What’s personal branding, again?
Personal branding is often misinterpreted as something related to your digital presence and your social media. It goes beyond that, beyond marketing. It is how you communicate, how you treat people, and how people see you and remember you/ your business through all the touch points of your interaction with your audience. It is a long-term endeavour, not a short term.
Building a personal brand could bridge the gap between how you want to be perceived, what’s important to you, and what people actually think about you.
Personal branding is also a commitment you make to your audience, how you show up to them, in what way, and what sensorial experience you would like them to have about you / your business. It is a commitment to an emotional connection.
Let me take you to an interior design space as an example (I have loved interior magazines forever, so it is the easiest way for me to describe it). Let’s imagine three different rooms we are going to visit.
The first room. The room brought all the senses of calm, comfort, relaxation, and spaciousness. The colour was neutral and light. The person in charge of the room was friendly and approachable, she was funny too.
And when you leave that room, somebody asks you about the experience. It is almost certain you would say those emotion-based words. It was calm and so comfortable, enjoyable and relaxing, and it fit well with the character of the person in charge.
Then, the second room was completely different. With all the colours in the world, bright and busy, with patterns everywhere, all mixed in a coordinated way, strategically displayed.
The person in charge was very expressive, and she talked to everyone. You can hear her laughs from down the aisle. You described that experience as an explosion of energy, vibrant, engaging, and happy, and it described exactly the personality of the person in charge.
The last room was a bit of a mix of the first and the second rooms; some parts of the room were vibrant and colourful, some parts were minimal, and some empty spaces in the corner could be decorated. It was a nice room, nevertheless.
The person in charge was friendly; she would come out occasionally to help, but mostly, she was in the backroom, working with the logistics.
So, how would you explain this third room? Do you have emotional words to describe it? How could you remember a room if you couldn’t connect emotionally? Sure, you remember something from it, something factual and not emotional. It was room no. 3 with a bit of everything nicely displayed.
These three experiences could be negative or positive experiences for different people, which doesn’t matter because that’s not the point.
The point and the important part is that you can say if there was an emotional experience from any of those rooms. That’s what we want: a lasting impression. Personal branding is like that.
So, instead of letting your brand happen by default, why don’t you build your brand with intentions that resonate with your values, beliefs, and what’s important to you and perhaps go even further by sharing your unique stories?
Because your journey is yours, and that’s what makes it unique. This is the primary key for small businesses because this unique presence will make them stand out and connect them to their dream audience.
