We hear it all the time, “create and grow your own personal brand,” but what are the steps to actually doing just that? Although credentials and experience help to gain your clients trust, they will also choose to do business with you and trust you even more if they see you not as a working robot, but as a human that they can relate to as well. When creating a personal brand, consultants need to consider both their professional brand as well as a brand that ‘humanizes’ them in order to connect with their clients on a more personal level to gain trust, create loyal clients as well as good press for attracting clients in the future. Below are the top five ways that consultants can begin to ‘humanize’ their brand…
1. Be conversational with your clients
Of course, you need to sell yourself and your business to online viewers to let them know what you can offer them as a consultant. However, do not be that businessperson that is constantly creating post after post solely selling themselves or their business. Viewers of your posts will eventually become numb to the constant parade of sales pitches and either get bored of the content and unfollow or ignore the posts all together. Instead, create engagement with your viewers and encourage conversations. First, a potential client could use this as an opportunity to get to know you better and decide if you are the right fit what the services he or she wants. Additionally, diversifying your content peaks curiosity and interest in your posts and allowing current and potential customers to engage with you allowing you to seem more approachable and easy to work with. Start with a poll, game or ask for answers in regards to a discussion question or current event.
2. Tell stories
When a client is deciding whether to choose you as their consultant or not, they want to know that you will get the job done in the end(credentials), but also that they can trust you with their business and work with you so you understand the needs of their business. Creating a human connection can ease these fears potential clients may have that you aren’t the right fit for them because they will be able to relate to you on a personal, human level, ultimately allowing you to gain their trust so you can work to the best of your ability. Show ‘behind-the-scenes’ moments of your life in posts or vlogs. Showcase your spouse, your family, your pet, your travels, etc. to demonstrate to clients that you aren’t just a working machine, and are more like them than it seems.
3. Be unique
Creating a unique voice that is easily recognized as your own is crucial to ‘humanizing’ your brand. You are no longer fitting into a mold of a traditional consultant and will not get lost in the sea of boring posts and sales pitches. Create posts with a real, genuine voice that your clients can recognize easily and connect with in a positive and personal way that will stand out as well.
4. Show appreciation for your clients, and get it in return
Demonstrating that you appreciate your clients proves that you are not just a robot here to collect a paycheck. More importantly, display and share appreciation that a client may give back to you. It is one thing to say that you appreciate your clients, but what about the other side of the story? Ask clients to record client testimonials, or post client comments from websites or other methods such as a personal note or email to highlight the impression left by your brand and work.
5. Tell a joke, or two
Posting memes, videos or pictures that hit the human funny bone is a great way to, again, diversify your content and create engagement. Social media is king therefore references to pop culture or the latest meme can show your less serious side to clients, but ultimately you are engaging them and causing them to stop on your post or even go to your page if they are interested in more content. Using comedy in posts can be tricky, so make sure to be cautious and see what other companies or consultants use of comedy in their social media before trying it out on your own.
By: Christine Miranda on behalf of Roberta Pellant Consulting
References
Balkhi, S. (2019, January 07). 5 Things You Can Do to ‘Humanize’ Your Brand. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/325370
DeMers, J. (2016, March 31). 5 Ways To Humanize Your Brand. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/03/31/5-ways-to-humanize-your-brand/#37866c4854d5