If you’re well-known, your leadership branding will have a substantial influence on whether someone decides to do business with you…or not.
Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, Chris Ducker famously quipped. It’s true. Leadership is all about making sure that conversation is overwhelmingly positive.
You will surely encounter several sorts of leaders during your life. The stereotype of the enraged boot camp drill sergeant undoubtedly symbolizes one kind of leadership. Still, we have corporate leaders who demonstrate empathy and understanding to elicit outcomes from their staff on the other end of the spectrum.
Such conversations help develop your brand among individuals you contact regularly. On the other hand, personal branding has a far wider reach for people trying to position themselves as experts in their field.
Why is it important to have a strong personal brand?
What you present to the world is your brand. It determines how others see you and how they will talk about you in the end. If you are a well-known leader, your leadership in branding will almost likely have a substantial influence on whether or not someone decides to do business with you.
Many individuals prefer to conduct business with humans rather than a faceless corporation. A solid personal brand allows a leader to effectively become the company’s face to consumers and prospects. A person, unlike a corporation, is someone with whom we can form attachments and identify more readily.
These outcomes are easily visible on social media. Employee-shared brand communications have a 561 percent higher reach than those shared via branded channels. This material also has an eight-fold increase in interaction.
If normal workers can have that kind of influence just by distributing brand information, it’s certainly worth thinking about how far a leader’s unique thoughts may travel. It’s via that reach and interaction that you’ll be able to expand your company and position yourself as a true expert in your field.
Maintain consistency in your branding efforts.
Before you start developing your leadership brand, you also need to define who you’re attempting to target, Northeastern University advises.
Is it other thought leaders in the industry? A specific employee at a certain firm? Recruiters? The earlier you identify your audience, the simpler it will be to write your tale. You will have a better understanding of the sort of story you need to tell…and where it needs to be said.
While many corporate executives have developed their brands via blog material, this isn’t the be-all and end-all of brand development. You may also develop authority in your industry by giving public speeches or just sharing your ideas on social media.
What counts more than your favorite platform is that you consistently convey your expertise and thoughts.
Using a platform like Boosted, for example, you can personalize video templates with your typography, logo, music, and more. This will help you maintain a consistent appearance across all of your social media posts. Viewers will know they’re looking at your stuff and not someone else’s if you have a unique visual style. When someone scrolls through their stream, they’ll see your material right away.
Consistency also implies that you will spend time on your branding initiatives on a regular basis. If you stop writing and publishing after three months, a rush of postings at the start of your branding push won’t help you much. A successful personal brand needs consistent work and upkeep.
Share content that will help you to build a strong brand.
The material you provide as you develop your brand has a big impact on how others see you. It’s one thing to have a quick wit, but if you’re all witticisms with no actual knowledge of your sector, it’ll be simple for people in your area to dismiss you.
Sharing case studies, business and personal insights, client success stories, and other value-driven material, on the other hand, can help you build a brand that people want to connect with.
May Busch, an executive coach, and speaker suggests asking trustworthy individuals to tell you the terms they associate with you. Determining the gap between your existing reputation and what you want your brand to be will establish the correct emphasis for improving your brand. The best leadership is good following techniques.
Once you’ve found the gap between perception and reality, identify the feature that will have the most impact on influencing views, she says. What will offer your brand the most significant boost? What is the one item that will make closing the rest of the gap easier? That’s the first thing you should do.
Always think about how connecting with someone on social media or publishing a new blog article can help you grow your desired character and deliver real value to your target audience. This will assist you in becoming more than simply another personality — you will become a leader.
Focus on creating a strong personal brand that works.
Long before people do business with you, the personal brand you develop will significantly impact how others view you (and your firm). It would be best if you took control of your brand to steer the discourse in your favor.
Business prospects, industry leaders, and others will learn who you are and what you stand for. If you remain true to yourself and are proactive in delivering your distinctive message your leadership will pay off. They’ll see you as a dependable, trustworthy source that offers valuable information. And keep everything au courant. The outcomes you want in your work will almost certainly follow if you have a strong personal brand.
