Your personal brand is more than how you present your business – it’s how you present you. It goes beyond your immediate work and shapes how you will be seen by others as both part of that work and as an individual. In a world where trust and relationships are ever more important in connection and engagement, your personal brand is a core tool.
How does email marketing affect your personal brand – and vice versa? Read on!
Why Does Personal Brand Matter?
People buy from people they trust, and it’s increasingly hard to trust faceless corporations. We might like their products and services, but do we really like them? Compare that to smaller companies with recognisable faces that we can connect to. It’s far easier to feel a connection and loyalty to a person, especially a likeable one.
A personal brand is a powerful component in building a relationship of trust that leads to improved sales. It increases the sense of authenticity and grounded reality – your customers are dealing with a real person, not a corporation.
When you have a strong personal brand, doors open. You will be invited to events, asked to share your experiences in speaking gigs or content creation, be invited to partner on new innovations and projects, and propel your career forward. The clients you attract will be higher value and will stay with you for longer.
As a direct communication tool, email marketing helps build that personal brand, positioning you as an expert in your field who is there for your customers.
Boost 1: Consistent Branding Across Your Emails
Embedding your personal brand in your emails will help reinforce the message. This can be done in multiple ways:
- Focusing on your email signature – Having you at the bottom of every email allows you to filter into the mind of your audience. This is especially true if you have a photograph of you, turning you from that ‘faceless entity’ into a real person.
- Using a professional image – Remember, you’re presenting yourself to both existing clients who might be more relaxed with you, and prospective new connections who don’t know who you are at all yet. It’s always best to have your image reflect who you are in the best possible light, so get a professional photo that shows you looking good. Sure, you can take a selfie on your iPhone, but your personal brand isn’t the same as social media, and it’s unlikely to present the slick professionalism you’re after.
- Write well – Typos, spelling mistakes, poor grammar and an overuse of emojis are all perceived as negative by many people, especially business clients. Present yourself well in all your emails, whether they’re part of a general back-and-forth or a crafted piece of email marketing.
- Be consistent – Create familiarity and reliability with the look of your emails. Use the same font and colours each time, so they align with your branding. Inconsistent email formatting will make it harder for your audience to connect your message with you, each time having to remind themselves where the message came from based on other information. A uniform look and feel soon settles in their mind as coming from you.
Boost 2: Regular Contact: Nurturing Your Audience
Be regular; it’s one of the most professional things you can do, and it shows your audience that you are consistent and reliable. In business, the idea that you can be trusted and relied upon is vital to converting leads, so show this characteristic in every part of your email communication.
There’s no shortage of content that you can use to maintain a regular schedule for your emails. Consider how one newsletter might be an update on how the company is doing, while the next could be some personal insights, and the third could be based around an offer for your audience. Changing the content around is fine (and very positive in many ways), but making sure that your email lands in their inbox regularly is essential. That said, make sure your content is valuable – don’t email unless what you’re saying is worthwhile. Emailing for the sake of it will mean people disengage and, ultimately, damages your image.
Nurture your audience further by inviting them to connect with you on different platforms, building a comprehensive network of exposure that further solidifies your personal brand.
Boost 3: Be You: Use Stories To Connect (And Sell!)
You know what makes your personal brand stand out the most? YOU.
Your stories, your experiences, your wisdom, your expertise… all these things are the you that you are promoting, so don’t hold back. Use personal anecdotes to illustrate your expertise, share the problems you have faced and (importantly) how you overcame them, be human with the lessons you have learned.
Your stories cannot be told by anyone else, making them the most powerful and unique part of your email marketing. They are your personal brand.
Nothing encourages a connection more than feeling that you know the person behind the scenes. Allowing a little glimpse into your life will build rapport between you and your customers, making them like and trust you more and more. When they’re considering a purchase of the product or service you offer, it will be you who pops into their heads. Being personable will make you top of mind, so relax and be you.
Boosting Your Email Marketing with Me, Nathan Littleton
If you’re looking to grow your personal brand or want your email marketing to do more of the heavy lifting, I’d love to help.
I’m Nathan Littleton. I’ve been doing this for years, and I now send over a million emails every year for clients across all kinds of industries. So if you’re feeling unsure where to start – or just want to make what you’re already doing work better – you’re in safe hands.
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all service. It’s about getting to know you, your goals, and what makes you stand out – then building a strategy that actually works.
If that sounds like something you’d find useful, feel free to book a consultation. No pressure – just a genuine conversation to see if we’re a good fit.
