This week on The Stephanie Kase Podcast, we’re talking about how to build a personal brand that actually stands out and helps you book more clients or make more sales in your business. This is a strategy I’ve used in my business over the years, no matter the season I’m in. Personal branding has seriously been a game changer and allowed me to pivot my business in so many ways. We’ve talked about this before on other platforms (see our YouTube video on this topic!), but it’s a popular one. So, let’s dive in!

What is a personal brand?

One of the fastest ways to grow your small business or online brand nowadays is by having a personal brand. This is something I implemented in my own business from the start. It’s truly the best decision I’ve ever made as a business owner. Before we go much further though, let’s talk about what a personal brand is. I always say it’s what people’s perception is of you when you’re not in the room. So, what do they think of when they think of you? Bottom line: their perception of your brand is based on the things you share online. I want to be clear: you do not have to share everything online to have a personal brand. In fact, I think you should curate what you share in an authentic and meaningful way.

Why is a personal brand important?

The next question you might ask yourself is WHY a personal brand is important. No matter what kind of business you run, a personal brand can help you. Personal brands show that you’re unique because you’re you. Someone else might do what you do, but they’re never going to BE you. When you build your brand around what makes you unique and special, you’re going to help people fall in love with you. The fact that people love you – not necessarily what you do – is helpful, especially when you’re ready to pivot or change things in your business.

Having a personal brand can also help you stand out from others in your industry. Again, a personal brand is something others can’t emulate. You know, you might believe and truly believe you are the best in your industry and that you provide an amazing experience amazing product for your customers. But the reality is that there’s a lot of people doing what we do. So, the best thing you can do is figure out what makes you different and lean into it. There’s always going to be someone else out there – someone more talented, someone who’s better than you, someone who’s trying what you are. But there will never be another you. So pull that into your brand!

How do you decide what to share with a personal brand?

The next thing to dive into is what you share for your personal brand. Honestly, this depends on your target market. Once you know who you’re marketing to, you can decide what you want to share within your personal brand to connect with them. Remember, we want to be sure that what we’re sharing makes sense for our brand and that what we share will resonate with people. From there, we can begin to share in an authentic and genuine way to connect with our audiences.

What types of content to share?

Once you know who you’re marketing to (your target audience), you can begin to choose thing to share as part of your personal brand. I think of them in four main categories.

Fun Facts

The first is probably the most obvious – fun facts about yourself. This can help you relate to others who are interested in your brand. For example, with my photography business, I often shared how much I love my dogs. This attracted a lot of clients who were also dog lovers! We were able to connect about that in real life. It’s very surface level but sharing these things helps. I put it on my Instagram, on my blog, and so on. Clients would bring dogs to sessions, I would have conversations about them. All of it helped to build a personal brand! It has gotten to the point that when people see Doodles or Chai lattes (another thing I’ve shared a lot about), they think of me. I’m now top of their mind when they see those things. That’s great marketing! If you’re not sure what to share, test out a few facts and see what gets the most feedback.

Your Why

The next category I like to share is “my why”. So, for me a big part of my brand is my marriage and relationship with my husband. While I don’t share a ton of personal parts of it, I talk about Michael a lot. If you can think about what are the things behind the surface level? What are the things why you do what you do? Why you love serving your people? What are those things? Begin to share them and you’ll be surprised who connects with you.

Your Strengths

Category number three is your strengths. This is a way to connect with your ideal clients on a deeper level. How can YOU help them with the problems they have? I think this is a cool part of having a personal brand, because you can draw on your personal strengths and show them off. For example, when it comes to small business education, I’ve really gone the route of sharing a lot about social media, focusing on the things that feel hard to figure out. I’ve been able to show people how to do the things they want – and that’s utilizing my strengths.

Personal Style/Brand Aesthetic

The last category is your personal style and the aesthetic of your brand. I think this gets more into your website and graphic design, but it’s important. When it comes to your brand aesthetic, you want to find the balance between a brand that represents you but also connects with your ideal client. What I mean by that is if you want to serve clients who have a more moody aesthetic, having a preppy brand isn’t going to connect with them. So, just be strategic about what you’re choosing for your brand! I’ve always been very strategic with my brand elements – even down to the website template I used from Elizabeth McCravy (use code STEPHANIE for 12% any template! ).

Now that you know all of that about your personal brand… what’s next?

Once you’ve decided the foundations of your personal brand, your target audience, and components you want to share, what happens next? Now you’re going to try to grow your personal brand. It’s all about figuring out how you’re going to share what you want to share! The first place to go is on social media. It feels more personal than a website or blog can be. From there, of course, do share your personal brand on your website and blog. Those need to be the home base for your business. While social media will be more accessible, it’s important that your brand is cohesive.

Just remember as you begin to grow your personal brand, it’s not necessary to share everything online. I promise, you can still be a private person with a personal brand! We want someone who lands on your social media or website to immediately be attracted to your brand – or repelled. We’re not for everyone and personal branding really helps make that distinction.

I hope that these tips help you feel more confident and excited about your personal brand!

Have ideas for the podcast?

If you’re listening and you have ideas about what to talk about next, please send in your requests! I really do want to know what you want to hear about in future episodes. Email me at [email protected] with your questions!! I can’t wait to hear from you!