Here’s how to really get your personal brand out there

Your new PB.

So you want to get your personal brand out there, become better known in your space and start stacking Instagram followers/cash. Not so fast. Before you find out how to market your brand, you’ve gotta figure out what the hell yours is. A couple of weeks ago, I covered how to build your personal brand – if you haven’t completed this Very Important Step yet, do that first. Nobody likes a corner cutter.

Once you’ve defined your PB, it’s time to start walking the walk. In that article, I warned you that your personal brand needs to shine in everything that you do, from the way you write your emails to how you dress each day; the projects you choose to work on and the type of content you produce.

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And that’s all well and good for embodying your personal brand, but how do you get other people to take notice? How do you catch the attention of the people you want to work with? How do you let everyone know you’re no longer a regular person, but a bonafide brand?

Give your Instagram a makeover

It goes without saying that a new personal brand requires a whole new look and feel. That goes for you, and your Instagram feed. First step? Put together a moodboard that better aligns with your key personality traits and values. Write yourself a new elevator pitch/Instagram bio, and think about how your imagery, colours and fonts might change. Pro tip: make your life easier by purchasing templates on Creative Market. Find one that resonates with your new brand to help piece together your new social presence.

Rethink your content strategy

Now that you’ve settled on a new virtual vibe, let’s consider what you’ll post. Will you need to post more OOTDs, spark more meaningful conversations or share daily business tips? Nut out some content pillars and brainstorm ideas for each. This will act as a bit of a library when you want to start posting. It’s also a good idea to check your insights to find out which content performs well for you, and weave that in too.

Update your creative portfolio

Okay, we’re loving our new vibe. Now it’s time to update our portfolio accordingly. Go through all of your past projects and select a handful that aligns with your stronger personal brand. Values, traits, dream clients, secret sauce; the works. If you don’t have enough of this work, create or add in some personal work to show what you could be capable of, if given the chance. Next, choose relevant imagery and write new copy that matches your tone of voice. Put it all together in a deck that you’re super proud of, because we’re about to send it out to the world.

Stalk the people you need to know and then connect with them

The personal brand process should make it pretty clear what kinds of companies or clients you want to work with. Now we must find them and make them fall in love with us. Message them on LinkedIn, email them a love note, become familiar with their work and go through their garbage for clues on how you can work together. Aka, stalk their Instagram. Feel free to send unsolicited copies of your portfolio while you’re at it.

Create some customised pitches for the special ones

This one applies to service-based hustlers. You should have a dream list of clients you’d love to work with (No? Sort that shit out.). For these ones, we’re going to go above and beyond with a customised pitch that highlights an opportunity, proves you’re the best person for the job, and outlines how you would approach it. Let’s say you’re a copywriter – you could write a sample blog post or rewrite a portion of their website, and send it to them, accompanied by the best email you’ve ever written in your life.

Get yourself some new business pals

Yes, your personal brand even includes the people you choose to surround yourself with. This isn’t to say you have to ditch your pals, but it could be worth reaching out to people you admire on Instagram, setting up coffees with possible mentors and suggesting ways you can work together that benefit both of you. Not only does your ‘circle’ impact your image, but hanging out with people that are more experienced than you, or better suited to your personality, will boost your energy and motivation like nothing else.

Alyce is a contributing writer for Fashion Journal and the director and head writer at Bossy, a Melbourne-based copywriting and content studio. You can find Bossy here and here.