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What Is A Personal Brand Anyway?

Kirsten QuinnHeadshots, Professional Portrait, Video, Visual Marketing

You keep hearing about this personal brand thing, but who has time to learn yet ANOTHER form of branding? Don’t worry — this one comes naturally.

Personal brand, Santa Clarita photographer, Santa Clarita photography, SchlickArt Studios, headshots, business photos, marketing photography, professional portrait, business portrait photography, professional photos, Santa Clarita headshot, business headshot

So you want to stand out from the rest, do you?

You want to make an impact, cut through the noise and finally get people to see that you’re the best there is!!

You’re just not sure how yet.

Don’t worry, The SchlickArt Blog has you covered.

You need to take a look at your personal brand.

What Is A Personal Brand?

Your personal brand is the unique combination of skills, experiences and beliefs the world sees when people meet you. When executed effectively, it differentiates you from your competition the way your business’ brand separates you from the rest of the industry. And in today’s world, it’s pretty much necessary to have a personal brand.

What You Need To Know About Personal Brands

First, let’s get one thing straight: You already have a personal brand, whether you’re aware of it or not. It’s part of what your prospects consider when making the decision to work with you or someone else. And it’s already working behind the scenes, so let’s dive in.

  1. You gotta dig deep to find it.

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“Understanding and discovering your personal brand is about understanding and discovering yourself,” according to PR exec Amy Stanton in Forbes. “How do you exist in the world? How do you feel about yourself? How do you connect with others? How do others respond to you? How do others perceive you? This is the foundation for understanding your personal brand.”
In order to leverage your unique set of skills and beliefs, you need to know them first! This kind of personal development should be a never-ending process, but in the beginning, it can be a tough one if you’re not used to self-reflection.

Try out some tests to discover your strengths. Write down everything you believe about what you do. Consider what gets you fired up about your profession. What pushes your buttons? What drives you to produce better results? Why? Always ask yourself why.

Figure out what you stand for, and use those convictions to set yourself apart from people who aren’t sending a message.

  1. It needs to match and support your business goals.

Personal brand, Santa Clarita photographer, Santa Clarita photography, SchlickArt Studios, headshots, business photos, marketing photography, professional portrait, business portrait photography, professional photos, Santa Clarita headshot, business headshotLet’s play with an example for this one.

I’m a writer; that’s my strength. But I also have a natural inclination for project management and modern marketing techniques, which makes me a great fit for content marketing.

The personal brand I’ve developed so far, however, focuses mostly on my writing abilities. The community doesn’t yet know about my ability to oversee a complicated project and assist with marketing plans.

So my personal brand needs to pivot. Otherwise, my network will always see me as a writer — not a content marketer — and I’ll miss out on projects because my name just isn’t top-of-mind for content marketing projects.  

Now, let’s look at my weaknesses. I’m a creative person, so I’m in my head a lot. While those personality aspects are acceptable coming from a writer, people aren’t generally looking for a spacey content marketer.

What’s my point? As my business goals shift, I need to shift my personal brand to match.

  1. It’s how you cut through the noise.

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I get it. Trying to stand out from the competition feels impossible sometimes. You want the good news?

There is no other person in the world who’s just like you.

So if you create a personal brand that’s truly, genuinely based in who you are, it will be effortlessly unique. When you’re the only one doing you, then you don’t actually have any competition.

You’ve cut through the noise because you have something real and meaningful to say.

“In today’s world, where your reputation — both online and offline — may be more impactful than your resume, taking time to reflect upon and build your personal brand is the gateway to advancement — and also critical to landing you your best job fit,” writes Shelley Zalis for Forbes.

  1. You’ve got to treat it like a brand.

Once you’ve decided on the “who” of your personal brand, it’s time to decide what it looks like!

What do I mean by that? The Professional You has a slightly different look and demeanor than the Personal You, right? Maybe you have a uniform, suit or specific style that you rock at work. What colors do you wear? What colors are your business’ brand? Do you style your hair a certain way? How much makeup do you wear? These are all things you need to consider when deciding what your personal brand looks like.

  1. It’s time to capture the unique YOU.

Personal brand, Santa Clarita photographer, Santa Clarita photography, SchlickArt Studios, headshots, business photos, marketing photography, professional portrait, business portrait photography, professional photos, Santa Clarita headshot, business headshotThen, once you’ve crossed the Ts and dotted the Is of your personal brand, it’s time to capture it and put it out into the world! Here’s where we come in. Creating and refining personal brands is what we do. We can customize the set to match your colors, and choose poses that communicate the personality traits and beliefs that represent your personal brand. In fact, we’ve been doing this since before the business world was calling it a personal brand!

Here’s what we recommend to get you started:

  • Headshots: If Santa Clarita is part of your branding, then you’ll definitely want to take a look at our Cityscape Professional Portraits Session. If you want something that’s customized to your brand, then check out our Professional Portrait Session.
  • Full Marketing Set: Much of marketing is done online today, and images increase the performance of nearly all online marketing efforts — from social media posts to newsletters and blogs. So many of our clients choose a Full Marketing Shoot, so they have a range of branded images to share across multiple platforms — without getting stale. Plus, different poses and expressions are great for the different personalities of your marketing platforms, from LinkedIn to Instagram.
  • Foundational Marketing Videos: Video is a fantastic avenue to create awareness for your personal brand, and it’s a great place to show some personality. We recommend a set of Foundational Marketing Videos that cover the important topics: an introduction to you and your business, the story behind your business or brand and a video for each major product or service. You can always build from there, but this is where we recommend starting.

Now you’re ready to go out there and rock your personal brand!

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About SchlickArt Photography and Video

SchlickArt, a boutique photo and video studio in Santa Clarita, started in March 2012 with the simple idea that empowerment creates a kind of beauty and authenticity that shines through every camera lens. Built on a philosophy — rather than a product, service or person — SchlickArt has rapidly evolved, meeting professional portraiture, business photo and business video needs as diverse as the community we capture. It’s the desire to take care of you, the client, that drives us at SchlickArt.

About Our Santa Clarita Business Videos

SchlickArt Business Video Sessions are story-driven films about your business, non-profit, product or service. Our goal is to discover your ‘why’ — the true reason you do what you do. Our specialty is telling stories, and we believe communicating your story is the best way to build your brand. We can’t wait for you to see how the world notices when you take the time to tell your authentic story.

About the Author
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Kirsten Quinn

A lover of strong coffee and yellowed pages, Kirsten Quinn-Smith is a professional content writer and owner of WordSmith Content Marketing here in Santa Clarita. She believes great content can forge a loyal, authentic and beneficial relationship between you and your audience – and grow your business. With each piece of writing, Kirsten's goal is to position you in the content spotlight through audience-centered, strategy-based writing that actually sounds like you. Why? Everyone has a story, and every story deserves to be heard.