5 TIPS TO BOOST YOUR BRAND TO START MAKING MONEY

 Boost your brand

Creating a personal and professional brand is more than just writing a good summary on your LinkedIn profile, although it can begin there. Establishing a personal brand is a multi-level endeavor, beginning with identifying your vision for life and future, your purpose, passions, interests, values and strengths. Once identified, these elements come together as a unique value proposition and form the foundation for your future professional endeavors.

Whether you're in the midst of career transition, or happy at your current job, now is a good time to get started on a purposeful approach to your personal brand. Here are some tips to help:

#1. Identify your brand

Your brand should be tied to your identity and depict an accurate representation of who you are personally and professionally. If someone walks into a room and says your name, how do people respond? Good or bad, they say something that reflects your brand. Since people will brand you anyway, take control of your reputation by establishing the brand you want people to associate with your name.

Before you can establish a brand, you must identify the elements of your brand and create a brand statement. To identify your brand, start by making a list of your talents and exceptional qualities. Once you've developed a list, use those points to craft a statement. If you've spent an adequate amount of time making your list and thinking through your personal and professional qualities, you should have enough information to create a brand statements that details your unique value proposition. When others read the statement, they will get a sense of your particular gifts and have sense of where you are professionally now as well as some insight into your growth potential.

#2. Upgrade to professional photos

Images are a huge part of how people relate to you. Having high quality professional grade images helps your brand to stand out. Everyone today has a cellphone with a decent camera. Although  you can get away with using  your cellphone for stories and some images, it's good to look at upgrading to a higher level. Purchasing a DSLR camera is a great first step to improving  the quality of your images. You can also get an Adobe Lightroom subscription or use tools like VSCO to help do basic editing. 

High quality photography is both an art and a science. You need to invest both money and time into building your skills and creating better quality images. In the beginning, you might need to hire somebody to do your first photoshoots and then you can slowly begin doing it yourself.

#3. Create a look and feel for your brand

 The best brands in the world are extremely strict about what they put out into the world. Businesses have a brand book that tells the company which colors, fonts and logos to use when publishing. Some brands even have a specific way of writing their content that is congruent with its brand.

If you are unsure what colors and fonts might be right for your brand, you can always hire a graphic designer to help. They can create a logo, a color palette and even match specific imagery to your brand. 

Of course you can vary the colors and feel of what you post, but it's good to have some parameters.

#4. Improve your online reputation

When was the last time you did a Google search on your name? Try putting different variations of your name in quotes and see what web content you find. You'll get a good idea of what your potential employer, peers and other thought leaders find when they want to find out more about you. You may find that one version of your name yields more positive results about you than the other versions of your name. Use your best, most popular version as your brand name. Your online reputation can make or break your professional brand. Social proof is more powerful than self-marketing. When others mentions you as an expert or when you contribute an article to a popular industry website, it communicates your professional reputation and expertise.

If you're actively seeking thought leadership opportunities, keep an eye on your brand and get notified anytime your name appears in print with tools like Google alerts.

#5. Tell a good story about yourself

Once you've decided on your personal value proposition statement and you have started establishing a brand, paint one clear picture of who you are as a person, employer and colleague across all your channels. From LinkedIn to your resume, your brand should remain consistent. Capitalize on the characteristics and professional reputation you're trying to promote and keep a consistent message in all your online and written communications. Keep a standard professional headshot and complete bio that you use across all platforms from Twitter to LinkedIn to Facebook.

Creating a personal and professional brand is not an overnight process. Get started now with your unique value proposition and work to communicate who you are and what you have to offer over time. The next time someone says your name, the response will be a reflection of the image you want people to have of you, both personally and professionally.

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Written by: Antony Moturi

DJ | Social Media Specialist | Online Marketer | Content Creator | Sound Engineer