The one word that can ruin your credibility as a personal brand!

When running our own business, there’s one thing we all have in common and it doubles as one of the biggest frustrations in business – particularly if we’re the face of our own brand!

It’s not necessarily that we all want more cash flow, that we all want more time to focus on what we do best or that we all wish our ‘admin duties’ would take care of themselves (although, those things would be super nice, wouldn’t they?), it’s actually something we have in common in terms of selling ourselves and our abilities to the market.

And that commonality is we all face the challenge of selling ourselves to our marketplace, even though we know just how valuable we really are.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier if our ideal clients could see things through our eyes just for one second, and then they’d easily see how valuable, reliable and trustworthy we are?

“We’ve got what it takes. It’s obvious, isn’t it? How come the market can’t just get that?”

If only, hey…

But here’s the thing when it comes to this challenge we all share:

Although common sense would suggest our buyers valuing and trusting us unconditionally from the get-go is an impossibility, so many business owners market and brand themselves in a way which suggests they think that’s actually how things work.

Their marketing and branding screams one word more than any other: the word ‘should’.

“People should just understand how effective my service is.”

“People should just know how valuable I could be to them.”

“People should just be able to see how capable I am.”

“People should just trust me already.”

And how does this represent itself in real time? Usually, it will be in the (lack of) effort they’ve put into looking professional in the places where it matters most. Do they look prepared in the videos they shoot? Rarely. Are their logos and graphics of a high, professional quality? Unlikely. Do they have a collection of professional personal branding photos and headshots? Definitely not.

 

 

Maybe the above description is resonating with you a little more than you’re comfortable with. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to turn the trust equation around for yourself, if you’re willing to put in the effort.

If you feel like you’re not being associated with the trust, value and capability you know you deserve, then it may be time to take another look at the quality of the images of yourself (and your brand) that you’re presenting to the market. For the majority of us, that starts with our personal branding headshot (typically and most effectively used on your Linkedin and Facebook Business Page profiles).

 

 

It’s likely time to invest in someone who can bring out the qualities you desire to convey but have been unable to communicate visually up until now. It’s likely time to commit to the professionalism you know is required for long-term success in the modern business world.

Because in the rapid, online social world we live in, we simply can’t leave the snap judgements of character people make about us up to chance. We need to give ourselves the best possible opportunity to display the value, reliability and trustworthiness we know we can deliver.

And if a picture says a thousand words, then we need to make sure ours are saying the right ones.

Cheers,