Personal Branding

IS PERSONAL BRANDING REALLY NECESSARY?

Ran Janda explores the benefits and drawbacks of being your own brand…

WHEN you provide a service in exchange for payment, as most holistic therapists do, you essentially become synonymous with your brand. You might think that this would make branding a whole deal easier, you just have to sell yourself, right? In part yes, but it’s important not to mix your personal life completely with your professional brand. One place where it is easy to blur the lines of your personal and professional life is online, in particular on social media.

Your brand is how people perceive your business, so take a moment to review your social accounts just now. Are you communicating how you want to be seen?

The fine line

Drawing on your personal experience is a great way to share your story and connect with your audience authentically. Potential clients need to understand what you do and why you came to learn and consequently practice what you do. There is often a unique and interesting story to what has led many practitioners to do what they do. Sharing your unique story is valuable and invites trust as well as positioning you as an authority in your field.

On the flipside, potential clients do not need to know where you went on holiday or how you celebrated your partners/child’s/dog’s birthday last week. Sharing this type of information doesn’t create value for your practice nor does it create trust in your abilities.

Each social media platform offers the ability to easily create a business page that is completely separate to your personal one and this is something I would strongly suggest every practitioner to do if you haven’t already.

Keep it simple

If you’re wondering what to post on your business profile if you can’t post photos of your dog, these simple guidelines will help to generate ideas for posts which focus on your practice and your unique offering.

You may already have a name for your practice, so that’s not something you need to create. You may also have a logo, if so, great. A name and logo are all you really need to get started. If you don’t have a logo yet, it is easy and free to create one with Wix.com, or you can hire a freelancer to design one for you.

Pick at least one social media platform, such as Instagram or Facebook, to create a business page to develop your professional brand. You will be required to create a bio regardless of the platform and this should highlight exactly what problems you can help with. You can use the following as a guideline to create your bio.

I help (type of person/ condition), who are struggling with (problem) and want to (result & feeling).

This bio can also be used on your website under “about me” and as part of your email signature. The main thing to do is to keep it consistent across all platforms so you are strengthening your key message.

Creating a compelling brand story

Answer the following questions and use this information to create a narrative for your professional social pages.

Who are you? What do you do? Why does what you do matter to you? Who are you here to serve?

Answering these questions will also help to keep you on track when creating content for social posts.

Tips for creating effortless content

Decide on how regularly you are able to post and stick with that number. Be consistent. Regular posts will keep you in their mind rather than forgetting who you are.

Always ask yourself each time you create a post, “Am I offering value in some way?” If the answer is yes, great! You are halfway there already.

You can vary and alternate your posts by using the categories below to guide what you write about and to keep your content fresh.

Know, Like & Trust

The type of communication in these posts will be most valuable in the early days when you first launch your business profile. Focus on allowing new visitors to your profile to really get to know you better.

Tell people about why you do what you do. Share your values and purpose to make a connection with people. Think about what makes you stand out from the crowd. Consider how you want your reader to feel when they read your post to check if your message is aligned with the intended effect received.

Engagement

Engagement posts are short, sharp and snappy. Their purpose is to generate engagement such as shares and comments. To encourage engagement, ask questions and ask for responses to be left in the comments. Be specific in what you would like them to do. Always respond to every comment that has been left, if someone is taking the time to engage, they should be acknowledged as they are more likely around a story, so if you want someone to book a session with you, share a story about a problem you can help with. Then invite them to book a session if you can support them in a similar way.

This is a more authentic way of booking clients than just putting out a post that reads “Book with me” without any context or reason why they should.

Think about what you want the reader to do in CTA posts and create a story around it before asking the reader to do something.

to turn into a loyal follower if you do so.

Authority

These posts are about positioning yourself as the expert. There are a number of ways to demonstrate this, such as sharing new research or client success stories anonymously. Focus on content that they can use to improve something in their life and turn them into loyal fans - cheerleader clients who will recommend you when someone complains to them about an issue you are an expert in.

Always respond to every comment that has been left, if someone is taking the time to engage

Think about what you want your reader to know when creating authority posts. What can you share that will make you stand out from the crowd?

Call to action

A call to action (CTA) post encourages the reader to do something specific. Think about framing it

Never sell your soul

If you are not a natural marketer, the thought of having to manage a business account can feel overwhelming at first. Unless you want to be an influencer, you don’t have to sell your soul to create a compelling brand. Once you have a clear brand story, your communication will always be anchored by that and will direct all posts and content that you create, ensuring that you always stay on track.

Remember to focus on the obstacles and problems that your potential clients face. Highlight the solution that you offer. Explain to them what their future will look like after receiving your services and inspire them to take action. n

iRAN JANDA is the founder of Holistic Room, which matches up clients with suitable therapists in their local area. Find out more at www.

holisticroom.com.