Building your brand as an online teacher
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Did you know that some influencers charge USD 3,000 or more to appear in someone else’s podcast or video? Or that they charge more than USD 20,000 to speak at an event? Creating content and making money out of it is possible and a reality for many people. Of course, getting there is not easy; but it is certainly not impossible if you are willing to put in the hard work to achieve it. Nowadays, social media and content creation are undeniably important for any entrepreneur, and building a strong personal brand is a key part of this.
As part of my personal brand series, I am setting the scene for my blog The Power of Personal Branding. This time let’s talk about how you can start laying the foundations of your personal brand as an online teacher.
1. Build self-awareness through reflection.
Everyone has a personal brand, whether we like or are aware of it or not. At this point, it doesn’t matter if you are an influencer with a big brand or you haven’t started building your personal brand yet, as other people already have an impression of you. In this sense, a good place to start is by identifying the difference between what you see in you and what the public sees in you. Ask friends or family members about their opinion of you, talk to people who know you well, and are comfortable with being completely honest with you. This is not an easy task, as most people (even family or good friends) may not be 100% candid if they don’t want to hurt your feelings. But give it a try; you may be surprised to hear what they think of you.
2. Tell your story
Identifying how you started in your journey as a teacher and how that defined who you are now is very important. With a new year, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on where you started, tracing your journey all the way to where you are today. Creating a list or visual of impactful moments, events, and situations can help you realize their gravity and all the different ways they defined your current self. So, put all those elements together and start communicating who you are by telling a story that people can relate to. Your story is right there in your journey, it’s more compelling than you think, and people will want to lean in. Here, everything counts. The way you talk, the way you present yourself, and the way you interact with people. Ultimately, all those things will lead you to connect with others
3. Identify your archetype
The concept of connecting brands to specific archetypes originates from Carl Jung’s Theory of Archetypes, which discusses universal brand identities and how they reflect the personality of a brand as aligned with the personality of customer groups. If you take a quick look through these archetypes, I’m sure that you will relate to at least one of them. Keep in mind that your brand can be associated with more than one archetype, and you can even identify a primary and secondary archetype. The important thing here is that you pinpoint the category you belong to and start building your personal brand using its unique characteristics. Having that permanent reference point will help you to be more consistent throughout everything that you create.
4 Define your core assets
This is not just for product brands. Defining your core assets will help people to recognize your brand —you want to be memorable, after all. The colors of your brand, the font, the quality of your photos and videos, and the general aesthetic you employ are all vital in solidifying your brand. But! It’s also important to know how you want to represent yourself . So, write down (Write it down! Don’t just think about it) your brand fundamentals. E.g., your story, mission, language (tone), keywords (for SEO), colors, theme, etc. This is an important step that many people overlook, and it will help you stand out from the crowd and stay memorable.
Are you ready now? Let’s start building the foundations of your personal brand!
Learn more about EF Teach Online here.