It feels like the whole world went completely digital circa March 2020, making online branding more important than ever before. Having a strong brand identity creates recognition and trust between your brand and your audience. It's especially important right now when all you have to promote yourself is your online presence. Getting clear on your who, what, why and your aesthetic can help you look more legitimate, professional, and build your following online. We've helped countless personal branding clients get clear on these pillars and now we want to share some of the basic principals with you!
What are you good at?
This is the number one question you need to ask yourself before defining your personal brand. Do you have an area of expertise that you can share with the world? It should be something you're passionate and excited about because you're going to spend hours and hours writing copy and creating content on this topic. If you don't have an easy answer to this question, spend time getting one. Find your niche and stick to it.
Who is your target audience, and what are their values?
Your personal brand is going to need a mission, defined aesthetic, and tone of voice. You can't decide on those things until you know who you're talking to and what their values are. Sometimes the answers to the questions are obvious. If your 'what' is creating killer outfits on a budget, then your who is like-minded women who love fashion and their values are saving money. However, the answers aren't always that easy to find. The important thing to remember, is that your target audience isn't always your friends. If you're talking only to your friends when you're writing your captions, you're missing an opportunity to attract a wider following of people who are interested in the 'what' you are sharing.
What is your mission?
Your mission should be a combination of what you’re good at, your values, and how those two things will affect your target audience. It can also function as your brand’s tagline. Here are some good examples of concise, direct mission statements:
I help actresses leave their preconceived “should”s behind, so they can get what they actually want out of their lives beyond their careers.
I teach athletes how to crush their branding through radical authenticity.
Feminist financial guidance to help you save for your dreams, pay off your debt, and become empowered with your spending decisions.
Spreading inspiration through waves of music and attire to communities that have been cut off from greatness for too long.
what you do + who it’s for = your mission
It really is that simple.
Decide On Your Tone
Your tone will be heavily decided by who your audience is and how you want to connect with them. If your brand is high end, you might want to use less casual speech patterns. Are you going to stick to funny captions or long form introspective ones? If you want to connect with your audience on a personal level, try using more casual phrases, even trending texting lingo like "brb" and "lol". Whatever tone you decide on, don't switch it up post to post because this will confuse your readers. Your audience should feel like they're reading the same voice across all platforms.
Design Your Brand
A great way to create recognition for your personal brand is to decide on a signature color. Incorporate that signature color or colors into your highlight covers, your text on instagram stories, and even into your feed. When people are flipping through stories and yours comes up, if you are using the same colors over and over again, they will automatically associate that color with you. Think about big time brands you know and love like Coca-Cola. Their signature color is red. It's everywhere in their branding, in their commercials, online, in person... you can do that too! It's a simple and easy way to get branded and stay consistent.
Don't Deviate from Your Brand
If you don’t focus on getting clear with your branding, people will still associate you with a brand. And that brand is *messy*. You want to give your audience a chance to build trust and recognition with you. Consistency is key in posting, tone of voice, what you're sharing, and how you're sharing it. Take the time to create a strong foundation for your brand that will last.
Here at Media A La Carte, we're experts in branding. If you want to dig deeper than the tips listed above, reach out to us at MediaALaCarte.com to schedule your personal branding consultation.
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