Personal Branding Is a Must in the Creative Economy

The subject of personal branding has been coming up recently with my clients. I’m noticing more of a need for solo-professionals to brand their identity and image.

With the way the economy has shifted in the past year, a strong personal brand is needed more than ever. It used to be okay to be general and undifferentiated, but not any more. You need a clear, compelling message and a strong brand to capture people’s attention quickly. And, you need ongoing branded communication to hold their attention.

Some of the branding mistakes that I see professionals make include:

• Too broad a target market


• Being too general and not specialized enough


• Not being relevant


• Not taking a stand on issues


• Lack of clarity in their marketing message


• Not bringing enough of their personality, passion and purpose into their communication

Patsi Krakoff wrote a very good blog post on “6 Deadly Blog Branding Mistakes to Avoid” for professionals and entrepreneurs. Patsi specializes in helping professionals and entrepreneurs use content marketing and blogs to position themselves and their brand.

If you’re not leading with your purpose and standing out with your message and your brand, you may notice that you capture less and less of the attention of your marketplace.