Building your personal brand is a vital part of creating your online footprint and ensuring you are found by your prospects when they go online in search of the products and services you provide.
As I have previously discussed in this blog, your online presence leaves behind a digital footprint and helps to shape the perception that others have of you when they first encounter you online – so it is so important to make the right impression with these prospects from minute one.
So, a big question to ask yourself when building your personal brand online is whether you actually embody the right characteristics of your desired persona?
I’m not just talking about whether your personality lives up to this, but instead I am asking if the qualities you want to portray to your prospects actually translate into the content they will find about you on the internet?
You need to consider which characteristics you believe your prospects would be looking for from the sales professional or business owner they eventually choose to do business with, and then you need to amplify these within every piece of content you distribute about yourself and your company online.
So how can you ensure you are getting the right message across to your future clients?
When evaluating the characteristics of a personal brand, the various ingredients which others see of you derive from a combination of three main categories:
- Your values
- Your skills
- Your style
So what you do and how you do it are the most important aspects of sculpting your personal brand.
Your values will be the most influential aspect of this, as this is what drives your interest and passion for your chosen industry – but all three areas of your persona are equally important to work on as these will give the whole and complete personal brand which you wish to portray to your prospects.
Your Values
Think carefully about what your values are, because sometimes key aspects of your persona can be overlooked. You may value honesty, compassion or reliability most in life or you may have a combination of values which make up your work ethos. Make a list of your most important values and use these as the starting point for building your online persona.
There are no right or wrong answers with this; it is personal to you and simply shows the way you interact with the world. These make up the deep-rooted essence of who you are and it is important that these values are upheld in your personal brand as they will inevitably influence everything you do.
Once you know what your values are you can then begin to apply them consistently in your work – and this is how you will start to build your personal brand.
Your Skills
Where you choose to engage with your prospects online should be a reflection of what you do. For instance, when you participate in a forum discussion, or respond to a social media comment, the way that you participate and respond – and what you choose to participate in and respond to – will reflect what you do as an individual.
As a sales professional or a business owner, what you do is reflected by your company and in the products and services that you sell so it is important to make sure you are representing yourself in the right way.
Instead of thinking about what you sell, think about it in terms of how what you sell benefits the customer. How does it help them? Do you help them make their own products and services more efficient? Do you help them make better financial or process decisions?
Whatever it is that you do to benefit your customers, focus on conveying this to your prospects through your online presence.
Your Style
Your style is a very much a reflection of your values, so you need to consider how you do what you do when you are building your personal brand.
It’s fairly easy to reflect your style through the content you produce online, but remember that your personal brand is far more than just the packaging. You need to focus on revealing who you are and ensuring that you stand out online for all the right reasons. You need to be consistent with who you are and what you do – as this will be what helps your prospects buy into you as a sales professional and business owner.
Sean McPheat
CEO (Chief eselling® Officer)
http://www.e-selling.com
(Image by KROMKRATHOG)
Stop scratching around for sales and learn how to sell the modern way with my FREE 40 minute online training session. Click on the image below to find out why you’ve got to be changing the way that you prospect and sell…
Building your personal brand is a vital part of creating your online footprint and ensuring you are found by your prospects when they go online in search of the products and services you provide.
As I have previously discussed in this blog, your online presence leaves behind a digital footprint and helps to shape the perception that others have of you when they first encounter you online – so it is so important to make the right impression with these prospects from minute one.
So, a big question to ask yourself when building your personal brand online is whether you actually embody the right characteristics of your desired persona?
I’m not just talking about whether your personality lives up to this, but instead I am asking if the qualities you want to portray to your prospects actually translate into the content they will find about you on the internet?
You need to consider which characteristics you believe your prospects would be looking for from the sales professional or business owner they eventually choose to do business with, and then you need to amplify these within every piece of content you distribute about yourself and your company online.
So how can you ensure you are getting the right message across to your future clients?
When evaluating the characteristics of a personal brand, the various ingredients which others see of you derive from a combination of three main categories:
So what you do and how you do it are the most important aspects of sculpting your personal brand.
Your values will be the most influential aspect of this, as this is what drives your interest and passion for your chosen industry – but all three areas of your persona are equally important to work on as these will give the whole and complete personal brand which you wish to portray to your prospects.
Your Values
Think carefully about what your values are, because sometimes key aspects of your persona can be overlooked. You may value honesty, compassion or reliability most in life or you may have a combination of values which make up your work ethos. Make a list of your most important values and use these as the starting point for building your online persona.
There are no right or wrong answers with this; it is personal to you and simply shows the way you interact with the world. These make up the deep-rooted essence of who you are and it is important that these values are upheld in your personal brand as they will inevitably influence everything you do.
Once you know what your values are you can then begin to apply them consistently in your work – and this is how you will start to build your personal brand.
Your Skills
Where you choose to engage with your prospects online should be a reflection of what you do. For instance, when you participate in a forum discussion, or respond to a social media comment, the way that you participate and respond – and what you choose to participate in and respond to – will reflect what you do as an individual.
As a sales professional or a business owner, what you do is reflected by your company and in the products and services that you sell so it is important to make sure you are representing yourself in the right way.
Instead of thinking about what you sell, think about it in terms of how what you sell benefits the customer. How does it help them? Do you help them make their own products and services more efficient? Do you help them make better financial or process decisions?
Whatever it is that you do to benefit your customers, focus on conveying this to your prospects through your online presence.
Your Style
Your style is a very much a reflection of your values, so you need to consider how you do what you do when you are building your personal brand.
It’s fairly easy to reflect your style through the content you produce online, but remember that your personal brand is far more than just the packaging. You need to focus on revealing who you are and ensuring that you stand out online for all the right reasons. You need to be consistent with who you are and what you do – as this will be what helps your prospects buy into you as a sales professional and business owner.
Sean McPheat
CEO (Chief eselling® Officer)
http://www.e-selling.com
(Image by KROMKRATHOG)
Stop scratching around for sales and learn how to sell the modern way with my FREE 40 minute online training session. Click on the image below to find out why you’ve got to be changing the way that you prospect and sell…