I just came an amazing article on personal branding. The author of the post, Lisa Barone, describes what branding really means by looking at how her belly dancing instructor “brands herself”.

I must say, I hadn’t really looked at branding like this before. Thinking back to when I learnt to scuba dive, my instructor has branded herself.

Being yourself, that lovely human being that you are
Have you ever wondered how to brand yourself, when there’s so many others blogging and wanting attention and branding themselves. There are all these “leaders” on the internet who’ve branded themselves. People like Ann Sieg, Mike Dillard, Mike Klingler and lots of other network marketers we see as leaders.

Sometimes, it seems like they’ve done it all, so why should you bother? Well, here’s why I think you should bother – because there’s no-one else like YOU, and only you can be you!

Like my scuba diving instructor, she loved diving so much, and she wanted all her students to be good divers so they could enjoy themselves.

She was always there when I needed her. Like one night when I went on my first night dive, and my buddy and I got lost (because it was so dark), she found us while making sure everyone else stayed with her as well.

Your Niche could be belly dancing or scuba diving or just YOU
My scuba diving instructor doesn’t teach people to swim, even though they need to be able to swim before they can learn to dive. She limits herself to teaching people how to dive underwater because that’s what she knows and loves best.

You can’t be known for everything, so stick to what you know and love. Or, stick to something you really want to know and love.

Create your Persona
My scuba diving instructor is pretty funny and sometimes scary underwater. One time there were about 8 of us diving together and we came across this rather large stingray. It was not long after Steve Irwin had passed away, and we all kept our distance, even though we were in awe of this magnificent creature.

Our diving instructor went pretty close to it, and afterwards she told me she was going to get really close, but she thought we might all freak out.

Anyway, sometimes on the internet, it’s not easy to just be yourself, so as Lisa says in her article, it would be easier to create a persona that mixes who you are and who you want to be. That way you may find it easier to magnify the personality traits needed to attract the right people.

As Lisa says:

We fall in love with those who are brave enough to do what we think we can’t. As long as you’re basing your character off who you really are, you’ll be able to keep it authentic and still look great naked.

Finding Your Voice
My scuba diving instructor talks and laughs with all her students, just like she’s one of them. She never looks down on anyone even when we do something really stupid underwater like getting caught in some fishing line and not being able to get out. She just helps you out, and we get on with having fun on our dive.

So, it’s all about being genuine and showing people that you are one of them. Sometimes we try to teach people things and sound more authoritative thinking our audience will trust us more. Instead of that, it can alienate you from the people you’re trying to connect with.

Another tip in the article is to:

Make your brand accessible

My scuba diving instructor creates a community around herself. She has social barbecues and social dives, and makes herself available. People can go down to her shop and talk to her whenever they want.

When you make your brand accessible, you become part of your community. If you answer questions and praise those who are doing well.

Lisa says

Your personal brand is you. It’s who you are, what you believe, and what you want to put out there to others.

You can read Lisa’s article here at Copy Blogger

So, what does a personal brand mean to you?    Let me know in the comments below, would like to hear what it means to you.

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