The results of having a strong personal brand

But isn’t all this the worst kind of vanity?  No, it’s not.  It’s marketing.  You don’t need to be known by the whole world, or even the whole of the vegan market.  Once you are accepted as an expert in your niche, once you become a mini celebrity in your own corner of the market, people will hunt you down as the person who can solve their problems.  Are you the vegan branding expert who someone has heard interviewed on countless podcasts and just happens to sit on the judging panel of the ethical business advertising awards?  If someone is launching a vegan business and is willing to pay someone to create the best vegan brand for them, you are the person they are going to get in touch with first.  If you are the person who makes amazing vegan wedding cakes with 20k followers on YouTube and writes the monthly decorating tips column in Wedding Cakes Magazine, then I’m not going to ask you if you are any good before booking you to make my wedding cake.  I would be simply honoured you could fit me in.

And getting to that point doesn’t take as long as you think.  A year of continual effort to position yourself as an expert will completely change your business.  Customers will feel like they know you and this familiarity can become your biggest tool.  Instead of posting a photo of your latest product on your website, record a video of you introducing it instead.  If people feel like they know you then they will connect with that product as if a friend is showing it to them.  Remember: people buy from people, and they buy the most from the people they like.