The 7 Elements of an Effective Personal Brand

Building a business isn’t easy. Success comes from intensive, hard work and a great deal of learning. Any entrepreneur will tell you that it’s important to love what you do, leverage your passion, work hard and most importantly -- never stop building your personal brand.
That’s because people like to do business with other people, not companies. Building your personal brand lends credibility and authenticity to your business, especially if that business is you. 
Past surveys have shown that trust in brands and corporations has declined in recent years and 84 percent of millennials don’t trust traditional advertising, so it’s more important than ever to create a personal brand that creates strong connections with your target audience. The most effective personal brands are built around these seven key elements: 

1. Authenticity.
When I’m shaking someone’s hand, I’m not trying to slip a business card into their pocket without being noticed. Instead, genuinely try helping your audience. When you curate and share content while asking nothing in return, you’re seen as genuinely and verifiably authentic. 
2. Package consistency.
Not only do you want to make it easy for folks to identify you, there’s a good chance you’ll run into other people who share your name.
A consistent image can help avoid confusion. You can achieve this with any combination of the following:
3. Your story.
Your story can be a powerful component of your personal brand. Everyone loves a good story; it’s one of the reasons storytelling is so effective in traditional marketing. It creates an emotional and human connection. A great story tells people who you are, what you stand for and how you got to where you are today. It’s your journey from nothing to greatness.
4. Expertise.
Position yourself as an expert by:

• Developing a blog and consistently creating high-value, 10x content;
• Guest posting on relevant authoritative websites;
• Answering questions on social sites such as Quora or Reddit;
• Boost your SEO

5. Visibility.
For any personal brand to grow, it needs to be visible to an audience. That means you need to be actively promoting yourself and marketing your personal brand on the web. Many of the tips provided above for sharing expertise will also contribute to growing your brand’s visibility. The key is to get active and remain consistent.
6. Value proposition.
A key component of building a personal brand is knowing what you have to offer your audience. What exactly are you giving them in exchange for their time and attention? Whether you plan to offer resources for marketing tips, growth hacking advice, or to be an expert on operational efficiency, you need to be able to communicate it clearly to your audience.

7. Connections.
You’re only as good as the people you know -- or so they say. Connections are an important part of building your personal brand. Not only will your connections help introduce you to others and expand your network, they’ll provide a growing list of testimonials that speak directly to your character.

Building a strong and profitable personal brand is not a sprint and something you do over night … it’s something that takes time, hard work, dedication, patience and of course a lot of passion for what you do and want to be considered an ‘expert’ in. It’s an evolving process you have to go through and it never really ends.
Everyone, whether you know it or not, have a personal brand and it’s super important to know your brand and message, what makes you stand out and of course, know your ideal audience in order to serve them in the best possible way.
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I hope this was helpful. Feel free to leave any questions or comments below ?