Whether you’re just starting out with your own small business or are a seasoned entrepreneur, Personal Branding is one of the most important facets of making sure your venture is successful in the long run. While you can certainly sell your product or service without having a cohesive representation online, it will elevate your company and attract more qualified clients if you do.

In this post, we’ll take a look at 5 steps you can use to really nail down how you show up in public and questions to ask yourself about your business to really define your personal brand.

1. What do you do & how do you stand out?

No matter what you do, personal branding is all about providing a specific product or service and doing it in a way that’s different than everyone else. So it’s only natural that your brand illustrates that concept to your audience. The first step to figuring this out to to really narrow down what you’re selling to your customers. Whether it’s a better way to travel, interior design, or a mobile app, deciding your core service or product is just the beginning. And you do have to pick ONE main thing. Having multiple streams of income is great, but it muddies the water when it comes to personal branding, especially if you’re just starting out. Even if you expand into many services down the line, you always want to begin initially by being known for one specific service or product. This way, people can instantly know who to recommend your services to instantly.

The second part is really figuring out how you’re different from all the other people who provide the same type of product as you. What’s unique about your approach? What would make someone pick YOU over someone else? This could be about the way you do things (faster, cheaper, more luxurious, full service, etc), or the core beliefs behind your company.. but you can’t do things the same way as everyone else and expect to grow and become successful. You 100% need to give potential clients a reason to choose you, and the best way to do that is to make sure they know how you do things differently.

2. Who are 3 brands you admire or aspire to be like?

We all have companies or famous people we admire and want to be like. So it’s really beneficial to figure out what, within those brands, you are attracted to. Selecting the top 3 Instagram accounts, companies, or people you aspire to be like is a great first step in figuring out the look and feel that you want your own brand to take on. Are you drawn to simple imagery and streamlined angular graphics or something that’s organic and full of texture? It helps to browse Instagram or Pinterest to get inspiration and to consider the kinds of brands or companies you personally buy from. All of this will go a long way to inform how to build your own brand in a way that’s easy to show a photographer to follow.

3. Define your color palette & mood.

Color is one of the biggest elements when it comes to visual graphics and photography, so you definitely need a brand color palette, ideally followed by a mood board of the look & feel inspiration for photography. The best way to select brand colors is to consider your answers for step #2 - brands you admire. What colors are they using? Are they soft pastels, moody dark jewel tones, bold blues, or maybe cheery yellows? There will probably be a common theme that you can use as a starting point.

Then it’s beneficial to look into your closet and see what color clothing you tend to purchase. You can also narrow things down by color meanings (I have a great blog post about that right here: https://www.nlalorphotography.com/blog/how-to-choose-your-brand-colors-for-your-personal-brand). For your brand color palette, you will need a primary color, an accent color, and a few lighter neutrals to balance things out.

4. What really defines who you are?

As much as we don’t want to be pigeonholed into being just one thing, it’s actually really important to establish what defines you as a person when it comes to personal branding. Being a “brand” online means people have to be able to see who you are and decide whether they can relate to your story (and whether they’re interested in what you’re selling) within a few seconds. And yes, they get to decide whether they like you or not, too. Which is why you have to make it easy for them to get to know you as quickly as possible.

Now, we are all complex human beings with multifaceted interests and personalities. But online, clarity of message is more important than anything. So pick 3 things that really define YOU. It can be that you’re a mother of two boys who loves hiking and reading books, or that you’re a single millennial living her best life in a big city with her mini poodle. This is how people will instantly know whether they can relate to you. And it’s how you can make sure that you’re attracting the right clients without having to do traditional advertising and marketing.

5. Who is your dream client?

And while everything we’re discussed so far has been about YOU as a person and the brand, it’s also very important to think about your dream clients or customers. Because at the end of the day, THEY will be the people you’ll be talking to. While I personally don’t believe it’s useful to define demographics or even median income when it comes to who your target market is (it might cause dismissal of people who don’t fit into that specific profile but who might actually still be your dream client), it’s really useful to think about the types of problem your potential clients have that you can solve for them.

For me, I focus on people who need headshots and personal branding photography but feel really uncomfortable and un-photogenic in front of the camera. My messaging, website, and social media are focused on relaying that message so when someone who feels that way find me, there’s no question about whether I’m the right photographer for them. Everything else (the personal brand, the colors, the logo) works toward communicating who I am to establish that connection and reassure any potential clients that they're making the right decision for them. Someone who’s into moody dark images and excessive styling isn’t going to be my client.. and that’s ok! Because I’m naturally drawn to clean simple images, that’s the type of client I want. And the way I present my work and myself online directly communicates that message.

Personal Branding is all about allow your customers to find you. A well-rounded approach to how you present yourself online can eliminate the need to market in a traditional way and rely instead on having the right clients find YOU. This is actually a lot less work for a small business owner and a lot more enjoyable when conducting business, because most of the people you’ll be working with will already be a great fit for you. Having custom branded images to use on your website and social media feed is one of the best ways to get your message out there and attract the people who are the perfect fit for your business.