As an independent contractor, you are the MARK of your business. A strong MARK is built on the foundation of a unique positioning. As a business owner, you carry this out in a certain look and feel. Your target audience sees this on your website, but also by reading and hearing what others say about you. Do you want to attract more customers and grow your business? Then personal branding indispensable. Personal branding has everything to do with how you market yourself and whether it matches your identity. But how do you establish a good personal brand? What do you need to do? I have created a roadmap for you, so that by the end of this blog you will know exactly what to do. 

What exactly is personal branding?

Good question: what is personal branding? Actually, you can compare personal branding to marketing yourself, the service and or product you provide. If you stand in front of a shelf in the supermarket, you see a lot of products from different brands. Think of toothpaste, for example. You have a wide choice, so it can be quite difficult to choose the right toothpaste. But then when you look at the packaging, you see differences between the toothpastes. For example, one brand has the feature of giving extra white teeth, another is good for sensitive gums, another is special for children and so on. You may also have seen advertisements of a particular toothpaste brand that convinced you. Or you have read reviews and your neighbor waxes lyrical about the toothpaste. All these aspects make it easier for you to choose a toothpaste. 

You can also relate this to individuals, to yourself. There are more people working in your field. So how should someone choose you, when there are so many other creative ambitious entrepreneurs and knowledge professionals? Right, by providing clarity. 

"Establish yourself with rock-solid positioning, so that you can stand out from your competition and even stronger, stay ahead of them."

From general to specific: personal branding provides clarity

Why is personal branding important? It's actually quite simple. As an entrepreneur, you are the MARK of your company. And a strong brand is based on a unique positioning. It's distinctive from your competitors, making you much better behavedMARKt becomes. By the way, it's not that with the right positioning you appeal to everyone. But you address the people who "turn on" to your energy. These are often the people you want as clients, the people with whom you enjoy working and together you can achieve the best results. So in short: the goal of positioning is NOT to appeal to the whole world, but rather to repel people. And that's totally okay. 

Choose and you will be chosen

Suppose that as a children's coach you are especially good at coaching children with fear of failure. There are many more coaches, so why would the parents of a child with fear of failure choose you? What makes you and your way of coaching so special? If they know this, not only will you appeal to a specific target group, but you will also get clients much more easily. 

Because if they only know that you are a coach, but don't know that you are especially good at helping kids with fear of failure, these clients won't find you. Or they won't be convinced that you can help. They simply don't know that you can help them with their problem. The more specific you are, the better your target audience will know what they have to gain from you. Choose and you will be chosen, I often say. You are not there for everyone, but for a specific target group. 

Okay, you've chosen your niche. Are you there then? No, not in my opinion. For me, it's about the combination of your potential, your passion and your core values. 

The roadmap for personal branding

Now that you know the importance of getting started with personal branding, you want to get started right away. But how to create a personal brand? To make it easier for you, I've created a personal branding roadmap for you here. The most important thing is to have a super good focus on what you want to achieve, who you want to achieve and how you do it.

Step 1: discover what makes you so special

If you want to create a strong personal brand, you need to start by examining your unique and powerful attributes. There are a number of questions you can answer for yourself. 

• How can you help your target audience?
• What are you an expert at? What is your potential?
• What makes your approach distinctive? 

Also ask acquaintances to have questions about you answered. Consider a former colleague, clients and a former manager. Ask what they value most in you. Why do they want to work with you and not someone else? What problem did you solve for them? 

Step 2: describe your personal branding

Now that you've identified what makes you so unique, it's time to start converting this to your personal branding. Because this is your identity is to match your image, it is important that you exude this in everything. So not just as a short text on your website under the "about me" heading. No, it has to radiate in everything. It has to be consistent. So convey the same thing through your social media channels or during a conversation with a potential client. This also corresponds to the ABCs of personal branding: authenticity, reliability and consistency. Make sure your unique self comes out, you are trustworthy and consistent in what you do. 

Obviously, I can't explain HOW to work on your personal brand in a 118-word paragraph. In my Unlimited Freedom Program, an entire module is about your personal MARK. Without a strong MARK marketing is ineffective and your sales will result as "comparable to your competition. So I see this as one of the most important modules in my intensive 16-week Program. 

Step 3: propagating your personal brand

Now that you have a clear idea of what your personal brand is, it's time to show it everywhere. You do this with a marketing strategy, an important part of your business plan. This plan includes a clear goal. What do you want to achieve? A strong positioning of your MARK also means seeking the emotional connection with your customers. Through what channels can you best do this? Perhaps through LinkedIn, networking events, Instagram and some other channel. What you also need to think about is consistency. What you put out should be a celebration of recognition. And of course, you have to keep moving with the changes in the market. If you are at the forefront of new developments, you will stay ahead of your competitors. 

Personal branding is something you are always working on because:

• The market continues to innovate and thus demands change
• Your value proposition remains distinctive only if you innovate
• You yourself are in need of new impulses and changes
• You want to take yourself to the next level

Here's how to create a personal brand that stands like a house

Are you yet to be raisedMARKt? Do you find it difficult to stand out and want more personal branding tips & tricks? For 20 years I've done marketing, sales and business development for large international companies. Branding is easy for me. I know exactly HOW to strategically market a strong positioning with an irresistible offer. So as a Business Strategist, personal branding & positioning coach I would love to help you become a great personal brand.