In today’s crowded market, the face behind any services is just as important – if not more so than the service itself. Learn how to develop a strong personal brand with this key component: you and your personal style. In this video, I will give you 11 key principles you can use to stand out, boost your unique personal brand, and attract the best clients that will identify and like you much faster. I use these principles when styling my private clients and they get great results. Now you can use them too.
So how do you effectively brand yourself?
1. Don’t try to come up with a personal brand borrowed from someone else. You can get inspired, but don’t copy or create a brand that’s not 100% you at the core. Your personal brand style needs to be truly authentic to who you are.
2. You have a general idea of what kind of image you want to represent. Now try to get more specific. And whatever you do, don’t try to appeal to everyone. Don’t wear a bland classic button down shirt and blazer because this is how everyone else dresses in your line of work. Find the style that represents who you are and don’t be afraid to express it whether it’s a cool or fun power suit or a romantic dress, don’t be afraid to wear it for work by dressing it up with a sleek blazer. Make even the most classic dress your own with eye catching details that represent your style.
3. The most successful business owners create and become brands. Shape your style to fit how you’d like to be received. You are your brand. You’re a walking, talking advertisement for yourself and what’s on the outside makes a huge impression. If you want people to believe your message and motivation, then the outside has to match the inside. If you teach people how to make more money such as a marketing or business coach, then the way you dress needs to match the core value you promote: creating wealth and abundance. You need to dress like you make money yourself.
4. Before you can incorporate your personal brand into your style, you need to first figure out what you want your brand to say. Think about the words that describe your brand and use those words to determine what your style will look like. Look at what you are wearing on a typical work day, what adjectives describe your outfit? Examples could be chic, upscale, fun or funky, sensual, edgy, preppy, or collegiate. Does your description fit with your message and how you want to be perceived? Another good exercise would be to ask a few friends to use 3 words to describe you. This will help you determine how other people perceive you and find most memorable or interesting about you. You can either use those words to inform your style and build from there or bring some changes in your appearance if the words are not congruent with the message you want to convey.
5. Get your style in line with what you want it to say, without any contradictions whatsoever. Again, if you are a business coach teaching people how to make a lot of money, would you wear clothes from target? If so, you are probably not as successful as you could be. Create a brand statement that represents who you are and what you stand for. Additionally, once you do find your brand style, be consistent with your choice of clothing and your marketing as a whole. If you typically wear very classic clothes, don’t go out on a whim and decide you want to switch it up a bit and wear a bohemian looking dress. This is confusing to your audience and confusion leads to a no. My outfit choices typically look refined and sophisticated. Although I started wearing more colors, I typically favor muted colors or neutrals except for the color red as opposed to super flashy colors. The same goes for my website which is very classy and sophisticated looking. My brand is consistent across the board.
6. When you build a brand as an entrepreneur, your personality should come through. Your personality and opinions are all molding your brand. People want to know you better so they can like and trust you, so you need to keep finding ways to insert your personality into your brand because humanizing a brand is the best way to get noticed and liked. People don’t want to buy from a product or service, they want to buy from real people they know and trust.
You are unique and you need to use it to your advantage. There’s only one you in the world so start asking yourself what makes you unique or special. Is it your Height? Eye color? Lips? curvy silhouette? Whatever it is, flaunt it and use it so you are memorable and stand out from the crowd. Use your uniqueness to get noticed and don’t borrow from other people because as they say everyone else is taken.
7. A signature style instills recognition and is memorable. It gets people to associate to your brand and can be almost anything: like a bright red purse or bright red lips, fun glasses, wearing polkadots on a regular basis. Whatever it is, wear that a lot, It will create a mental trigger that will cause your audience to think of you when they encounter something similar. It allows people to humanize your brand and connect to you even more. A signature style or accessory is something that people will immediately recognize when they scroll past your image. It will also remind people of you even when you’re not around. It’s almost like exposing someone to you and your service on a subconscious level. If your signature style or accessory is in a bold color that looks amazing on you, even better!
8. Color is the first thing we notice and take in before anything else. Very colorful brands convey a happy cheerful vibe, which is a totally different message than a brand that uses muted neutral colors, which can look more upscale or chic. Think about the emotions you want your brand to convey when choosing a color to wear. Take a look at logos and colors in similar lines of business. You will notice that they use similar colors. Favoring and wearing the same brand colors on a regular basis can be quite powerful to develop a strong brand and in the way you’re perceived. It create a cohesive and lasting impression. Using your brand colors, especially for images of you on your website, welcome page, and social media headers or posts will help to solidify your brand. You are basically telling people that you live your brand and message. I’m not saying that you have to wear your brand colors every single day, but when you take professional photos or show up for workshops, webinars, or speaking engagements, it is a great way to build more consistency and brand awareness. Finally, find and wear the color palette that looks best on you. It makes a big difference on how good they make you look. I will have an upcoming youtube video called How to wear the right colors for your skin tone. In it, you will learn how to determine what your best colors are. The link will be put below the video when it becomes available.
9. The best thing you can do for your personal brand style is to wear clothes that flatter your body and understanding how to dress for your unique figure. Because guess what, what looks good on you and the silhouettes that flatter your body will become part of your brand style. You will want to wear those silhouettes on a regular basis, which will in turn bring consistency to your personal brand style. Try things on and study how they flow on your body. Your clothes should accentuate your best features.
10. You don’t have time to scan through a cluttered closet or think about what to wear every time you have a client meeting, workshop, or webinar. Auditing and building a wardrobe to match your brand image will support you to always be prepared and represent your brand well, even if you need to attend an event or promote at the last minute. Be on the look out for my youtube video called “How to clear your closet” to learn the most effective way to do it. To be as successful as you want, you have to spend your time wisely, If you spend 10 extra minutes a day figuring out what to wear, that adds up to about one hour per week or about 45 hours a year – that’s a whole week worth of time!
11. I recommend creating a pinterest inspiration board with pictures of outfits that feel in line with what your brand stands for. My brand is sophisticated, artistic, and glamorous. I use Inspiration boards to teach my clients how to develop a personal style that works for them and they are extremely effective. Remember the three words you came up with to describe your brand image? Keep them in mind when pinning images and outfits you like and remove anything that does not reflect your brand. By creating a board, you are creating a brand style you can rely on every day to stay true to your brand image and personality and this will in turn create consistency and authenticity.
Now that you learned the most effective way to brand yourself, you can start developing your personal brand style by taking this quick personal brand assessment I created. Click HERE to access it. In it, you’ll learn what personal brand style you are, what motivates your brand, and specific stores you should start paying attention to.
For the best personal brand style and fashion advice on how to look more sophisticated and project a successful image, subscribe to my youtube channel HERE and hit the bell to be notified when I post a new video every Friday!
Enjoy and Au Revoir! xx
Watch the latest episode here and I’ll meet you in the comments!
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