How Much Does it Cost to Build a Personal Brand?
Why do people spend a lot of money going to a brand-name school versus a cheaper tuition option for their education? Why do people drive expensive cars or carry designer handbags? Why do they buy or rent office space on K Street, Madison Avenue, or Michigan Avenue?
Do you know why? Personal branding.
A personal brand is an image you put forth to your audience. It represents the center of who you are, your secret sauce, your values, and that aspect which sets you apart from the crowd. It’s what people think, say, and share about you when you are not in the room.
And whether you like it or not, you most likely have a personal brand. What you share on social media channels, the emails you send, the blog posts you craft, how you show up at events--they all comprise your personal brand. The main question is whether you want to actively control this branding process or you want it to control you.
Why Build a Personal Brand?
Regardless of whether you are a CEO, entrepreneur, or a recent college graduate, you should consider developing your personal brand.
Having a brand sets you up to compete in tight markets and industries.
In fact, in some industries, you can’t even get a job without a brand. Legal work requires you to have a personal brand, real estate requires you to have a personal brand, and of course, entertainment requires you to have a personal brand. ·
Personal Brands Are Financial Tools
With a personal brand, you can charge premium prices. Once you have a successful personal brand, more people will be willing to purchase your services. As the demand increases, you can also increase your rates, demand a higher salary, or pay more expensive fees for people and companies to access you.
Personal branding increases visibility and connects you to more people. Individuals usually connect with people who have well-developed personal brands as compared to those who do not. For instance, if you have a LinkedIn profile, you could be one of the 44% of users who take home more than $75,000 per year, which is over $16K more than the national median in the US.
Personal branding makes you an influencer. The more that people connect with you, the more you become an “influencer.” And an influencer is an individual who meaningfully shapes the behavior of his or her followers. These activities happen both online (social media, newsletters, blogs, etc.) and offline (conferences, networking events, charitable fundraisers, etc.).
How Much Will It Cost You to Build a Personal Brand?
The cost of building a personal brand will usually vary depending on the approach taken. These include DIY (do-it-yourself), a team of freelancers, or a personal branding agency, like ours.
DIY (Do it yourself)
This approach may seem to be the least expensive but also is the most work with a lot of hidden costs. It involves undertaking all that is required to create a personal brand single-handedly. With this approach, you will do the necessary photography, copywriting, and related tasks to ensure your personal brand is of high value.
There is a lot of work to be completed by one person in this approach, which to some extent, can interfere with the quality. If you decide to adopt the DIY in your personal branding strategies, be ready to:
Cater to the costs of acquiring appropriate equipment (good camera, video editing software, and a high-powered computer)
Invest a substantial amount of time in acquiring the appropriate skills (copywriting, web development, SEO, editing, social media management, video editing, etc.).
Bringing the above into perspective will likely lead you to pay roughly $1100+ for the equipment and approximately spend 80+ hrs to perfect all the required skills. Equating this 80hrs into the $15 minimum hourly wage means you will have spent $1200. In total, this will be roughly $2300-$3000. On top of this, add the fee which you are supposed to pay your trainers and you will definitely see this can quickly turn into an expensive option.
Having a team of freelancers
This strategy involves getting different freelancers to work on various aspects of your brand identity. On various online hiring platforms, you can find freelancers who specialize in copywriting, photography, social media management, web design, and other applicable expertise. You will only need to coordinate them and make sure they submit professional work. Under this option, you can expect a rough budget of approximately $5,000 considering a professional web design will cost around $2000, copywriting work can be roughly $449 per month, and professional photography at $100 per hour. There is no standard rate for these services, so costs can vary widely.
Hiring a specialist personal branding agency
With this option, you know the costs upfront to build your personal brand. Your role is simply to review the final products delivered. The agency will coordinate a team of experts working on your brand identity until you become satisfied.
It is important to make a distinction between personal brand coaching and consulting. Coaches help inspire and motivate you to achieve more with your brand, while consultants and agencies work from a business model or framework that makes use of data to determine a strategy. The cost of hiring an agency is typically $3500 or more, but may end up being less than if you do-it-yourself and it is certainly less of a time commitment.
Bottom Line: You Need to Take Ownership of Your Personal Brand
No matter which path you choose, it is worth noting that having a strong personal brand is the key to success in today’s unpredictable economic market. Without establishing a solid personal brand, you will just be another faceless individual in the crowd. Creating a personal brand is no longer an option in a global economy, but rather an economic reality for those people who want to succeed as entrepreneurs or ascend their roles within organizations and industries.