How Your Personal Brand Can Survive The Pandemic
While it’s no zombie apocalypse, the pandemic has still been hard on those looking to self-promote. But difficult doesn’t have to mean disaster!
Whether you’re a small business owner, a freelancer, or just looking to develop your career in general, now is a time of surprising alternative opportunities. With a few key precepts in mind, your personal brand can not only survive the pandemic, but thrive in it!
Together, we’ll take a look at how you can pandemic-proof your promo, and protect your greatest investment: yourself!
Personal Website
Many people make the unfortunate decision to “set and forget” their personal website. Some people make the even worse decision of not having one in the first place!
No other medium gives you as much control over how prospective clients, customers, or employers see you online. Whereas social media gives you a template for creating your profile persona, a custom personal website lets you choose the framework you think best suits your brand.
Now that people are meeting up less face-to-face, maximizing your online content is one of the most important ways to set the tone for engaging with your audience. Be sure that your content is curated, complete, and relevant. You could take this time to make blog entries, giving interested parties more to explore. Or you could improve your photo galleries and create engaging video content. Use forms to collect info and study the analytics of how people are interacting with your site.
What do you do with your site that makes it unique to you?
Focus On Values
What do you value most? How does it come out in your brand?
Now’s the time to think big picture, and learn to put your values front and center when it comes to your brand. Especially in a time where you may not be able to do business, one wonderful way to keep your brand in people’s minds is to keep defining what your business means. Keeping the mission fresh keeps people engaged and builds a relationship that goes beyond the product, services, and skills you have on deck.
What are your personal brand values?
Don’t Mute Your Marketing
Because of reduced income, many people are reducing their spending across the board. But when it comes to your marketing, this is a big mistake.
It doesn’t matter if you’re the best at what you do — if no one knows about you, your brand won’t survive. Marketing has become more important than ever, and more and more brands are competing to stay visible, while others who have made the mistake of ignoring the importance of maintaining their investment in advertising are dropping out of the race.
This means there’s fewer brands, but fiercer competition. If you don’t take your investment seriously, you’ll miss out on a chance to prove your brand isn’t going anywhere soon.
Now’s also a great time to experiment with different campaign strategies, which can make things more cost-effective overall. You may not always have the time to explore new mechanics when things ramp up again…
What can you do to market YOUR brand during the pandemic?
Make Smart Offers
When you want to be seen as the highest-value option by your audience, don’t just cut prices or start accepting lower bids. You may be desperate to appeal to a shrinking marketplace, but this will only devalue your work — it’s time to actually focus on your value to clients and/or employers.
Consider what it is that you offer and what makes it unique. Could you craft a custom offering? Can you shine a spotlight on something that only you can do? Instead of offering a special, define what makes your offer special.
This will create the perception of added value, and create more satisfied customers and clients.
Additionally, think about what offers and opportunities your audience is missing out on because of the pandemic, and find out how you can replace that with your own value. For instance, people are spending more time at home and less time travelling; what if you can help them spend that holiday money on making their home feel like a getaway? It’s not just about thinking outside the box, it’s thinking inside the new box.
What makes what you have to offer special?
Weave Your Web
Building your network actively and continuously has always been a core facet of getting your brand into other people’s good graces. But now, it might just be your saving grace.
There are two things you need to do when you network. First, you have to make new connections. And second, you need to nurture the connections you’ve made.
You’re only as powerful as your friends — meaning you can’t expect to grow and prosper your personal brand if you keep it to yourself. Share what you do, and take a look for like minded people online. We’re in a heyday for virtual meetups, with trade fairs and industry expos making the leap online. Join the fanfare, and you’ll discover that being even a little bit outgoing will bring in exponentially more connections.
And once you’ve connected to new people, build the relationship. No one considers doing serious business with a surface-level acquaintance. That means listening, responding, and interacting — not pitching. Even if you would love to do business with someone, think of it like asking someone to marry you: they’ll probably be more susceptible if you’ve actually gone on a few dates first.
How can you keep networking right now?
Keep An Eye On Your Ethics
While businesses and brands have an ethical responsibility to meet and support the changing health requirements, we should be wary of virtue-signaling when our words don’t match our actions or intentions.
You’re probably aware of some examples of “Disaster Capitalism” as well, a term coined by activist Naomi Klein to denote exploiting crisis or tragedy for financial gain. Look at the early supply stockpilers who hoarded products like hand sanitizer and face masks in order to mark them up exponentially. While some may have seen a quick profit here and there, they faced such a PR nightmare doing it that they could never last in the long run.
It’s no surprise that the way you do business is changing, but make sure the change is a positive one.
Are ethics part of your brand experience?