5 Mistakes to Avoid When Branding Yourself – Top Branding Secret… NO ONE! And I mean NO ONE! Is like you. No one has lived your life, made your choices, or felt your pain or your joy but you. Remember, your personal branding is how you want others to perceive you based on your reality. It defines your business aura and persona. The fact that branding requires you to bring something so unique and special to the table makes it more of a prerequisite to building a successful business.
With the knowledge that building a brand controls your success, you have to put in a lot of effort. Notwithstanding, you will have to get familiar with five personal branding mistakes you should avoid in your branding journey. Here, I will be breaking down the mistakes so you can stand out as well as step into your Unique, Amazing, Spectacular brand of YOU!
Mistake #1: Copying your mentor or idol
In building a successful personal brand, you will be committing a great blunder if you get involved in plagiarism. Do you know why? Personal branding is about YOU and your uniqueness – not just anyone else’s. It has become a norm where people to pretend to be someone else to sustain a relationship or retain an established impression. You don’t want to lose out, especially when people discover that you are not who they want you to be. Unfortunately, such may backfire, as it can leave a damaging effect on your brand.
Or who wants to associate with a brand that is built on a platter of falsity? Of course, no one! Everyone wants to associate with brands that are sincere and authentic. By moving away from your true self and presenting yourself as another brand, you’re simply faking it – and this will have a reverse effect on your brand.
Stop copying your idol or your mentor. You are not them! Though you can get inspiration from them, you should never appear like a copycat. Showcase your positive qualities and what your brand truly stands for. Add a personal touch to your content and let the audience feel your personality when you’re communicating with them.
Mistake #2: Not knowing “YOU”
Who promotes a product or service that they haven’t used? Or even send a message without knowing the motive behind the action? I’m sure you wouldn’t do any, considering your level of exposure in the business world.
Personal branding is not just about building a personal website, capturing and uploading some personal pictures, or setting up social media profiles – your colors, quotes, and graphics only constitute 5% of your brand. Rather, it’s about what makes you “you.” The real thing is that YOU are the magic!
Before getting your brand in front of people, you want to be sure you can relate well to it. Be the face of your brand. Don’t hide behind a logo to project a brand. People want to relate with brands they know, like, and trust. Only when you present your true self can they find what they seek in you.
Mistake #3: Not helping anyone
Another great mistake you can make is not bringing value to your target audience. Let me guess, you also have some personal brands you know but do not care about, just because they offer you no value even as they’re trying to sell you something.
Now that you’re also about building a brand, who is it you help? Before serving your audience, it’s expected that you already know them. Don’t just be a brand that focuses on selling products or services to monetize your audience. Rather, provide value. This implies that your products or services address the needs of the audience.
Building a brand is like decorating for the holidays inviting people over for dinner, and forgetting to buy anything to feed them. Be ready to provide services to those you’re inviting and make them feel welcome. It is the only way to make them come back for more visitations.
Mistake #4: Not willing to receive
Yes, you’re building a personal brand. But can you do it alone? Ask yourself this question: Why do you pay a life coach to help you navigate the course of your life? Of course, it’s because they have enough experience to help you. The same applies to building a personal brand. You can’t go all alone!
When creating a strong personal brand, never underrate the ideas or perspectives you can get from friends, family, or even a branding firm. Remember, you do not intend to impress yourself with your brand. Rather, your goal is to attract an audience. By being receptive to external ideas, you might discover that the concept you hold about your personal brand goes beyond what you conceived.
Ask others about what they think your positive qualities are, your impression of you, and how you can improve your brand. Definitely, you shouldn’t expect all comments to be positive. Rather than ignore the negative ones completely, rely on them to honestly appraise your brand so you don’t miss out on opportunities to improve your branding techniques.
Mistake #5: Automating everything
Worst mistake of all – automating every damn aspect of your business. I know that might be the most counterintuitive thing you might have seen. It’s just the truth. Truly, we’re in a digital age where you have to automate certain processes of your business it can run without you. This is because you may not always be available all the time to run your business. But come to think of this: can you patronize a brand that doesn’t connect with you emotionally?
No one wants to work with someone that takes their money and then sends videos, pdfs, and ebooks. The number one key to remembering when branding is to create a brand that sparks emotion, the feeling of what they want to experience. This, of course, requires that you keep a strong tab on your audience’s responses to your content and what they seek from your brand.
Final Thought
By getting familiar with these mistakes, you’ll be able to re-strategize your personal brand growth. This will undoubtedly save you the resources you would have expended on seeking the right channel to improve the face of your brand. Of course, building a strong brand takes time. You will have to think long and have the right dose of patience. Connect with Jana and learn more.
Connect with Jana and join her community.
More articles from our Editor-in-Chief, Jana Short.
