The global marketplace has become a warzone where all business owners want to outperform the other. In a bid to combat this, each business owner must seek to set themselves apart from the rest. In the retail sector, it used to be business as usual; you set up your business, fold your hands and wait for walk-ins. However, in today’s world, to make a difference, you must be willing to stretch yourself beyond the ‘norm’.
Paying close attention to your personal brand will give your retail business the success it deserves, and, one way to set yourself apart is personal branding. Check out few reasons why, but before that, what exactly is personal branding?
Personal Branding
A brand represents your identity, it is what speaks for you entirely. It is what communicates with the consumer about who you are, what you stand for and what to expect. It gives you the opportunity to have relationships formed with ‘you’ in their heart before eventually entering the store. So why should you consider paying attention to your personal brand as a retailer?
Set yourself/brand apart
Developing your personal brand gives you a uniqueness which is just about you. It gives you identity which sets u apart from others in your industry. The fact that you have a developed personal brand shows that you are confident to present your stuff to the public thereby automatically drawing them to trust you.
Build Trust
Where you already have a strong offline presence, creating a favorable online image will be easy. Infact, you will tend to have unpaid advocates of your brand. People will share your posts, blog activities and website information for you, free of charge just by sheer trust in your personal brand. Likewise, where you have built a strong online presence around ‘you’ people going into your physical store will be automatic just because they trust you.
If you are reading this by now, I know you must already understand the importance of insurance in any business. Some see insuring a retail business as a non-necessity, but I see it as something that should be taken seriously as part of risk mitigation and exceeding clients’ expectation(s). Where a proper insurance policy is in place, you remain in safe hands against whatever event occurs and when your insurance takes proper care of the beneficiary, which is another tool for a great testimony about you. As fast as bad news spreads, so does good news and you sure want to keep the good news spreading about you.
As Sharma Hyder, a Forbes contributor says, you should take your personal branding seriously so that you can be perceived as an expert in your field. When for example, you are ranked high on search engines and have great posts and updates on your products and services which is different from the rest of your industry, you will be amazed at the results. If you are able to build a strong personal brand which has created trust in people, that will be the difference between you and the next person in the same industry as people patronize you due to their trust you before other factors. Any who can brand himself would have no need to get anxious about who walks into the store because they already know the demand for their products and services.
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