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This means that money and jobs will be in great demand, and as such there’s never been a more important time for your brand to stand out from the rest.
Even if you’re not trying to sell a product, in this digital age, we actually need to view ourselves as a brand. So the way that you present yourself online really is paramount.
And it’s not just your online presence. Your conversations, the interactions you have and even your overall demeanor all create your personal brand. Your brand is your reputation and how others will decide to view you for years, even decades, to come.
Consequently it’s vital that we all start to realise the importance of building a brand and how to do it.
One of the easiest ways for many people to start to do this is on social media. Through social media your ‘brand’ can reach out to attract new clients and customers, allow you to engage in dialogue, and also help to build a community.
When building a brand the first thing you need to do is make sure that the brand’s ethos and values are sound. We live in an age where people don’t just buy something because of its functional purpose, they also buy into a brand because of its values. So it’s important to make sure that the values of your brand are clear from the onset and that they’re inkeeping with the ethos.
It may seem counterintuitive to invest money in your brand when it’s in the early stages of development or you’re still trying to get it off the ground. However, investing in experts with the experience and contacts in the field of PR will mean that your brand will receive the exposure that it needs to be profitable and grow.
For a brand to be truly successful, customers and clients need to be able to engage in open dialogue with it. This can be for a number of reasons, such as feedback, building trust, and also expanding the fan base. Fortunately social media platforms enable this to be done effectively and to be monitored closely and regularly.
There is a tendency nowadays for people to try and do everything they can to avoid failure, and I see this a lot in the workplace, especially amongst women. However, my advice would be that if you learnt to accept that some failure is inevitable, both personally and for your brand, you’ll be less scared to take risks and more likely push yourself out of your comfort zone and use any mistakes to learn from them and move on with improved knowledge.
It sounds counterintuitive to some people to think like this when you’re running a business, because that, after all, is the nature of most businesses. However my experience has taught me that running a business fuelled by passion needs to take priority. Underpin your services with your ethics and values and channel your mission statement into everything that you do. Remember that the most unique thing that the business has is you – and if your sole focus is money then the customer will cotton on to that pretty quickly.
Building a successful brand can be extremely challenging and feel relentless at times, which is why it’s vital that you celebrate your successes along the way – however small they are! Publicly sharing your successes with your team and clients helps to build brand confidence but also foster a more positive mindset – for both yourself and your team and also your clients.
Sophie Attwood is the founder and Managing Director of Sophie Attwood Communications – a global PR agency representing the trailblazers within the health and wellness, beauty and medical aesthetics industries. With clients in the UK, Australia, Dubai and the US, she’s worked exceptionally hard to curate a portfolio of exceptional brands for which she develops innovative, creative strategies to enable their clients to take their communication strategy to the next level.
