20 personal Branding Tips for Small Business Owners -theBrandBoy.Com

There is a reason why more than 50% of startups end up failing in four years.

The odds are quite hard to ignore, especially when the business fails; it affects the owners, too, until or unless they are not working toward self-branding as well.

Personal branding is a form of branding; however, it’s more personal and focuses on the owners instead of what they do.

For small business owners, it’s important to focus on their self-branding along with business promotion.

self branding tips for small business owner

Not just it gives a backbone in times of serious crises but also your branding can help you achieve your goals and improve your sales in small businesses too.

Contents

Why Do Small Business Owners Need Personal Branding?

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Having your personal brand is one of the decisions that small businesses must make. However, a personal brand is not about your business, but on a basic level, it’s about you.

When You Need It?

Personal branding is an option, but if you have a unique value based on talent, unique expertise, or something which is just for you. Then, you should start with personal branding.

The biggest benefit of personal branding is it gives you flexibility. It also means that when you want to shift your purpose as a business owner, you can do it without needing to rebrand it.

With the help of your self-branding, your company name also stays maintained.

What To Know About It?

Personal branding is a commitment. It’s not just for one day; it takes lots of effort and time. Business owners must work and build their identity in the market, which is not connected to their business.

Also, it includes sharing, helping, and distributing what you know with others. You can write blogs or books to engage more people towards your uniqueness.

Why Do You Need It?

Branding is not marketing jargon. It’s about improving your presence in the online market.

When you share your blogs, you also share your personality or some part of it with your audience.

When you take control of your self-branding, you are actually holding the driver’s seat. Now you are a narrator of your audience; you can make them see what you want.

Self-branding is not about being someone who is not you or having a fake personality. It’s about showing the real side of you and the journey behind creating what you are living right now.

Here are a few points you need to remember when building your self-branding.

Start with what kind of personality you got.
Be real and show it to your customers.
Create a solution from what you know and experience
Keep it about you instead of your business
Communicate, share and help

Follow These Tips For Self-Branding Right Now

Self-branding powers not just your business but also you. It helps you establish in the niche you are an expert. Improving your presence and connecting people directly to you.

For small business owners, self-branding is one of the under-appreciated terms. With the help of self-branding, you can not just run one business but grow multiple businesses. It gives you more options to grow and become what you want.

With the following tips, you can boost your self-branding techniques, plans, and strategies.

Social media is playing a vital role in business as well as branding in today’s market. It’s an undeniable fact and the most useful platform available for self-branding.

When it comes to doing personal branding, the first thought of owners is to build a website, design logos, and brand the elements.

However, instead of going there, focus on points like –

Choosing social media that fits your style
Find where you can get your targeted audience
Get the options ready in platforms that match your interest

Urgency is not required, and for doing self-branding, you should avoid it at all costs. The above-mentioned points are one of the important objectives you should know.

Start making your presence and getting your audience ready. If you are into making carpeting, start uploading videos on youtube.

If you cook, start putting videos and images on Instagram. It helps you in building your audience before you start the business.

It will help in finding your voice too.

2. Look Out For The Mentors

For small business owners, the best way to learn is to find experts and mentors who already do self-branding.

Find the best people in the market today who followed the tips and made their strategies. Following their ideas will help you in getting guidance.

It’s not about copy-pasting, absorbing their experiences, knowledge, and pros and cons of what they did. Use the information in making your plans, strategies, and decisions.

Pro Tips: To get mentors who can guide you to find someone who already has a name in the market. And also who resonates with you and your ideas deeply.

3. Set Up Your Website

Image source: webflow

To anyone who is planning to start a brand or small business, Building a personal website is necessary.

Without a website, there is no central source where anyone can get information about what you do. When people google your name, they will not get any definitive destination.

This can turn off your would-be visitors and affect further things. Also, don’t depend on social media. It’s not your home; you borrowed the space and platform that shares with the rest of the world.

When you buy a domain, you also buy your place in the search engine. The home where you can build your small business and make your brand.

Including your brand, here are a few things you need to remember as well –

Use your professional photos
Add external articles and blogs. And a link to create external links.
Make sure to add a bio and share your thoughts and opinions.
Make it easy to read but creative at the same time.

Pro Tip: When building your website, use your name in the URL; it will help people to find you easily on search engines.

