It is just as important to market yourself and build a personal brand as it is to market your company. Maybe even more important.
You are the most important part of your business. If you show your potential customers that you are the expert to go to, then they will turn to you for help when they need it. When people come to you for help, you can then sell them your product or service and offer them support to keep them coming back. You are the expert.
Here are eight tips to help you market your personal brand.
- Know your target markets. Determine who your “best” customer is, then focus on marketing to them. If you market to this niche rather than the entire world you will get the greatest payoff for your time and money.
- Be visible. Building a personal brand means getting out of your office and becoming visible to your target audience and potential customers and clients. Attend networking events and become active in your profession and community. The more visible you are, the stronger your personal brand.
- Become an expert. You should be the person people contact when they want expert advice or information on your topic. When you build a following as an expert, you put yourself in position to be viewed as a trusted authority, which will attract people to you.
- Give back to your profession and community. When you give back to your community, not only will you gain personal satisfaction from doing it, but you will build your brand in ways that money can’t buy. People will remember the good deeds you have done, and your personal brand will benefit as a result.
- Practice good networking. Networking is all about marketing yourself. Give others the opportunity to market themselves to you as well. Your networking efforts need to be beneficial to both you and to the people with whom you are networking.
- Maintain an effective social media presence. Your social media networks are important. Do not ignore them. Post regularly to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts.
- Create a networking database. Keep an up-to-date list or database on your computer of all your networking contacts and social media connections. This list is very valuable to you and your company.
- Don’t ever stop! Marketing your personal brand and your business is non-stop. Marketing should be done daily. Always carry your business cards and hand them out. You never know when you will meet your next customer or client. Once you get the marketing ball rolling, keep it rolling. It’s a lot easier to keep the momentum going than it is to start all over again from scratch.