1. Personal
Branding
The best marketing tool you can
use!
Authors:
Ms. Leneka Rhoden
Ms. Alexis Walters
Email: lenekaintl@gmail.com
Published: March 2020

2. What is Personal Branding?
The most important first impression and the legacy/lasting impact of your persona!
Personal Branding is the strategy of establishing and promoting YOU, which includes your
career/field of work, skills, experience, the kind of person you are and what YOU stand for.

3. Importance of Personal Branding
● A strong personal brand will lead to multiple opportunities such as: jobs,
promotions and partnership.
● Personal Branding brings credibility and aids a person in establishing their
name.
It helps to gain recognition in their area of expertise.
● Building a strong personal brand helps to interact with target audiences in a
clear, consistent way. This consistency also brings about trust.

5. Building your Personal Brand
Step One: Determine and Prioritize Your Values and Passions
Values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They are
at the core of who you are as a person and determine your priorities.
Step Two: Define Your Key Traits
What helps you stand out from the crowd? These elements are your unique traits, and they
help shape your personal identity.

6. Building your Personal Brand
Step Three: Develop Your Personal Image
Step Four: Define Your Target Audience
It’s impossible to make everyone like you, so why would
you try to appeal to everyone when building your personal brand?
Defining a target audience is important for not only organizations, but YOU!

7. Your Target Audience Includes:
● The person who will pay you: This person is typically a boss, investor or client. This person is in
charge of the next step of your career.
● The Person Who Influences the person who pays you: Make it easy for your boss/client, etc. to put in
a good word for you with her superior or direct influencer.
● Your Supporters: Who are your messages meant for? Who will benefit most from consuming them
and provide you what you're asking for? That’s your target audience of supporters.
If you’re aiming to achieve a new job or promotion, your supporters could also be your peers
that will help you get where you want to go by providing excellent recommendations.
Defining Your Target Audiences

8. Build Your Online Presence
From Twitter to podcasts, blogs to Facebook, to establish your personal brand, you must
get your voice out there!
● First, you must secure URLs, social usernames, etc. that are the best fit for your brand
before someone else does!

9. Platforms
These can help boost your personal and
professional brand!
● LinkedIn
● Instagram
● Facebook
● Twitter
● Pinterest
● Personal Website

10. Using LinkedIn as a
Platform
LinkedIn is seen as the
social media platform
where businesses and
professionals can network
freely without having to
travel anywhere.
LinkedIn can help with
your online branding
primarily through visibility
and recognition in a place
where your reputation is
at home with other like-
minded businesspeople.

11. Tips for Branding on LinkedIn
Contribute something of value to your target market.
A social media channel is very similar to a TV channel. So ask yourself, Would you watch a channel consisting of mostly
self-promotion and ads, or would you prefer content that is educational and/or entertaining?
Create engaging content
The more reactions and comments you receive on your post, the more people it will reach. However, not all engagement is
created equal. Because a comment takes a bit more effort than a reaction, it will go further in increasing the reach of your
post.
Avoid links
LinkedIn penalizes links; it is in the platform’s interest to keep you on its website. If your post includes a link that takes you
away from the page, the algorithm will penalize the reach so that less people view your content.

12. Tips for Branding on LinkedIn
Post regularly
Building a brand requires consistent effort. Not only does posting content on a regular basis help you to stay on the top of
people’s minds, but the LinkedIn algorithm rewards people who consistently post high-quality content.
Connect on a personal level, but keep it professional
People relate to other people, not to brands. Be authentic. Open up a bit and share some of your personal life; people will be
drawn to you. That said, LinkedIn is a professional network, so keep your audience in mind.
Become a micro-influencer
You don’t need to have millions of connections for LinkedIn to make a big impact on your career. Sometimes you just need a
few of the right people to pay attention. Share your expertise in your field by creating you own unique content and you will
stand out from the crowd

13. Update your profile photo
Ideally, you’ll want to employ a professional photographer to take the picture, but if budgets are tight, choose a picture
that is sharp, high resolution, flattering, and clear (not a cropped image of your head).
Join groups
Joining and participating in groups is a sure-fire way to raise your profile and expand your network—and you should be
aiming to be active in at least 1-2 relevant groups as a “top contributor”—a status awarded to people who are regularly
starting and being involved in group discussions.
Tips for Branding on LinkedIn

14. Mistakes to Avoid
● Don’t lie!
● Don’t use anything other than a
professional looking photo
● Don’t send people an invitation with
LinkedIn’s default text.
● Don’t leave your LinkedIn profile
incomplete
● Don’t ask people who DON’T know you to
write recommendations for you