How to build a personal brand (when you don't want to be an influencer) Part 2: Easy mistakes to make

Five common personal branding mistakes to avoid: horn tooting, pestering, dishing out what you can’t take and more.

The piece I wrote on ‘How to build a personal brand (when you don’t want to be an influencer)’ was really well received (thank you!). As much as I love just writing about whatever I want, it’s also nice to be able to share my, dare I say, words of wisdom on the topics that interest you, which is why I’m here with Part 2: covering common personal branding mistakes (to help you avoid them – you’re welcome!).

[Some personal brand highlights from the last few weeks.]

If there’s five things not to do when thinking about generating interest in your personal brand, then these are them.

As a reminder of why I’m qualified to share, I’m regularly featured in press articles (I literally spoke to the FT and Vogue Business today – check me out) and have helped hundreds of other brands and individuals develop their own stories to support their businesses.

And to recap, what is a personal brand? Well, it’s all about you putting yourself out there to be known for something, ideally resulting in positive exposure - whether that’s through the likes of press, events, or social media.

Top mistakes to avoid when building a personal brand…

Tooting the old horn too often

While it’s great to celebrate your wins, nobody likes a know-it-all or a been-there-done-it-all (yes, the irony of offering advice isn’t lost on me) so it’s important to set the tone of your self-promotion without being too arrogant or claiming to be all-knowing about every topic.

Becoming a pest

If you’re looking to appear in certain press, podcasts or panels, it’s great to target those slots, with friendly and relevant approaches to show that you’ve done your research and understand why you’re a good fit. But don’t stalk people. We have a rule in my agency, where we will almost never follow up with someone without new information to share. Any popular placement will be inundated with hundreds of approaches daily, so the last thing they need is a chaser from you. If you do follow up, make sure it’s because you have something new and valuable to add.

Dishing it out if you can’t take it

Your personal brand is just that, personal to you. So make sure what you’re saying in the world professionally aligns with who you are as a person. If you want to be political then do. If you want to be funny, or authoritative, or silly, it really doesn’t matter, the choice is totally yours. But you need to be prepared to deal with the response.

Personally, I avoid getting political publicly. I’m not mentally geared up to handle online debates, and I often don’t feel well-read enough on topics to present myself as an authority. I would much rather privately support the causes I choose and have more meaningful or political conversations with close friends at the dinner table. I do however feel comfortable sharing advice on the professional areas I’ve been developing myself in for 20 years. So if you want to openly criticise my PR skills, I’m ready for you. Just don’t ask me about my politics (unless you want to cook me dinner).

Not putting your best face forward

I can’t bang on about this enough. The amount of people I’ve worked with over the years who don’t understand why you need decent imagery. Guys listen – your photo needs to be over 1MB in size, professionally shot, and please you are not in Olan Mills, avoid the cheese. Good headshots can cost hundreds of pounds, but if you’re serious about building your personal brand, then you will use them to enough to make that cost effective.

Expecting an easy ride

My Nan always says, “nothing good is ever easy” and this is a mantra I live by. I don’t expect to get something for nothing. I apply hard work and determination to everything I do. Which is why I don’t do that many things (can’t ride a bike, can’t cook etc etc). But for the things I do do, I invest in them wholeheartedly as I don’t expect to get results without putting in the effort.

Building your personal brand is the same. Whilst I don’t suggest you pester people; you also need to have a strategy for your approach to work well. This could include on your Instagram or your Tiktok, LinkedIn, PR, networking – you don’t have to do them all, but the ones you select need to be considered weekly, if not daily.

The next personal brand instalments – are you keen?

For Part 3, I’m considering covering ‘personal brand building outside of social media (or for introverts!)’, ‘the actual benefits of building your brand’ and ‘how to maintain authenticity when building your brand’. Let me know if you’re keen!

If you’re interested in personal branding then consider becoming a paid subscriber. For the price of a (ok fairly steep), coffee (£5), you can access:

• Advice that we share with Known agency clients, including a list of questions to guide you in crafting your biography to help make it compelling for media.

• Details of which angles you can focus on to get the attention of press, and help you build a personal brand.

• A guide on how to write the bio Vs. your press pitch.

• I can also be available to review your completed biography and pitch, providing one round of feedback to improve your approach.

• For annual subscribers, you can also have an hour long session with me, plus have your biography professionally designed by the Known team.

To anyone reading this, thank you for being here, please ❤️ (below) if you enjoyed this piece, it really helps others find it.