BUSINESS CARD
|
As a home business owner you might have come across the expression ‘Personal Brand’ a lot. Business gurus advise you, all the time, to ‘Build Your Personal Brand’. What is personal branding all about? Let’s explore.
#1 What is personal branding? Branding is basically creating an identity—an image, a perception in the minds of people about a particular thing.
#2 Why is branding important for a home business owner? Home-based businesses that use network marketing or an MLM business model thrive on relationships—the relationships you, as the home business owner, build with your prospects and buyers. Unlike the case with large corporations, a home-based business solution/product is as good or bad as the person selling it. When a person is interested in your offering, it’s not just your offering- alone -that they’re looking at. It’s a complete package that includes you, your style of business, and your product.
Here are a few tools that will help you build your personal brand.
Tool#1 You: You are consciously or subconsciously building your brand every moment you interact with others. The way you walk, the way you talk, the way you present yourself, your style of dressing, the manner in which you respond to customer complaints or concerns—every action contributes towards your brand image. The first tool to help build your brand is you!
Tool#2-A Home Business Website: You are the brand. You need to have a home business website that contains information about you and your business. Ideally your website should include the following information:
· Information about you
· Success stories
· Video—your webpage can contain a video featuring you, in which you talk about your business and experience and how you can use them to benefit your prospects
· Information about your products/services
· Clients list with logos, if appropriate
· Client testimonials
· Your contact information (e-mail, phone, fax, links to social media profiles/pages)
Tool#3-Business e-mail: Once your home business website is up, the next step is to get a business domain e-mail address. While Gmail and yahoo addresses work well, nothing beats the professional touch that a business e-mail address gives.
Tool#4-Social Media: Social media is a great tool for brand building. Go ahead and create your Facebook profile, a Facebook page for your home business, and a Twitter account. But, how will you stand out of the crowd? The answer lies in customization. Customize your Facebook and twitter accounts to reflect your personal brand. One useful Facebook tip—don’t forget your prospective clients are out there looking at your profile. Be very conscious of the kind of image your project. Anything “un-professional,” is to be avoided. Photos of rowdy social events may not create the image you need.
Tool#5-Knowledge pages: Sites such as Squidoo and Hub Pages allow you to create your own web-pages where you can share your knowledge on the topic of your choice. You can give advice, tips, opinions and share insights related to your domain.
Tool#6-Business cards: A business card is a basic requirement. Your card should have your home-business logo, name, professional qualifications, title (can be entrepreneur/founder/proprietor), and contact details. Make sure the design of your visiting card matches that of your home business website. Some are now using the backside of a card to add additional information. This allows for more information, but means that your prospect has no space to jot info and thoughts about your company.
Creating a personal brand takes some effort, but it lends the much sought after professional feel to your business and the results are worth the effort.
No comments:
Post a Comment