Want to make a name for yourself as a content creator or influencer? Then you’ll need to get intentional about who you are and what you stand for. And that means creating your personal brand.
Personal branding is the practice of defining and promoting your unique value proposition as a creator. In other words, your personal brand represents how you want your audience to see you, including things like your values, your offering, your messaging, and your visual identity.
With tons of creators looking to define their personal brands, the personal branding canvas has emerged as one of the most popular and effective tools for the task. It acts as a comprehensive roadmap that guides you through the personal branding process, from clarifying your values to setting your goals. Your completed personal branding canvas provides you with a single-page visual representation of your personal brand that you can use as a reference as you build and grow your creator business.
In this article, we’re walking you through creating your own personal branding canvas, as well as providing you with a free template that will help you build yours in just a few minutes.
How to create a personal branding canvas
Ready to define your personal brand? Great! Because it only takes five steps:
- Determine your purpose
- Identify your target audience
- Define your messaging and visual identify
- Develop your content strategy
- Create a networking and outreach plan
Step 1: Determine your purpose
The first step in defining your personal brand is determining your purpose as a creator.
“Purpose” can be a pretty nebulous term. So, what exactly does “purpose” mean in the context of your personal branding canvas? Here, your purpose can be defined as your unique value proposition as a creator — it’s who you are, what you offer, and what you stand for as a creator.
Your purpose includes everything from your values and beliefs to your expertise and experience, and even your personality traits. Altogether, this forms your unique value proposition or the “secret sauce” that sets you apart from others within your niche.
To define your purpose as a creator, you’ll want to sit down with your personal branding canvas, and determine the values you want to communicate through your personal brand and the characteristics that make you unique.
There’s a reason defining your purpose is the first step in creating your personal branding canvas. Once you’ve determined your purpose, everything else in the process, from identifying your target audience to developing your outreach plan, will flow from there.
Step 2: Identify your target audience
Next up, it’s time to identify your target audience. Your target audience is the group of people who’ll most likely be interested in and benefit from your content, products, and services. Knowing and understanding your target audience is crucial for effective personal branding.
Why? Because, when all is said and done, understanding your target audience helps you create the content and products they want, so you can earn more money. When it comes to personal branding, identifying and understanding with the specific segment of people you want to cater to allows you to tailor your brand messaging in a way that resonates with them.
When defining your target audience, you’ll want to detail their demographics (age, gender, etc.) and psychographics (interests, values), as well as their needs, pain points, and goals. Having a deep understanding of the latter three, especially, will help you build a personal brand that provides real value to your target audience.
Find your purpose
Identifying your target audience always begins with your purpose. In other words, your purpose will give you an idea of the specific group of people you should be targeting.
Ask yourself questions like: “Who would most benefit from my knowledge and expertise?”, “What kind of people share my values and beliefs?” and “What type of people would I connect with best?” Somewhere at the intersection of all these questions lies your audience.
Conduct market research
Identifying your target audience also involves some user and market research.
If you already have a following or customer base, you’ll want to analyze your current audience. You can do this by using analytics data from your social media channels, website, online store, or newsletters. You can also look at the types of questions your followers are asking in your comments sections, DMs, and inboxes in order to identify their needs and pain points.
If you do or don’t have an existing following, you’ll also want to conduct market research by looking towards your competition. Identify similar creators in your niche and determine what kind of people they’re targeting with their content and offerings.
Want to learn more about finding your target audience? Our Target Audience Templates Bundle helps you dig even deeper into your audience’s needs, so you can create the products they’ll want to buy.
Step 3: Define your messaging and visual identify
The next step to creating your personal branding canvas is to get clear on your messaging, brand voice, and visual identity. These elements combined create the tone of your brand, and are key in communicating your personal brand with your audience.
Define your messaging
Before starting on brand voice and identity, you’ll need to get clear on your messaging. Begin by coming up with your brand promise and brand positioning statements. These should both take the form of concise, compelling sentences that will resonate with your target audience. The former summarizes the unique benefit of your digital products and services, while the latter details your unique value proposition in relation to your competitors.
Once you’ve written down those two core statements, you can start breaking them down into the smaller key messages that you want to communicate about your brand. These should also be concise, memorable, and easy to understand.
Define your brand voice
Now that you know the “what” of your messaging, it’s time to tackle the “how” by defining your brand personality and brand voice. These two elements encompass how you’ll communicate and connect with your audience. In other words, your brand personality and brand voice set the verbal tone of your brand.
