Your personal brand is your main asset as a professional. But it is not a static asset. It is not enough to create it and go to sleep. Its optimization must be constant. It must go hand in hand with technological innovations, changes in population behavior trends, etc.
But, let’s situate ourselves. What are we talking about when we talk about personal branding? Your personal brand is a unique combination of knowledge, experience, and personality that only you have. You must transmit to your followers so that you can monetize economically.
Whether a doctor, writer, lawyer, or trainer, your brand comprises your image, knowledge, experience, communication skills, field of activity, and experience. All this would allow anyone to differentiate you from others dedicated to the same field as you.
And let’s talk about differentiating ourselves from our competitors; first, we must remember that they also work on their brand to keep it up to date and beat the competition. The key to creating a distinctive and consistent brand is updating and adapting it.
Perhaps the most obvious is the impression that your website is modern and adapted to new technological trends, your photographs and logo look reinvigorated, and your tone and communicative content are trendy.
But beyond this as suggested by Shaan Rais, we live in a technological world which moves at breakneck speed and personal brand trends evolve almost at the same speed as fashion.
This year is marked by the events of the two previous years and the change in the social and business paradigm.
Work-from-home is here to stay (it may go away, but not entirely). In addition, the confinement gave rise to a mass landing on digital platforms, in videoconferences and on Social Networks.
Today, your brand can no longer be understood without these new playing fields. Maybe you are a very prestigious doctor, an eminence in your sector, admired and acclaimed by your peers. If you are not globally relevant, your scope of work will be focused on your locality and word-of-mouth referrals from your clients.
It may be enough for you, but if you want to grow and have more clients, you must show the world what you are capable of. Your chances of success will be greater in a potential market of 100 million people than in one of 100,000.
In this article, Shaan Rais shares his exclusive insights on personal branding, which he accumulated through years and years of expeirnce helping entreprenuers, high profile individuals, celebrities and companies rebuild their branding and reach success.
Rais is professionally attributed as a highly sought-after business coach, brainding and leadership expert, keynote speaker and two-time best selling author. He’s authored “The 7 Prerequisites to Success; Pathways to Paramount Performance” and “The Phenomenal Leader: Learn 31 Styles of Leadership in 31 days.”
- Digital skills will be essential
Now everything is digital and whoever best manages this new paradigm has the upper hand.
It doesn’t mean you hang your robe or gown and start learning marketing or digital communication. No, that would be a serious mistake, because where your time is really valuable is doing your job.
But what is essential is that you USE these digital skills. Get to work with professionals like Shaan Rais with knowledge and experience in these fields, seek advice and jump into this world.
- Humanize your brand
As technology gains ground and more and more professionals dominate it, paradoxically, humanity also gains ground. A customer knows that behind all this technological gimmick, there are real people.
And no, it is not contradictory. Your clients will appreciate all the advantages that technological advances can provide in their dealings with you. But, above all, they will value the person who is managing all of this: your knowledge, your empathy, your perception, your values, and your treatment.
Speaking on the matter, Rais throws a simple example: if you go to a dental clinic, you will value very positively that they have high-end equipment and attend to your problems quickly and painlessly. But above all, you will value the professionals who handle them, their knowledge, and their treatment.
- Create personal content
Show your face. In the previous point, we told you about the importance of humanizing your brand to build trust and differentiate your company from others.
Taking advantage of all kinds of audiovisual elements to communicate with your potential clients can make the difference: talking about how you work, the services you offer, and the results you achieve generates credibility and trust.
If you do this regularly and consistently, you will define a much clearer personal brand.
- Link your brand to your values
A few years ago, your personal and professional image was separate. But on the other hand, your values, hobbies, tastes, and personal decisively influence your clientele when choosing you.
Close to 80% of customers choose brands aligned with their personal values and the same goes for your brand.
It doesn’t matter your profession or what you do, but if you convey a personal image of someone active, healthy, keen about traveling, culture, and healthy food, that is the profile of potential clients you will end up attracting.
- Bet on entertainment and inspiration
One of the personal brand trends that we see in recent times, especially in social networks, is that they are increasingly promoting the “social” component to the detriment of the corporate one.
It is no longer about teaching how to do things or showing things you know how to do, but rather the focus is on entertainment, on creating social bonds.
It’s no coincidence that Instagram prioritizes Stories or Reels over feed posts or that Facebook does the same with group posts over ordinary posts. What they are looking for is interaction, that people are entertained and that they spend a lot of time on the social network.
- Videos are the protagonist
This is one of the top personal branding trends for 2022; this year, the video, which has been acquiring more and more important in all the communication channels of your personal brand, has become the main protagonist.
Video is no longer just another tool. It is already the main means of communication. People have become lazy and increasingly bored with reading, so if you want to be known as you are and want to convey how you do things, you should go to the video.
And we are not talking here about making big film productions. What people are looking for are truth, authenticity, and naturalness.
- And the podcast in the main supporting actor
If the video is the protagonist, the podcast will go hand in hand with it as one of the main communication tools of your brand.
The reasons for its success are more or less the same as in the case of video. It is a simple and direct way of transmitting content and is very friendly for the listener. In addition, compared to video, it has an attractive advantage: it does not force you to sit in front of a screen while you listen to it; you can be walking the dog, running, or doing any task while listening to that podcast.
Through the podcast, you can transmit your knowledge, express your opinions, and do interviews with prominent figures in your sector (or sectors that interest you commercially)
