities to grow in your career, award nominations, new roles – anything that you are working towards.

Personal branding is a powerful way to attract these leads, rather than chase them. When you’re widely seen as knowledgeable, experienced, and accomplished by the people in your industry, they consider you a natural fit for any opportunities that arise within their scope of work.

Grow Your Authority

An important benefit of building your personal brand is growing your authority among your target audience. As a business leader, this audience could be both within your organisation and outside of it.

Publishing insightful and hard-hitting content is the only sustainable and organic way to grow your influence and be seen as an expert in your field. Content that’s written intelligently, states informed opinions, shares key industry updates, and showcases your expertise helps others trust in your abilities, experience, and knowledge, thereby growing your following and network.

Personal branding goes beyond showcasing your achievements with announcements on platforms like LinkedIn. It’s a long-term exercise that is introspective and demands commitment. Any business leader will agree that a network of valuable connections who trust you is an invaluable asset, and this is exactly what you get out of a well-crafted personal brand.

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