Personal branding is a hugely popular topic these days. As everyone’s busy curating and refining their online presence in an attempt to stand out from the crowd and attract more attention to their company, business owners wonder whether or not they should incorporate personal branding into their overall business branding strategy. If you haven’t considered exploring personal branding to benefit your business, you may want to give it a look. Here’s why.

How can personal branding help my business?

For starters, personal branding can establish you as a leader in your field and highlight your strengths as a businessperson. It also gives you more opportunities to promote your business—each time you appear in the media or write a blog post about an industry topic, for example, is a perfect chance to highlight your company’s products and services in an entirely natural and genuine way. And if you’re an entrepreneur who plans on starting more than one business, personal branding can help shine a spotlight on any venture you put your name behind.

So if you’re interested in developing a personal brand, what sorts of guidelines or best practices should you keep in mind? Here are a few bite-sized tips to get you started:

Personal branding tips for people running a business:

1. Be authentic. Now more than ever, people want to see authenticity from the brands that they do business with—particularly Millennials. It creates trust, which leads to more enduring business relationships. Think of the personal brands you most admire. What do you appreciate about them? Is it their slightly quirky sense of humor, their realness, or the values they embody? Share what makes you unique with your audience and you will inspire greater loyalty in your customers.
2. Highlight your vision and your values. Why do you do the work that you do? What are your goals, and what are your values? What are you most passionate about? Make sure that you communicate your purpose with your personal brand. Rather than dealing with a faceless corporation, people want to make a connection with the person behind the business. Giving them a chance to know you in a genuine way makes that possible.
3. Tell your story. Storytelling is one of the most effective forms of branding, and people who have strong personal brands do it very well. Telling your story gives people a chance to make a connection with you and possibly even identify with you, which is very powerful from a brand perspective. People also tend to remember stories, which aids in brand recall.
4. Make sure your personal brand syncs up with your business. Is quality a particular value that you’ve decided is important for your personal brand? Then you’ll want to make sure that your business delivers exactly that—quality—whether that’s in the form of a product or a service. If you don’t, you risk running afoul of tip #1 (Be authentic). Your personal brand should naturally flow through and be reflected in your business.

With some thoughtful care and attention, you can develop a personal brand that draws more interest and attention for your current business as well as any future ventures you may choose to launch down the line. Have you considered trying personal branding for your business? If so, how did it go and what did you learn? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below.

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