By Emily Steele | Co-founder, Brand Launch

Your personal brand can be used now more than ever to help you create success in your business. In short, your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not there. Everything you embody online and offline is part of your personal brand and can help take you to the next level in your business.

Personal branding was coined in 1997 in a Fast Company article by Tom Peters stating, “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”

Using personal branding isn’t about making the world revolve around you and your importance; it’s about being strategic in how you show up to the world and use your presence for good.

At Brand Launch, we have five guiding principles that we believe you can use in your everyday life to elevate your personal brand and make the impact you desire.

1. Offer value to people.
When you read an article that someone you know would love, do you forward it? When you think about a co-worker on her birthday, do you shoot her a text and let her know why you’re grateful for her? Do your Facebook posts leave people feeling positive about you? Share information that adds value to someone’s life. In return, they will likely add value to your life!

2. Show up.
Whether you’re trying to raise money for your nonprofit, find new clients or grow your direct sales business, it is imperative to show up. Show up in people’s inbox, show up at really important events that leave an impression from your presence, show up during coffee dates (ahem, put your phone away and be present) and comment on dream clients’ social media posts. Think about the people who show up for you. Aren’t you incredibly grateful for them? One of my goals for 2018 is to show up in people’s mailboxes more often.

3. Be consistent.
There’s no greater way to create a snowball effect than being consistent. Do you send an email out every Monday morning? Do you show up to every dsm Magazine unveiling? I try to write a blog post every Friday called “Friday Fives,” where I highlight five areas that interest me and hopefully add value to my friends and followers’ lives. From going vegan in Des Moines to how to up-level your fashion game, I consistently show up in people’s news feeds with a blog post that adds value to people’s lives.

4. Focus less on selling.
While sales are essential to keeping businesses alive, the approaches used via social media have made many people feel uncomfortable. If you focus more of your energy on providing value and building relationships, sales come much more organically as people want to support you and refer business to you. It’s not a magic bullet by any means, but it is an incredibly refreshing way to gain new customers that we are seeing happen more and more in groups like FemCity Des Moines.

5. Be real.
Life isn’t really Instagram-filtered beauty 24/7, so consider sharing pieces of your life that others can relate to. People buy from real people most of the time (OK, except for those handful of Target runs), so connect with them! Some of my favorite people are the most open and honest people online and offline. When I feel a connection to a personal story, I subconsciously feel more emotionally invested in that person.

These small nuggets will open the doors to opportunities, the customers you desire, and allow you to infuse personality into your business that people are craving more and more.

Emily Steele is a Des Moines gal, always seeking to fill the gap to make the community a better place to live, work, and play. From co-owning Brand Launch to running FemCity Des Moines, Steele consistently works to provide value and education for business owners and other fellow do-gooders. Connect with Steele via email.