How to Build a Personal Brand: A Guide for Small Businesses and Charities

In today’s digital landscape, knowing how to build a personal brand isn’t just a nice to have—it’s essential for business growth. As the saying goes, people buy from people. But what exactly is a personal brand, and how do you build one that feels authentic rather than awkward? 🤔

In this blog, we’re sharing tips and tricks to help you build a personal brand that’s authentically YOU!

What is a personal brand?

Before diving into how to build a personal brand, let’s clarify what it actually means. Personal branding is the process of promoting what you stand for and positioning yourself as an authority in your industry. The key is to lean into your uniqueness and build a reputation of trust.

Why you should build a personal brand

Having a personal brand helps you to:

• Attract your dream clients
• Build trust with your audience
• Stand out in your industry
• Unlock opportunities that you might never have considered!

How to build your personal brand

1. Remember: It’s Your Journey

No two people have the same journey – so lean into your unique lived experiences and let your journey shine.

➡️ Try: writing your story down on paper. Give it a beginning, a middle, and an end – you’ll be surprised what comes out in your story!

💡 Tip: Avoid comparing yourself to others. Everyone starts somewhere, and even if you offer similar products or services as others, your story is different, and that’s your advantage.

2. Find Your Inner Power

This is a great exercise that filters into all areas of your business! Once you’ve worked out your story, find out what makes you uniquely you.

Take time to:

• Find out what makes you unique
• Recognise your superpower—what do you do exceptionally well?
• Believe in your ability to provide value
• Embrace and share your unique story

Try ➡️ Asking a friend what they think your superpower is ⚡️ Friends can sometimes see things that we can’t see!

💡 Tip : Struggling to be confident? Take time to reflect weekly on what you’ve done and see if you can pick out times that you showed your superpower. The more you notice yourself having that superpower, the more confident you’ll become.

3. Be authentic without giving the “ick”

Many of us put off building a personal brand because we think “nobody wants to hear from me.” But the truth is, humans are curious by nature! We’re all nosey and we’re interested in genuinely getting to know the real people behind our favourite businesses.

When you start showing up authentically online, you’re developing key principles in the ‘know, like, trust’ sequence that all marketing relies on.

• People get to know you through consistent content
• They begin to like you because you educate, entertain, or evoke emotion
• They start to trust you because you remain authentic and consistent

➡️ Try: Reviewing content creators that you love and writing down what it is that you like about that. This will help you understand what qualities you might like to bring out in your own authentic personal brand!

💡 Don’t force it – we get the ‘ick’ when we can tell something is fake. Don’t show up online trying to be someone you’re not because your audience will quickly see through it. Be your own amazing self and let your authenticity shine!

4. Lean into the power of storytelling

The best personal brands leverage the power of storytelling. Humans have been telling stories for thousands of years – it’s in our DNA!

By leaning into your story, you’re showing openness and vulnerability, which naturally builds your audience’s trust 🤝

Great storytelling elicits emotion and invites your audience to connect with you.

➡️ Try: Reviewing the journey you created earlier on, and seeing if you can pull out key moments that you can lean into for your storytelling. Look out for key moments that will help you reach others with similar experiences to create those connections 🩵

💡 Tip: Remember the 3 ‘E’s of using storytelling in your content:

• Educational: Helping your audience learn about something
• Emotional: Making genuine connections
• Entertaining: Capturing attention and interest

How to show up on camera

For many people, getting your face out there is a big part of personal branding. Just like we said at the start, people connect with people. Having a friendly face incorporated into your business and brand helps foster those connections.

Now, having your face out there isn’t for everyone – we’ll be covering alternatives in the next section, so don’t worry! But if you’re ready to try getting in front of a camera, here are our top tips to help you get started.

1. Practice regularly: No one’s first take is ever perfect and everyone has to start somewhere. The key is just to start and practice as much as possible!
   
2. Find where you’re comfortable: Most people aren’t comfortable filming in public, so find what works for you. Maybe it’s at home at your desk, or out on a dog walk – find what works for you and be consistent to build up your confidence.
   
3. Have a content plan: Knowing what you need to film or create helps keep you focused and removes the pressure.
   
4. Don’t overthink it: Remember, if you help even one person, your content has had impact! Focus on the value you’re giving and have fun with it 😊
   

It’s not all about being on camera

Not everyone is comfortable showing their face, and that’s perfectly okay!

Here are a couple of ways you can create a personal brand that’s “faceless”:

• Text-based content: Maximise your educational posts with text-based content that shows your personality
• Voice-overs: Try narrating over B-roll footage or behind-the-scenes footage to bring a “voice” to your brand without showing your face!
• Memes: Finding or creating humorous, relatable content that fits your brand voice can help you connect with your audience on a more personal level
• Stop-motion videos: These are particularly great for product-based businesses as you can create short-form video content that’s highly engaging without needing to appear on camera
• User-generated content: Also known as UGC, this strategy leverages content your customers or collaborators have created. It allows you to engage with your audience, create relatable content, and bring to life the “humans” at the heart of your business 😊

Ready to build your personal brand?

If you remember one thing, make it this: be authentically you. Everything else you can tweak, test, and experiment, but underpinning everything is being yourself 😊

If you’d love support defining or testing your personal branding, why not book a 1:1 mentoring session with Digital Boost’s mentors?

We’ve got 1000s of volunteer mentors all here to support you on your journey! All our services are 100% free to access, so you can grow your business without spending a dime.

Meet the mentor

This blog was inspired by a Masterclass we hosted with Emma, one of the volunteer mentors in our community! You can watch the replay of the Masterclass here.

Emma is the founder of Fresh Approach Digital. She’s been a Digital Boost mentor since 2020! And in that time she’s supported 100s of founders to develop their social media skills 🎉

When she’s not helping founders get confident on social media, or filming her famous ‘tea and tips’ segment on her social media channels, Emma can be found at sea! She’s a huge marine lover and has spent most of her life living and working in the marine industry. You’ll often find her paddleboarding her local river, sailing, or playing hockey 😊