What is Personal Branding?

ED LAWRENCE: If I showed
you this logo or this logo,

you'll know what it is for
the quality of the product

and probably who it's aimed at.

Now, if I showed
you these faces,

you'd probably have
a similar experience.

That in its very purest form
is what a personal brand is.

But really, it goes
so much deeper,

and it's an incredibly
powerful way to market.

So let's dive in to learn more.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Have you ever googled your name?

Well, of course, you have.

Did what pop up represent
what you want to be known for?

Or did an old man pop up, like
it did when I gave it a shot?

A personal brand is
your unique mixture

of skills, experience,
personality, and know-how.

These features promote you
and tell your brand story,

reflecting your conduct,
behavior, spoken and unspoken

words, and attitudes.

It's basically your
professional image,

how you look in
real life, combined

with how the media portray
you, and the impression

that people gain from
the information they

find about you online.

These can develop organically
and potentially very,

very quickly.

Or you can work on your
brand to portray to the world

the person you want to be.

But why would you want to
become a personal brand?

Well, a personal brand allows
you to highlight your strengths

and passions.

It helps people to feel
like they know you better,

which means they trust you more
even if they've never met you.

Politicians rely on this
when it comes to elections.

People vote for the people
they feel they know and trust.

Some benefits you'll find
from building a personal brand

is people will buy
from you without you

needing to sell overtly.

They'll purchase
what you provide,

recommend you more
to their friends,

and help you build
more of an audience.

So why is personal
branding so important?

Building a strong
personal brand is

the key to being
considered influential.

It helps you stand
out from the pack,

and it's what makes
you memorable.

Think back to the
examples I showed you

at the start of the video.

If I showed you these
faces, you'd probably

have a similar experience.

You probably knew who Richard
Branson was and probably

had an opinion of him that made
him stand out when we showed you

the image of him.

The reason this is more
important than ever

is the distrust built by
millennials to advertising.

84% of them don't trust adverts
or the brands that create them,

yet they're prepared to
believe people they know,

even business people behind
brands they don't like.

This has caused a major
reshuffle in the way businesses

market themselves and why
influencer marketing has

become so successful
over recent years.

Richard Branson mentions in
his book, Losing My Virginity,

that he noticed people
were more interested in him

than they were
virgin, which is why

he attempted so many stunts
to remain in the public eye.

What was good for him
was good for the company.

Think of Elon Musk, Jeff
Bezos, even Donald Trump.

Business has merged
with celebrity culture.

Here's some things to
consider for building

your own personal brand.

To start off, you
need to self-reflect.

It's very hard to
describe yourself.

It's easier to explain how you
want to be and go from there.

If your main goal is to
improve your business using

your personal brand, you
need to get a solid grip

of who your target audience is.

They need to match.

There's no point building an
audience of men in their 20s

if your company
sells makeup brushes.

Really, you want to
build a reputation

as someone who cares
about the types of people

that are potential or
existing customers.

The key is to come
across as human

and as the name might
suggest, personal.

This allows you to
de-emphasize selling

to appear more authentic.

The best way to build a personal
brand is on social media

nowadays.

You need to be where your
target market spends their time

and create open accounts for
them to follow and engage with.

So that's the personal side.

What about the brand side?

Well, you need to decide on a
consistent color scheme, fonts,

icons, and graphics.

And you should use
these everywhere.

So they should appear on
your website, social account,

business cards, and
anything printed.

Carry business cards
with you everywhere.

Yep, it's old school,
but they still work.

If you're representing
a business,

they should match the colors
and fonts of that too.

You should also consider what
you wear in public situations.

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg
went for the same outfit

every time they were in public.

It eliminated a choice and
saved on ironing as a bit

grubby, though.

So if you're a CEO of
a bank, don't turn up

in shorts and a tank top.

The final thing to think
about is your actions.

They need to match your brand.

Like pretty much every
area of marketing,

consistency is key here.

If you look the part and
turn up in the right places,

you need to act the part too.

People's expectations
of a politician

are different from,
let's say, a rock star.

If a politician were
found taking drugs,

there'd be an uproar.

And trust would be lost.

Yet, if a rock star
got busted, nobody

would batter much of an eyelid.

OK, so you might not be
under the same spotlight,

but you still need to consider
this and act like the person you

promote yourself to be.

Which will be a lot easier if
that's actually who you are.

Be authentic.

Don't try to be a
saint if you're not.

It'll all come out in the wash.

It's easy to spot a fake.

And if you want to check out
your own personal brand's health

score, then have a look at
the link in the description

to use our tool.

Just type in your
Instagram account and await

the glorious data.

If you want to learn more about
growing your own personal brand,

then watch this video
here to master Instagram.

Don't forget to hit the
link and subscribe as well.

You'll have three
videos a week that

will help you grow your
personal brand, market,

and more thrust your way.