How a Personal Branding Plan Benefits Your Business Brand
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Truer words have never been spoken, and they apply to both you and your business.

If you own a store, for example, you know that if someone has a negative interaction the first time they visit, they’ll leave immediately and probably never come back. They might even tell some friends.

But if they have the time of their life on their first visit to your store, you have a loyal customer for life. And again, they might even tell some friends.

But what if you’re someone who works with clients? Someone hoping to be a leader, a speaker, an author, an entertainer, a consultant?

Perhaps you’ve done the hard work of building your business brand, with a professional logo and website to match.

But your trademark is only half the battle. Because if you want to stand out and reach your ideal customers, you need to put the same effort into understanding, developing, and maintaining your personal brand.

While personal branding is critical for all entrepreneurs of all genders, the reality is that women are often conditioned to be meek and mild-mannered. So while anyone can benefit from the advice I’m about to share, I highly recommend that women, in particular, listen (so they can have the confidence to speak up and stand out!).

Why do you need a personal brand strategy?
Women often ask me, ‘how does a personal brand help my business?’

Branding takes work and effort, and business leaders are attuned to ROI. Therefore, they often want to know how personal branding can benefit their business, before they go to any lengths.

In short, your personal brand is a representation of your business and people will judge you accordingly.

The reality is that people judge a book by its cover.

So creating a brand is like the cover of your business. You want that cover to not only stand out, but also be a true reflection of who you are and what your business is about.

And whether intuitively or directly, most people believe that the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. If your personal brand is messy, lazy, or non-existent, that will reflect on your business whether you want it to or not.

On the other hand, when you align your personal brand with your business brand, you’re much more likely to not only connect with the right people, but also turn them into enthusiastic fans.

So that’s the ‘why’ of developing a personal branding strategy. To learn more about how personal branding fits with professional branding on our website.

Now let’s get into the ‘how’.

Create a personal brand
If every journey begins with a single step, then the first step in this journey is to embrace your personal brand.

That means having confidence in who you are. This demands authenticity. Honesty is important above everything else in branding: being genuine builds trust, and trust builds customers.
This can be difficult for women who are often raised to be people pleasers and do everything for everyone.

This is why you need to keep your target audience in mind.

When building your brand you need to define your ideal client.

And then realize that only your ideal client matters.

You don’t have to like everyone, and that’s okay. Remember that people who don’t buy into your brand are likely to never become customers anyway.

So be confident in who you are. It belongs to me! Own your personality and don’t be afraid to share it with the world. Accept what makes you unique and share it with the world.

READ: 8 personal branding mistakes that are hurting your business
Personal branding mistakes can turn off customers. But how do you avoid them so as not to damage your business?

These are the biggest personal branding mistakes to avoid.

Read more online.

Examples of building your brand and building your business
In my role, I wear many hats. Our Canada-based agency provides almost every service you may need for digital marketing: Logo & Graphic Design, Custom Website Design & Development, SEO & SEM Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Content Writing, Copywriting , newsletters and strategic consulting.

And while I love all of my hats, I think what I love most is working one-on-one with small business owners and entrepreneurs to help them define their personal and professional brands and use them effectively.

It’s so powerful to help women have their ‘aha’ moment of being crystal clear about who they are and what they have to offer.

For example, our good friend and client (now retired) Dana Smithers is a woman who lives, eats and breathes her personal brand. Always the ‘lady in red’, Dana is a shining example of integrating her personal brand with her business brand and her whole life.

Our client Katherine Hartvickson of Quantum Ascendance is another shining example of building strong and consistent personal and professional brands.

Katherine is a high-performance leadership and human resources consultant, as well as a speaker and best-selling author.

It’s also a powerful personal brand, infusing professionalism and grace into everything you do. This includes regular insightful blog posts and a long-standing social media presence that establishes her as a go-to expert.

And as we’ve covered, it’s important to fully accept who you are.

For example, our client Yvonne Douma is not afraid to show her playful side! While her company Douma Leadership offers serious services to entrepreneurs looking to improve her communication skills, Yvonne brings an infectious joy to her work that her clients love.

So instead of forcing herself into the ‘shady businesswoman’ role, Yvonne embraces who she is, with a social media presence that reflects the fun and family person she is.

Don’t get us wrong: Yvonne is a super serious businesswoman and consummate professional who also shares incredibly insightful tips and strategies for establishing yourself as an expert in your field (for example, check out our communication skills talk on our website).

But that doesn’t mean she should shoe her personal brand on something that just isn’t her.

Branding advice for women in business
So once you have some clarity on your personal brand, what’s next?

Here are some tried and tested ways to build your personal brand:

Optimize social networks
The best way to use social media effectively in your marketing is to be consistent and create authentic engagement.

Social networks are not a tool to sell your business. Instead, it offers a wonderful opportunity to share your personal brand. Keep your social media presence consistent to build and enhance your personal brand awareness and develop a “know, like and trust” factor with your followers.

Learn some more tips on how to create an effective social media strategy with us online.

Develop a suitable content strategy
A good content strategy is important for many reasons, one of which is establishing your personal and professional brand. We’re all familiar with the phrase “content is king,” so it should come as no surprise that well-written content is one of the most important elements of your website and marketing materials.

Now the right content strategy will look different for different companies. May include:

• Website content
• Webinar/Teleseminar Registration Pages
• Pages for the sale of products and services.
• Blog and newsletter articles
• Email Marketing / Newsletters
• Social Media Posts
• Press releases
• Print marketing materials

Ultimately, the goal of all content should be to showcase your brand, attract more customers, get conversions, and ultimately increase business.

If you’re new to content marketing, we’ve got some great resources to help you get started:

• How to Create Blog Content to Engage Your Target Audience
• How to convert newsletter signups into customers without feeling sleazy
• How to engage and inspire with interactive content marketing

Accept praise gracefully

This is a personal fault of mine, and I suspect it’s something a lot of women struggle with. Sometimes it’s hard to respond to a compliment, but I recommend that you take a moment and accept it. Part of owning who you are is being grateful when people recognize you.

So instead of cringing and deflecting compliments, accept compliments gracefully.

And don’t walk away from your achievements either! It’s not bragging if you just list your accomplishments and let them stand on their own.

Find your community
Surround yourself with your target market. That way, you’re more likely to spend time with people who are likely to respond to your personal brand.

Not everyone appeals to everyone, so put yourself in places where your ideal clients will be present. Mixing water with oil will only cause you unnecessary trouble.

By putting yourself in the right spot and letting yourself shine with a strong personal brand, you will lead to your ideal clients. Otherwise, trying to be all things to all people only leads to obstacles that are best avoided.

You can connect with your community at networking and community events, and never underestimate the importance of a great Facebook group!

Work with a trademark expert
If you are an entrepreneur, I have no doubt that you are good at what you do. But what you do may not be branding and marketing.

Remember, personal and professional branding takes a lot of time and effort. It can also be a bit intimidating.

You’d outsource your bookkeeping if the numbers make you cross-eyed, and you’d outsource your building management if you were overwhelmed with time. Likewise, it’s often a great idea to outsource your branding and marketing if you feel like you’re in over your head, or if you just don’t have the time to devote to this important work.

That’s where our team can help, with consulting and branding strategies to help you get to the next level. I can’t wait to learn more about your business goals!

For the success of your business,

Suzanne