Last week, we unpacked The Personal Brand vs. The Business Brand. We also shared with you our opinion that if you are a creative, you are likely to be a personal brand. If you didn’t catch the breakdown and aren’t sure where your brand falls, click here to catch up first! And if you have determined that you are a personal brand, you know we aren’t going to leave you hanging, right!? Identifying the type of brand you are is only part one. Today, we’re taking it a step further and talking about the Three Best Ways to Market a Personal Brand online!
SHOW UP
Show up. Really, Erica + Jon? That’s what you have to say for your first tip?? YES. And there’s a reason for it. So many people don’t show up for themselves online. Marketing a personal brand online is hard work. It often doesn’t yield instant results. But good things typically don’t happen in an instant – good things often take time.
You have to choose to show up and show up consistently. Consistency is a key word here. It shows your building audience that you are worth paying attention to! It shows them that you are bought in enough to your brand to show up for yourself – after all, if you aren’t bought in enough to do that, why should they buy in (or better yet, buy your things)?
One key struggle we hear about from students is the difficulty of coming up with content on a constant basis. From what to talk about to photos…it can get pretty overwhelming, especially if you are trying to create something new everyday. That’s why we are huge fans of a concept Gary Vaynerchuk – ‘Document, don’t create.’
Creating fresh content every. single. day. is absolutely overwhelming and discouraging. Instead, spend time simply documenting what you are already doing. Did you meet with a client about an amazing opportunity today? Did you create a new idea you are excited to share with your audience? Were you working all day behind the scenes on a client project? Are you taking a break from the day-to-day to refresh your soul? Share that!
SHOW YOURSELF
We can’t stress this point enough for personal brands. You need to show YOU. As a personal brand, you are the lifeblood of the brand. Too often we see creatives not showing themselves online. Part of your superpower as a personal brand is YOU. People will get to know and fall in love with you, which is why you need to show you!
As a personal brand ourselves, we know how hard it can be to have fresh photos of yourself on a regular basis. That’s why we offer personal brand sessions that focus on creating tons of content and variety in a very short amount of times for personal brands. The goal is to spread the content out as far as possible and get the most longevity out of the photos you have created.
But it doesn’t always have to be cut and polished. Show yourself in the everyday. People want to see the real, authentic you. Show photos of yourself working on projects, behind the scenes from shoots, even your family if you’re comfortable sharing. Some of our own most engaged with posts are shot on an iPhone and simply show what we are doing at that point in time. It feels strange to point the camera at yourself, but trust us on this one – it’s a must!
SHARE YOUR WHY
Beyond falling in love with you as an individual, people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. That’s why we encourage you to make sure people understand the ‘why’ behind your brand. This is different from the Brand Statement we talked about a few weeks ago. Your ‘why’ is the emotional reason or motivation behind what you do. For example, our ‘why’ is that we want to positively impact everyone we work with. No matter how we work with someone, whether shooting a project or through photography education, we want everyone we work with to feel like they have been impacted in a positive way because of it. You want your why to shine through in everything you post and people should hear it often enough to associate it with your brand.
So remember, Show Up, Show Yourself, and Share Your Why! It’s a bulletproof, time tested and proven formula to market your personal brand online. Oh, and if you’re like us and need a little help getting photo content together for your personal brand, shoot us a message here – we’d love to work with you!
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