Branding Yourself: How to Stand Out From the Crowd

In today’s market, consumers face a quantity problem when it comes to selecting goods and services. Even within a certain industry, there are hundreds if not thousands of reputable companies to choose from. So why would a customer choose you, amongst the multitudes? Because of your iconic, personal brand of course! But if you’re unsure how to establish a personal brand, read on below for the key tenets from 12 marketing and branding professionals on how to stand out from the crowd.

• Write Compelling Copy
• Provide Value for Customers
• Document Your Life
• Tout Your Uniqueness
• Engage With Similar Brands
• Be Consistent
• Unearth Your Niche
• Stress Authenticity
• Establish Powerful Personal Values
• Create Recognizable Branding Based on Research
• Measure Your Success
• Create a Mission Statement

Write Compelling Copy

When it comes to branding yourself, one of the most important things is to write compelling copy. You want to get the attention of your readers and want to let them know more about you. Start by telling your story. What makes you unique? Why should people care about what you say? Most importantly, be authentic and honest, and let your personality be impressive. Your copy also needs to be clear and concise. Keep it simple and easy to read.

Lastly, be consistent. Make sure your branding is integrated across all platforms, from your website to social media profiles. If you follow these tips, you’ll be on your way to creating a powerful personal brand that stands out from the crowd.

Gerrid Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, Joy Organics

Provide Value for Customers

The best way to stand out as a brand is to give appropriate value to your customers. Clients know a good value when they see one, and they appreciate prioritization. Paying attention to consumer needs and offering rewards like prizes in loyalty programs makes all the difference for customer retention. Give the best and you will be rewarded in kind.

Gigi Ji, Head of Brand and Business Development, KOKOLU

Document Your Life

Establishing your brand doesn't have to be one note. Stop worrying about creating the perfect content and start documenting content instead. In other words, creating something you deem worthy of putting on your social platforms is a time consuming task, but what if you just documented your day with your phone instead. It’s less daunting and gives you the ability to put out more content.

You don’t have to be perfect, just consistent. As a bonus you’ll be attracting followers by showcasing different sides of your personality! Documenting as opposed to creating will have your brand both standing out and growing faster.

Michael Van, CEO, Furnishr

Tout Your Uniqueness

Identify what makes you unique and tout it. It could be an accomplishment that no one else has had. It could be that you were a writer for years and discovered early on that you also had a knack for broadcasting, so you launched a podcast that was ahead of its time. If you’re employed with a company that does something different than others in the industry, focus on that. If you’re a marketing professional for a neobank that offers better interest on a savings account than a typical bank, emphasize that whenever you do your marketing. Double down on the very parts of you that make you different (and better) than the rest.

Trevor Ford, Head of Growth, Yotta

Engage With Similar Brands

Engage with other similar brands. Find notable leaders and entrepreneurs within your niche on social media and interact with both them and their followers. This is a natural way to engage with others who share your interests and could lead to valuable connections with other professionals, as well as devoted followers in the process. Like, share, and comment on content that piques your interest. Offer your valuable opinions and insights whenever possible. Engaging with the community is among the best ways to naturally build your brand and stand out from the crowd.

Alex Wang, CEO, Ember Fund

Be Consistent

Be consistent. This is one of the easiest yet most effective ways of properly branding yourself and, in the long run, standing out from the crowd. To craft your brand successfully, focus on consistent behaviors in different situations. It will help you establish authority and gain your audience's trust, which greatly boosts your personal brand and has a positive influence on its general perception. Also, the more consistent your beliefs and actions are with people's assumptions about you, the more likely you are to build credibility. Although it’s usually a challenging, ongoing, and multilayered process, in the end it’s worth all the effort.

Agata Szczepanek, Community Manager, Resume Now

Unearth Your Niche

It’s not enough to just be a generalist, unfortunately. In order to really make a name for yourself in today’s competitive market, you need to find your niche and focus all of your efforts there. When you specialize in something, you become an expert in that area. And that’s what people are looking for these days. They don’t want to hear from someone who’s just going to give them an unsatisfactory version of the truth. Significantly, they want someone who knows their stuff, inside and out deeply.

So it’s an important question that you need to ask yourself: How do you find your niche? It can be anything, a specific industry, service/product. Essentially your key focus should be on what you’re good at and what makes you stand out from the rest. Once you have identified your niche, work on becoming a thought leader. Position yourself as an authority figure, and make sure your branding reflects that. This is one of the best pieces of advice that will surely help you to brand yourself.

Joe Troyer, Chief Marketing Officer, ReviewGrower

Stress Authenticity

If you want to truly stand out, it’s important to know exactly who you are, and how to communicate this to others. Take time to reflect and consider your core values, principles, and goals. This is a chance to let your personality shine through, so think about any attributes you have which distinguish you from competitors. Be honest with yourself, and avoid the temptation to exaggerate your qualifications, qualities, or abilities.

Although this may initially create a strong impression, it will be undermined when people realize you’ve been overstating your capabilities, causing them to lose confidence in you. Be real, and trust that you are enough. A thorough understanding of your authentic self will also help you maintain a consistent presence across platforms. It’ll enable you to make branding decisions which align with your true purpose, aims, and identity. This consistency facilitates consumer trust, allowing you to focus on becoming the best possible version of yourself.

Mario Cacciottolo, PR & Branding Manager , SBO

Establish Powerful Personal Values

To stand out from the crowd the brand not only needs to produce a quality product, but also have people realize the values of your motive. Every customer of your business should understand the main set of values of your brand because values are the essence of the trademark that makes the customer feel more trustworthy about your brand.

In the end, this makes the consumer choose your brand again and again, making them loyal regular customers. The values of the brand will drive new customers to buy your product, which increases productivity and sales rate. Establish powerful brand values to gear up your business for the next level.

Adam Berry, Founder at AdamBerrySeo, AdamBerrySeo

Create Recognizable Branding Based on Research

In my opinion, building a personal brand involves all of the same steps that are taken when developing a commercial brand. Consider why you want to establish your own brand in the first place. Also, be specific about who you intend to reach. Don't settle with a generic field like content creation. For example, if you're looking to write about enterprise-level tools, you may focus on technical blogging. Create a logo, color palette, and typeface selection. When put together, these elements should form a cohesive and easily recognizable brand kit that will serve to keep your company's name in the minds of consumers.

Frederic Linfjärd, Director of Growth Marketing, Planday

Measure Your Success

You can’t possibly measure your success if you don’t know where you started. So make sure you take the time to track and measure your progress and brand. I think this is one of the best pieces of advice to brand yourself effectively, and the best way to do this is to set goals and track your analytics. This will help you evaluate what’s working and what’s not worth your time and investment. In this way, you can make necessary adjustments. Measuring how far you’ve come gives you a sense of accomplishment as you achieve each goal. In the end, you’ll see your brand start to stand out from the crowd.

Zephyr Chan, Founder and growth marketer, Better Marketer

Create a Mission Statement

Being a vice president of a company, I strongly believe there’s a need to create a mission statement for the success of your brand. It’ll act as your guideline, something that will keep you on track when you’re taking your first steps. When creating your mission statement, think about what you want to achieve and what values you want to stand for.

A mission statement is your chance to be creative and unique, to show the world that you’re not lesser in any aspect. However, your mission statement should be short and catchy, something that’ll be easy to remember. And most importantly, it should be something you believe and stand by with your whole heart.

Steve Rose, Vice President, MoneyTransfers

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