In 2018, it’s more important than ever to treat your personal brand like a business.
Gone are the days of just “starting a blog” and “sharing valuable content”. 2018 is the year where the business-savvy personal brands will dominate, and sweep up marketshare.
Here are five keys to growing a successful personal brand in 2018.
1. Differentiation
You never want to put yourself in a position where you appear to be an impostor, or a phony. For example, everyone (and their mothers) are social media and Facebook ads experts these days. I literally see a new FB ad, for some new FB ad “breakthrough” strategy, selling FB ads training every other week.
I’m not saying that these people don’t have valuable advice – I’m sure most of them do; but, to the consumer, there is a lot of noise in that space, and it can appear that people are chasing a trend just to make a quick buck.
The fastest way to cut through the noise is to be different – either through positioning, medium of content, or delivery and messaging. Differentiate from other people in your industry, find a niche, get your messaging down, and execute that well.
Maybe there are already 500 blogs out there on your topic, that’s a great sign that there is demand and people want your knowledge, but trying to compete with 500 other blogs might not be the lowest-hanging fruit. Maybe you find there’s only 1 other podcast on your topic, and you prefer speaking your content vs. writing your content anyways.
So, start with just a podcast, guest blog on the other sites already generating traffic and drive traffic to your podcast.
Search for those kinds of opportunities to be different.
On another note, I believe “Bold Delivery” is one of the trends that we will see drive a lot of results this year. One of the easiest ways to stand out is to make bold claims that other people in your industry might be afraid to make – just be sure you can back them up.
Expose the industry, speak the truth, make bold statements that you can back up with facts and results.
All politics aside, the fact is that the most powerful position in the world was won with a personal brand and bold delivery. Whether you like Donald Trump or not, there is a lot to learn from the US 2016 election. Now, that being said, bold delivery doesn’t mean spouting off any and everything that comes across your mind, and bold delivery never includes bullying, condescension, or demeaning language, or tone.
You can be bold, and positive, motivating and inclusive.
That’s where the magic is.
2. Consistency
The biggest mistake I see people make when it comes to building their personal brand, is that they either start too early, and try to do to much. They aren’t able to stay consistent with their initial game plan, and never actually establish a foundation for their personal brand.
The worst thing you can do when building a personal brand is over-commit yourself, and create a grand game plan that ultimately isn’t something that you can sustainably execute week in, and week out.
Don’t come out of the gates with social media accounts on 7 different sites, a blog, a podcast, a daily Facebook Live, and a YouTube channel, JUST because that’s what you see the “Brendon Burchard’s” of the world doing right now.
That’s not where they started. That’s not how, or why they are successful.
They are successful because they started small and focused, and produced high-value content on a consistent basis over a long period of time.
Start small and focused. Execute well. As you grow, and hire team, you can start to do more.
3. Monetization
Many people make the jump to building a personal brand without a clear business plan or business model behind it. They let their ego get wrapped up in the attention, lime light, fame, following, etc. and forget that they need to run their personal brand like a business.
The biggest factor contributing to personal brands not gaining traction is the fact that they fail to make consistent, predictable revenue.
Many people are still caught in the “2011 monetization mindset”. They think all they need to do is a product launch.
Well, I hate to break it to ya, but product launches aren’t as successful as they used to be… AND, even when they were successful, it was never a GREAT business model.
Here’s more on why product launches are not what they seem to be.
The essential part to monetization is creating predictable revenue. Predicable revenue is what allows you to manage cashflow, hire team, spend money on marketing and scale your brand.
Two ways of creating predictable revenue for a personal brand.
4. Results-Oriented
One big myth or perception that a lot of Influencers project, and sometimes even explicitly state, is that building a personal brand or an influencer business is easy.
There are too many people preaching, “Oh, you just sign up for this software, record some videos, setup a membership site, and do a launch. Easy!”
If it were really that easy, then everyone would be doing that.
Successful personal brands treat their brand like a normal business. They obsesses over their numbers, metrics and results.
That being said, you also need to be realistic with the results that you are expecting, especially when just getting started.
At the end of the day, you’re building a house, and that’s not something that happens overnight.
People compare the results they get on day 1, to the results other people are getting after 5-10-15 years of work.
You’ll see “YouTubers” that post videos and get hundreds of thousands of views within hours.
Then a new personal brand will go an post their first video and they get 50 views, and are disappointed. By their 5th video (if they even get that far) they get 300 views, and then they quit because they aren’t getting enough “traction”.
What most people don’t realize, is that it took that YouTuber 50 videos to get 300 views, 10 years ago…
So, it’s all about perspective. Never compare someone’s front stage, to your back stage.
When you first start, come from a habit-building mentality when you are tracking your metrics. Starting to see trends and recognize content/messages that resonate instead of actually obsessing over the actual numbers.
There’s a fine line between being results-oriented, but also patient enough to take the time to lay a sturdy foundation.
5. Get a Mentor or a Coach
There’s one thing ALL successful people have in common.
They didn’t reach success by themselves. They all had multiple mentors throughout their life to help them navigate challenges in business and life.
When it comes to your personal brand, it’s no different.
You want to learn and seek advice and wisdom from someone who can help you navigate the challenges ahead.
A lot of times people are hesitant or afraid to invest time and money in finding a mentor, but it’s actually one of the best investments you can make.
Nothing will accelerate your learning and results faster than having a mentor. Someone in your corner helping you make strategic business decisions, think through challenges, and avoid common mistakes.
We have our high-end consulting services for established personal brands looking to scale from 6 to 7-figures, and we also have a monthly live training and Q&A in our Personal Brand Inner Circle membership for people who are currently building to 6-figures, or for those who simply just want to keep their finger on the pulse of cutting edge strategies, tools, and tactics.
Whether or not you work with us, find someone who can help you build your a business behind your personal brand. Accelerating your learning and results will enable you to sustainably share your message with the world.
All that said, remember…
Set yourself up for success.
Play to your strengths.
Create a game plan that is sustainable.
Building your personal brand is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you’d like to stay up-to-date on the latest tools, strategies, and best practices for building your personal brand, be sure to join our private, Personal Brand Builders Community. It’s free… and awesome… What are you waiting for?
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