Make Clients Come To You How to use your personal brand to gain traction for your business and make clients come to you.
By Greg Tinkler •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur South Africa, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
We're a month into 2017, and many of you are already full steam ahead working on your goals and plans for the new year. Some of you have even made (or will be making) the leap into the world of entrepreneurship this year, with hopes and dreams of creating your own destiny.
Whether you've just taken the leap or your start-up is already in full swing, your goal is to make a difference and turn a profit. Wouldn't you agree that making money would be a lot easier if there was no competition in your sector?
There is one way to differentiate yourself from the crowd and really accelerate your business growth, and that's through building your personal brand.
Building your personal brand
A personal brand is how you appear and market yourself to the world. With social media playing such an important role in business, it's incredibly important to work on your personal brand. Some of the biggest companies in the world have benefited from the personal brand growth of their leaders.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example. There are thousands of social media agencies around the world all targeting the same clientele in a cut throat industry.
Vaynerchuk's company, Vayner Media is the fastest growing agency in the world with a $100 million turnover and over 500 employees worldwide. Customers are not fazed by the agency's pricing because when you work with Vaynerchuk you are perceived to be working with the best in the business. When it comes to social media, Vaynerchuk has built his brand and recognition from over a decade of hard work.
When you have a strong brand and following you are able to set your own prices and clients come to you.
Here is how you can benefit from building your personal brand:
Access to better deals and relationships
It's tough to get business and clients when nobody knows who you are. If you build a strong personal brand within your industry, chances are when somebody is looking for what you do, your name will be top of the pile.
Clients come to you
Clients will do their homework before committing to a new business or purchasing a product. Become the voice of your sector and the business will come.
You gain access to great talent
Once you have a strong brand and you're an authority in your field, you'll find top talent wanting to work with and for you. If someone wants to work with you then you already have someone that understands your work ethic and business vision. Become the rock star of your industry and attract top talent to drive the business forward.
Getting started
You don't have to be a YouTube or Instagram star or do a host of public speaking gigs to build a personal brand. Like anything, it takes patience and consistency, as in consistently putting out great content.
Keep these five points in mind.
- Define what you want to be an expert in. You need to specialise, so narrow your niche.
- Be consistent. Post regularly and post quality content. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. Consider what people are interested in reading about, not just how you can punt your product or services.
- Everything you do online matters. Everything. Think about what image you want to portray, and then be consistent.
- Choose your platform. You don't need to be active on all social media platforms. Pick the one you feel most comfortable with and the one that you know your target audience frequents.
- Build a relationship with your audience. Be authentic, share your story, take them behind your scenes and share your mistakes — just be real. If you try to come off as too perfect then people will just find you fake. Building a powerful personal brand should be your secret weapon in 2017.
