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What is Your Personal Brand ?
Writing for Entrepreneur magazine , LogoYes . com founder John Williams defined personal brand in this way :
“ Simply put , your brand is your promise to your customer . It tells them what they can expect from your products and services , and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors .”
Or as Jeff Bezos , the founder of Amazon . com has said , “ Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room .”
As a coach , your personal brand is essentially your reputation — how those who know or have come across you would describe you to others .
Your experience , expertise , values , strengths , personality — everything that makes you you — represent an important starting point for clarifying your unique personal brand , but it ’ s important to remember that your brand is not everything about you .
Other people have limited capacity to hold information about you ( or anyone else , for that matter ) in mind . Therefore , it ’ s essential that your brand essence be a narrowly defined , strategically chosen set of attributes that make you attractive and memorable in the eyes of the prospects that you ’ d most like to work with .
How is Your Personal Brand Conveyed ?
In short , everything you say , do and create adds to or takes away from the credibility of your personal brand .
Your communication ( written , verbal , nonverbal ); your style ; the fonts , colors and images you use on your website or in the documents you create ; your logo ; your tagline ; your testimonials ; your credentials ; your prices — all these elements and more are mechanisms for conveying your personal brand and need to be working together holistically to tell a consistent brand story .
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Why Does Your Personal Brand Matter ?
Your personal brand is crucial when it comes to converting prospects into clients .
Because of the personal nature of the coaching service , potential clients are looking for someone they can get to know , like and trust before they make the decision to contact them . How do most people find a coach that meets those criteria today ? Two ways : online research and referrals ( which often lead to online research ).
Online Research
Your online presence has never been more vital to your business success than it is today . A 2014 survey conducted by Google , in partnership with Milward Brown Digital , showed that 89 percent of B2B purchasers use the internet to inform their buying decisions .
When potential prospects Google you , what will they find ? Does your online presence convey a credible personal brand ? Is there sufficient relevant content to facilitate potential clients getting to know , like and trust you ?
Referrals
So how can you get more referrals ? Hinge ’ s Referral Marketing Study found that the most important factor leading to referrals is whether the person being referred is displaying visible expertise ; i . e ., readily available , high-quality examples demonstrating the value the service provider has to offer ( e . g ., speaking engagements , articles , books , website ). Do you have an online presence that potential referrers will feel confident pointing others toward ?
What Difference Can an Effective Personal Brand Make ?
To illustrate the impact that investing in your personal brand can make , consider this case study :
An electronics retailer that had recently established a leadership
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development program for highpotential women in the company sought external coaches to provide one-on-one coaching for the 25 participants . Nine ICFcredentialed coaches were selected by the organization ’ s learning and development manager to submit a two-page bio that was distributed to each of the participants for consideration in selecting the coach they wanted to work with . Although they did not have preexisting relationships with any of the program participants , two of the coaches ( 22 percent ) ended up being chosen by 16 of the participants ( 64 percent ).
What made those two coaches so appealing ?
Their clearly conveyed , authentic personal brands .
Despite receiving the written bios , many of the program participants extended their research of the potential coaches into the online realm . The two coaches preferred by the majority of participants had invested in creating online presences and websites ( complete with brandaligned photos , copy , design , etc .) that told authentic , cohesive brand stories .
The powerful first impressions these two coaches made online led the majority of participants to feel as though they ’ d already started to know , like and trust them , which caused the participants to feel more comfortable with their selections .
To be clear , clarifying and consistently conveying your authentic , unique personal brand won ’ t necessarily cause more people to be aware of you and your services — that ’ s where the important role of marketing comes in — but it will enable you to convert more of the right prospects when they do find you , leaving them with the satisfying feeling , “ You ’ re exactly what I was looking for .”
© Accuren Limited
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Coaching World 13 |