You: The Secret Ingredient to Your Brand's Success
Why Your Personal Influence Matters
Have you ever gone to a brand’s “About” page on their website and found a generic statement without personal photos or information about the founder? No names, no bio, just a very general page. Often, even the email address is something faceless too, like info@ or support@. You hesitate to contact them for their services because you’re wondering, “Who do I even address when sending them a message?”
When I encounter a business showing up like this (and I did just as recently as last week), it creates mistrust. What are they hiding? Why aren’t they visible? Who is the WHO behind the brand?
Maybe you’ve experienced this too. It creates a wall between you and the brand itself.
When you put more of YOU into your brand and commit to being more visible, vulnerable and authentic, it allows you to connect with your audience ‘heart-to-heart’, not simply ‘brain-to-brain’.
So let’s talk about bringing more of YOU into your brand.
Finding the Balance
How much of you is too much when it comes to your brand?
We’ve likely all experienced a range in the brands we come across on a daily basis. There are the businesses whose people are completely absent in their brand, and there are the ones that overshare every aspect of their personal life (see my blog post about Harry + Meghan).
The goal is to find a balance and to ensure that the main focus is on connecting with your dream clients on a human level. And in this time of advancing AI, it is becoming more and more important to stand out.
Here are 3 tips for bringing more of YOU into your brand:
1. Show your face on social media and your website
On your website, make sure you have a great headshot, and if possible, photos of you working with people who look like your ideal clients.
When it comes to social media, integrate storytelling and photos or videos of you to connect with your audience. From personal experience, when I share stories, photos of me or leverage video, my engagement is exponentially higher than any other type of post. Get creative and get on camera!
How can you integrate more of yourself into your brand?
2. Share your opinion
Your personal opinions matter. It can be scary to put your thoughts and opinions out into the ether - but this is the only way to become a thought leader in your space. And being a thought leader helps you and your business stand out in a crowded market.
This will amplify your brand and attract opportunities and clients.
My top blog posts are often the ones where I share a strong opinion. Like I did about the Kia Rebrand or about the new design of the Canadian Passport.
3. Share your stories authentically and vulnerably
Share stories with your audience that connect with them. Now, a word of caution, vulnerability can be a tricky one. The important thing to remember is that vulnerability is NOT showing up as a hot mess, or flaunting your pain on social media without a solution. It needs to be relevant to what your audience needs, and how it can help them.
Share from a place of having moved through whatever problem you were facing, as a way to teach from your scars and help your audience move past these struggles. Share from a place of growth, and you will inspire others.
For my own brand, I noticed a shift when I began writing more from the heart, sharing more about me, and expressing myself authentically when putting myself out there (here’s the post that started it all). Others noticed as well and I began to attract my dream clients and amazing opportunities, simply by incorporating more of myself into my brand.
You do not need to be everything to everyone.
One last word: remember, you are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. You do not need to connect with and attract EVERYONE. You need to connect with and attract the RIGHT people.
Integrating and bringing more of YOU into your brand will help you amplify your business, express your thought leadership and magnetize the right clients.
It’s time to discover and share your unique voice and magnetize the right clients to you!
Click HERE to learn more about working with us to make this happen!