Define your visual identity
Just as important as verbal and written tone in creating your personal brand? That’s right: your brand’s visual identity. Your brand’s visual identity is often the first thing your audience sees when they peruse your social channels, encounter your content, and browse your products. And this means it’s crucial to think out and get right.
Your brand’s visual identity encompasses a number of aspects, from your brand’s logo and color palette down to the smallest of design flourishes. When coming up with your brand’s visual identity, it helps to do some research into design principles and even color psychology. (It’s scientifically proven that colors strongly affect people’s perceptions and behaviors.) If it’s in your budget, it also helps to get a little bit of expert help by consulting with an art director or graphic designer.
Just like your brand voice, your visual identity should be present and consistent across all of your creator channels, from your social media accounts to your website and online storefront.
Want to learn more about crafting your brand voice and visual identity? Our Personal Branding Canvas Template includes comprehensive writing prompts and fillable tables to ensure you don’t miss a single (essential) beat when it comes to defining your personal brand.
Step 4: Develop your content strategy
Now that you have your messaging and know how you want to communicate it, it’s time to actually get it out there! That means coming up with a content strategy that will enable you to express and promote your personal brand and messaging.
Coming up with a solid content strategy requires just a few steps and a little bit of planning.
First thing’s first, you’ll want to determine which topics you want to cover in your content. To come up with these topics (also known as content pillars), you’ll want to consult your brand purpose and key messages.
Example: If your brand’s purpose is to help women with their personal finances, you’ll definitely want to tackle topics like budgeting, savings, and investments in your content.
Now that you have your content pillars, you need to decide how you’ll get it in front of your audience. In other words, you’ll need to decide which channels and platforms you’ll use to distribute your content. When deciding between platforms, consider the type of content that would best suit your niche and pillars. If long-form video suits you and your audience’s needs, then YouTube is your best bet. Short-form more your style? Then you’ll want to head over to TikTok or start recording Reels on Instagram.
Step 5: Create a networking and outreach plan
So, now you’ve created a solid personal brand. You’ve fleshed out everything from your key messages to your visual language to your content strategy. Congratulations! But you’re not done just yet.
To set your personal brand up for success (and future growth!), you’ll want to create a networking and outreach plan. This strategy will help you grow your personal brand, whether you want to diversify your revenue streams or expand into a new niche.
To create a successful networking strategy, you’ll first need to put your thinking cap on and consider how you can leverage your personal brand to create new opportunities for yourself.
Example: If you’re big in the fitness game, you might want to consider partnering with nutrition or sporting goods brands that share your values.
When networking, keep in mind that authenticity is key. Your audience follows you for your personal brand — that means your unique purpose, beliefs, and messages. So it’s important to stay true to yourself as you continue to grow your brand and pursue new endeavors.
Why you should create a personal branding canvas
So, why should you define your personal brand? Personal branding is crucial in today’s creator economy, and a well-defined personal brand is a powerful tool to have in your kit.
There are a number of benefits to defining your personal brand, and these include:
- Differentiating yourself from the competition: Having a salient personal brand makes you memorable within the crowded digital market and helps you stand out from the competition.
- Boosting your credibility: A well-defined personal brand doesn’t just make you look (and sound) professional, it can position you as a thought leader within your niche. If you’re clear and consistent on your purpose and message, others will be more likely to recognize your expertise and trust your opinions.
- Attracting individuals and opportunities: Being able to clearly communicate your purpose helps you attract individuals who share the same passions and goals — and these like-minded individuals aren’t always just followers and customers. Building a solid personal brand can also open the doors for tons of new growth opportunities, including partnerships and collaborations with brands and creators that share your values.
Start monetizing your personal brand today
Now that you know how to create your personal branding canvas (in just five steps!) and have an easy-to-use template to help you through the process, the ball’s in your court. In other words, it’s time for you to get out that pen and paper, and build a solid personal brand of your own.
Ready to start promoting (and monetizing) your personal brand today? You can with The Leap.
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If you’re looking to sell your first digital product today, The Leap’s got you covered. Its AI-powered authoring tool enables you to build mobile-friendly digital products in just minutes, so you can start selling them ASAP — and earning an income sooner.
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Further reading
- How To Find Your Target Audience (+ Free Template)
- How To Sell Digital Products Online: A 6-Step Launch Checklist
- How To Become a Content Creator
- How To Become an Influencer: 7 Steps To Making Money on Social Media
- What Is a Creator Educator? (And How To Become One)
- What Is an Infopreneur? Here’s How To Become One