4. Develop Your Product

When you keep your branding without any product, it is an affiliate portal. That’s why it’s important to develop and launch your product.

Having your product or services directly offered to your audience adds credibility to your self-branding.

The best offering you can do for your self-branding is selling knowledge. You can add books, in-person interviews, online courses, and speaking events.

You can offer anything that delivers in-depth information to your audience.

5. Provide Content Value

Image source: thevectorimpact

There is nothing that sells more than relevant content. Everyone seeks information, and if you are availing the knowledge in the easy form, there will be an audience waiting to buy from you.

You can send your content through social media and websites. Make sure you add a blog or vlog section to your website.

Build your portfolio along with pragmatic knowledge and important tools.

Also, ensure that the materials are shareable across the platforms so you can get more traffic and engagement.

6. Figure Out About The Basics

When you are building your personal brand, you need to pay attention to your personal and professional identity. The first basis for developing your brand is to find out who you really are.

It’s important to be introspective and create what your weak side is and what your strength is.

Following are a few important things you need to ask yourself:

Which work area can you excel in?
What motivates you?
What’s your best side you get a compliment?
Which project do you need help from?
Which roles are draining your energy?
Which kind of work did not make you feel bored?

These questions are important to ask; if you are finding it difficult to answer them yourself, then ask your friends, relatives, and people who know you.

Knowing your personality, you can choose how to do branding.

Most people find a problem when it comes to choosing their specific niche. The common reason is they don’t want to put limitations.

Choosing the niche for your personal branding is equally important as your business. It will help in guiding and growing in your career.

When you have the niche fixed, you know what to do to achieve your goals. It helps in attracting the audience who are especially interested in your niche as well.

Pro Tip: Instead of Choosing a particular niche, choose the area of work you like to do. And let it grow and evolve as time passes.

7. Get Your Audience

For developing self-branding, you are going to need your audience first.

When you know your audience gives you an idea of how things will craft and where your focus should be determined, along with where you need to go.

Who are you targeting? Leaders? Individuals? Specific companies? With an idea of whom your content is targeting, you can easily craft your stories and content.

It’s important to find your audience as soon as you can. It saves you from future hassle. Also, you have a clear mind and focus, and you know where exactly you are going from here.

8. Keep Your Elevator Pitch Ready

When you start focusing on conceptualizing your personal brand, now it’s time to start developing your elevator pitch.

Elevator pitch is a 30 to 60 seconds pitch where you craft information like who you are, what you do, and what others can get in a short summarized story.

The pitch is highly beneficial when you are attending a networking event, or you are simply anywhere surrounded by people.

steps craft personal branding elevator pitch

When you are crafting your pitch, make sure to keep it short and concise. Put the focus on the right and important thighs without expanding them.

Emphasize what crucial and powerful points of yours are. It’s one of the best ways of promoting your personal brand and getting the best from networking events.

Pro Tip: Your personality and attitude are two major elements in an elevator pitch. Make sure you practice and keep a genuine smile while pitching for it.

9. Ask For Referrers & Recommendations

For personal branding, recommendations and referred works are the same as your business. Having people in higher places or colleagues or other people is an efficient way to define your brand.

Word-to-word promotion also adds credibility and value to your brand. You can use testimonials, reviews, etc., in marketing your brand.

For doing your endorsement, you can choose LinkedIn as it’s one of the platforms where you can catch the eye of professional people. But also ask people to refer you to the potential audience.

10. Don’t Be Afraid To be Different

You don’t have to say what others are saying even. According to the experts, when it comes to personal branding, you should never feel afraid to speak what others are not saying.

Even though it will make you polarized, it will also help you become powerful. There are always chances to get dislikes as not everyone will share your thoughts.

But when you become yourself unapologetically, it’s when you form your personal brand. Your own voice gives uniqueness to your brand.

And by this, you can attract people with the same thoughts as you.

Pro Tip: Don’t hide the real you. Instead of pleasing everyone, focuses on your values.

11. Be Useful & Consistent

Your personal branding of yours should be a problem solver. By this, you can get more attention, and when your audience starts to rely on you, it helps build a loyal base for you.

Give a consistent experience no matter where you are interacting with your customers. When they encounter the same personality again and again, they will easily remember you for a long time.

You can interact with your customers on social media, office, networking events, calls, etc. Make sure you maintain the consistency of experience for your customer.

