Building a strong personal brand is an investment. It takes a lot of time and, in some cases, money to digitize your reputation and create a steady cadence of content enforcing your brand. First, you will need a focused brand strategy. Next comes a personal brand website and social media channels. Occasionally, you may need professional photography and video. As the hours and dollars add up, it’s easy to question whether it’s worth it. Depending on your goals, it is. And many people with strong personal brands have figured out how to monetize their efforts. If you are interested in recouping your investment, here are 5 ways to make money with a strong personal brand.
1. Selling a physical product
People with strong personal brands sell physical products, often through their websites. For Instance, authors sell their books, while people who have built brands around the fitness industry can sell everything from workout clothes to water bottles. A landscape photographer could sell a calendar featuring their images. The products sold should be directly related to the brand and have a logo or some other identifiable message that ties back to the brand. Not only do the products provide an income, but they extend the brand reach when they are seen in public.
2. Selling Information Products
Selling items on a personal brand website isn’t limited to physical products. Information products someone can download from a website is one of the 5 ways to make money with a strong personal brand. Experts in their field can create classes and entire courses and then sell them to others who want to learn more or sharpen their skills. Often a certification is offered for the successful completion of a course. Certifications are used on resumes and in social media posts. Tony Robbins built an empire selling everything from audio classes to books on subjects ranging from motivation to weight loss.
3. Ads and Affiliates
Access to your audience is another way to monetize your personal brand. Advertisers will pay to place messages in front of a quality following. The following doesn’t necessarily need to be massive, as long as it’s legitimate. For example, podcasts sell sponsorships to third-party advertisers all the time. So while you create content to build your brand following, you are also creating a revenue stream through ads and sponsors. This will cover the costs of the content and may put some coin in your pocket too.
4. Services
If you are not a recognized subject matter expert, you will probably not be able to sell your knowledge. There is so much free DIY information available online that few people will pay for it. What people will pay for, however, is service. For example, on YouTube, thousands of videos will teach you how to work out and handle basic home repairs. At the same time, personal trainers and handymen with strong personal brands have no problems finding clients. That’s because many people still want others to do the work or keep them accountable.
5. Public Speaking
Another way to make money from a strong personal brand is through paid speaking fees. The professional speaker business generates close to $2 Billion a year. Companies are always looking to motivate and better train their workforce. Civic organizations always need content for their meetings and events. What’s better than a local resident with a strong personal brand focused on charity and giving back, giving a speech to their members? Public speaking is a great way to reinforce your brand with people who have seen your brand and extend your reach by delivering your brand message to people seeing you for the first time. Heather Monahan is an example of someone who built a personal brand that evolved into a speaking career.
There you go, five ways to make money with a strong personal brand. And we never even mentioned people with strong personal brands have an advantage when looking for a job, get recruited more, and are promoted faster. If you are interested in learning how to create your own strong personal brand, reach out to Carolyn Eastman at Marketing Director on Call. Marketing Director on Call is a fractional marketing services company based in Tampa, specializing in building strong personal brands. Having a strong brand can help you get the most out of life, and Marketing Director on Call can help you build one.