Investment In And ROI [Return Of Investment] Of Your Personal Brand 2/2

Missed part 1 of the series - tune in now HERE

This is part 2/2 and focused on the ROI of it because as you’ll find out, your Personal Brand does requirement investment – financial, emotional as well as time investment.

Having said that, I truly believe it’s one of the (if not THE) best investment you’ll ever make in yourself as you gain insights and awareness about yourself (and with that, also others), you wouldn’t get anywhere else.

Why do I say it is one of the best investments? 

Let me give you two reasons for that.

1. Once you are established as a Personal Brand, people are not only prepared to pay a premium to engage you, may it be as employee, as consultant, coach, speaker, you name it. 

The return-on-investment increases for you. In less time and energy, you are making bigger income and impact, just because you established yourself as a brand. Now you can demand a premium and people will happily pay.

2. This is the era of reputational capital and networking. 

I mentioned in part 1 that we live in a digital-first world and your reputation goes beyond your inner circle (and so it should if you have an impactful message and insight that’s worth sharing). No longer is it enough to be known by your immediate circle as we work with global teams, having international clients and can take advantage of overseas career opportunities.

If you are not sure you should make an investment in your personal brand, consider the following:

In the most extreme cases, a personal brand has the power to help you overcome challenges without even facing these. For example- when a decision maker only reaches out to you because you’re not only the most obvious because most trust-worthy option but also the most desirable one so they don’t even take your competition into consideration? That happened to me with a gig with Microsoft where they simply didn’t have another option but me.

Another important element to consider is the price of NOT building a personal brand. 

We live in an age where we pay more attention to individuals. Think of personal brands like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos as well as smaller influencers, like Dominic Price from Atlassian etc. They have a bigger audience and following than their company brands because we engage with people, not brands or corporations.

In this day and age, where media is free, it isn’t about outspending others. It’s about out-contributing others with value on one or another way. Content on any channel incl offline events etc as well as networking is where the magic lies.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the benefits of having a personal brand as a leader are not just related to revenue. When leadership in a company has a strong personal brand it can lead to:

• Other employees deciding to become advocates of the brand (free advertising)

• Attracting the right people to your hiring pipeline (less money spent on recruiting)

• Brand awareness as your leaders get invited to speak at podcasts or conferences (becoming an authority)

And these are just some of the second-order consequences that can happen when companies decide to invest in the personal brand of their leaders.  

However, I promised you some more measurable and tangible metrics for the ROI of your Personal Brand. Whilst there isn’t a magic formula as such, there are a few key aspects to look at to help you determine whether you’re on the right track, where to tweak or change things and also, celebrate milestones you achieve along the way because remember: it doesn’t happen overnight so the slightest sign of you moving and doing so in the right direction, also serves as motivation to keep you going.

Ok, so how do you measure the ROI of your personal brand? To answer this, I need to split the answer into two parts: the short-term ROI and the long-term ROI and then look at internal and external results. Think of it like a 2x2 matrix- by the way, in her new show, Leanne Hughes’ always discusses an idea with a 2x2 matrix and I love it. Make sure to listen in as she always delivers the goods – link in show notes

However, back to our ROI matrix:

Picture yourself 2 axes, one has time, the other one has impact on it. Then we go from short-term to long-term and from internal to external. You’ll find 4 quadrants to measure the ROI. In fact, in my book ‘Trusted Authority’, I share more in detail about the measurement of your efforts also.

Let’s start with your short-term and internal results 

First things first – investing in your personal brand ‘forces’ you to grow, you simply can’t unsee what you’re experiencing when you gain more self-awareness and understanding of you and the world. This is what I summarise as growth and includes your goals, your skills, your results that you want to create that are aligned with your values. Sounds so banal but it’s so important to make your personal brand sustainable and build for the long-term.

Short-term ROI includes clarifying your values and goals. Long-term focuses on your purpose as it usually requires some soul-searching, testing, and refining to really land where you’re comfortable at. Plus- it’ll also shift and change over time as you grow (and so it should). Whilst this word gets thrown around a lot, it’s truly the foundation to long-term joy and fulfillment. Creating a career that is aligned with your values, personality and credentials to create value for others is absolutely the ultimate goal.

Through personal branding, you’re ultimately defining your purpose and who you can benefit most with your work. This, my friend, is the best past to long-term satisfaction.

Another longer-term ROI metrics to look at is your contribution, meaning: life-long learning about your craft, how to share it with the world, and the format you put out there. 

Your short-term external personal branding ROI

As you start sharing knowledge through content, build your network through active outreach as well as introducing your connections to each other, you start to build a community. This is where you focus on the impact of your efforts across 2 key metrics for short-term success.

Engagement

Simply adding more followers across the channels doesn’t do anything, What you want is engagement from those who resonate with your message, who believe in what you believe and who share your content through comments, views, reshares and DMs to you and others to expand your reach even further. This brings us into the 2nd metrics.

Reach

Who’s following you right now and who you do want to be followed by? I see it too often that professionals stagnate because of their current network that’s 100% made out of their peers, those who don’t have decision making power. As you build and grow your brand, so should your network to relevant decision makers incl senior leaders from companies, event organisers, podcast hosts and journalists. This is also when you should look into collaborations and partnerships to expand your reach further to relevant audiences.

So keep track of not just the numbers but the type of your following on social media.IN this part, also the type of events and engagements that you either land or that you get asked to be part of will change. From the size of conferences to podcast shows as well as partnerships and potentially clients you land.

How do you measure the ROI of personal branding in the long term externally?

Thought leadership

Through personal branding, you’re on the way to becoming a leader and having a positive impact on people. You’re inspiring others by speaking up and sharing value.

I often receive heartfelt messages from people who thank me for a post they related to, helped through a tough time, or guided them to improve. Knowing I make a difference, even a small one, in people’s lives gives me incredible joy.

These types of messages are what keep me going, and they will inspire you to do the same too.

New opportunities

Personal branding can really open doors. I’ve gotten the opportunity to contribute to relevant publications, speak at conferences, and get to know other leaders in my industry.

Of all the ROI, this is probably the most tangible one. Personal branding is powerful and can bring many opportunities as you are noticed for your skills and experience.

Investing in your future

Whether you work for a company or own your own business — there’s a good chance it won’t be the sole thing you work on forever.

If you only focus on furthering the company’s brand, the moment you leave, you leave that brand behind. Wherever you’re off to next, you have to start over from scratch.

If you build and nurture your brand, whenever you go, your brand will follow you (and so will your followers). Your personal brand is yours.

Having a strong personal brand is an investment in your future too, whether it be a new job or following your purpose and values.

Conclusion

This is my take on how to measure your personal brand’s ROI and its key components. If you’re committed to put in the time and effort, you’ll really see the results and wish, you’d started earlier! 

Now if you say- I’ve waiting around long enough, it’s go time and I’m committed to making a bigger impact with my message that goes beyond my credentials- then download my free step-by-step guide on how to build your personal brand.