Pro tip: Use your name along with the same spelling and case, no matter which platform you are using. Also, add the same profile photo and bio.

12. Be Authentic

In the world of technology, where everything is just one click away, it’s impossible to fake and be something that is not you.

The old-time was about’ buyer beware’ where the salesman had more knowledge than the buyers. But in the world of ‘ seller beware,’ the role is reversed.

In today’s world, keeping information and secrets away from your audience is not just a foolish thing to do but also has an impact on the trust level.

Being honest is still considered the best policy. It helps you in showing your credibility, and it leads to getting loyal customers.

13. Do Blogging For Your Brand

Blogging is one of the most useful, effective, and recommended strategies used by all influencers or self-branded owners.

The reason is simple. Blogging gives voice to your opinion and thoughts. Well, maybe you don’t have it right now, but after blogging for a few months or years.

You will build your own audience who follows what you write.

There are two options –

Do Personal Blogging

Image source: WPbeginner

Even though personal blogging takes time and you are going to need strategies. Also, after writing lots of blogs, you will get the final results. But it’s still rewarding.

Write Guest Post

Image source: Backlinko

Guest posting allows you to get your audience faster. Also, you can write in your own niche. But here, you don’t own any visual properties.

14. Don’t Skip Networking

Branding is not easy, especially when you do personal branding without experience.

Networking is the best way to get into the people who are either in the same position as you or can help improve it. In both ways, you can get help from it for your branding.

You can expand your categories as you don’t know whom you bumped into at such events. Also, it can help you broaden your expertise, and you get more ideas for improving too.

15. Be A Professional & Expert

Without having expertise in any field will make self-branding harder. In the market, all influencers have their own niche where they are good.

Also, it’s not just about knowing about the niche but what else you can offer that no one can do.

There must be something special about you that attracts your audience towards you. Either it can be knowledge or experience. It’s important to have something where you are an expert.

Next is being professional; when it’s about working in the market, people look forward to meeting people with clarity and a professional approach.

Image source: Thinkific

People trust when they feel a connection, it doesn’t mean if it’s a company, brand, or anything else.

If you are letting your brand tell a story with emotions that can connect with your audience, you are holding their attention for a long time.

Also, no one is interested in knowing how much you earned and your plans. If you serve everything in the form of a journey, you can better connect with them.

It also gives you engagement with your customer. Self-branding is one of the keys that you can use for telling your so far journey and everything you want to share behind your brand.

17. Create Positive Impact

Positivity attracts people. That’s why people like to talk with those with a positive mindset. It does not give them a personal boost, but also the impact motivates them too.

When you are self-branding, make sure your impression is positive and encouraging.

Holding a positive attitude also helps build and connect a community that positively affects your brand.

18. It Okay To Fail

Self-branding is not easy, and there are huge chances of getting failure. It’s not the end but make sure you are ready for it.

However, accepting the results and moving on also helps you create better plans and strategies for your self-branding. Also, you get more stories and experiences to share.

Failing is unavoidable, and you should close your head around it.

19. Grow Your Presence

Image source: oberlo

Not just online but offline, too, Self-branding should not be limited to any particular kind of platform.

To promote your brand, you will need more people, and for that, you should have your presence.

When you are using social media sites, make sure to offer engaging content and interesting overall to attract more people.

Meet with more people, network, and share your thoughts. Help others and offer a solution whenever it’s possible.

20. Reflect On What Worked Or What Not

The last thing you want to do is to repeat the same mistake again. After you attempt strategies or plans, ensure you follow and track everything.

When you get the overall results, focus on things that worked for you. With this, you will know how to approach the market again.

Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ) about Self-Branding Tips for Small Businessman

How do I brand myself along with my business?

Start with basics, define what your brand is about, and be an expert. Set your presence and create awareness. Also, pay attention to the important 3 C’s of branding. Make sure to get feedback from people at work, home, or any other place.

What personal branding is important?

Personal branding establishes you as an individual; instead of being an owner of a small business, personal branding helps establish your identity as a brand.

It’s important as it helps you in building your audience, getting customers, and creating something which is yours.

What are the three important keys for personal branding?

Clear idea about what is your strength, ability, or uniqueness and persistent communication through channels to your audience. These are the important personal branding keys that you should know.