Branding isn’t just for celebrities. As an entrepreneur, building your own personal brand can be key to the success of your business. Whether you’re positioning yourself as an expert, a creative, or an adventurer, your brand can help you attract the right audience and build a reputation. Here are some tips to consider when developing your personal brand.

Identify your strengths:
To find your brand, start by identifying your strengths and what makes you stand out. This could include the qualities you’ve developed in your career, a personality trait, or a hobby you’re good at that could be interesting to your target audience. Think of the ways that your strengths could help with your branding and your business.

Have a vision:
In the same way that businesses create vision and mission statements, creating a personal brand can begin in the same way. Having a good idea of what you want your public persona to be can help you consciously and subconsciously take steps to achieve it. Having a vision can also help you conduct more research into similar popular personalities and what you can do to get there.

Choose your target audience:
When building your personal brand, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is trying to make sure it appeals to everyone. No matter what kind of product or service you’re trying to sell, not everyone will be your ideal client. Identifying a specific target audience and building a brand that will appeal to them can be greatly beneficial to your business.

Use online platforms:
Using a website and social media pages that incorporate your personal brand is a great way to gain a wider audience reach and refine your brand. Having online platforms that represent you, your strengths, interests and values can help you solidify your brand. Some platforms may work better for you than others. For example, if you’re good at video making and you can showcase your personality and skills through videos, YouTube would be a good option. If you’re good at photography or poetry, you could expand your reach on Instagram.

Create a content strategy:
Distributing accessible and engaging content can be an effective way to build your brand and earn your audience’s trust. Content can include articles, videos, podcasts, infographics, social media images, guides and quotes. Having a strategy on how you’ll create, distribute and promote this content can help you build a consistent brand image and strengthen audience rapport.