Because it’s hard to have an impact if you don’t exist online

By the time this blog is published, you’ll have seen the pivot I made from just working with authors to helping established, ethical female leaders grow their personal brands. I’m also offering my guide to personal branding as my latest email lead magnet.

Prior to transition, many conversations I had revolved around getting in touch with humanity again in this age of AI, and building personal brands (especially that of women) to build company trust. I foresaw this eight years ago when I closed Conscious PR. Even though people haven’t stopped paying Amazon, Meta, or Tesla, I feel that there is a desire to support fewer billionaires and more leaders who care about people and the planet.

Although my ideal clients already have an established brand, some of you may want to learn how to build your personal brand online. Here are my four steps to starting that.

1. Choose a two to six colour palette and create a logo.

A brand is not a logo despite what graphic designers may tell you. It’s your visual presence, combined with what people say about you when you’re not in the room.

While anyone can create a logo now with AI, you’ll also want to choose some brand colours as they will carry over to your website and any marketing materials you use going forward.

If this isn’t something you want to do yourself, hire a brand designer.

My entire personal brand developed back in 2016 after I got married and started this website as a personal blog. The fab Azalea Moen (who isn’t in the design game anymore) crafted my six brand colours from this Pinterest board I made. Then she had me choose two fonts (one script, one sans serif-style) and created two versions of my logo out of them.

My hair was purple then, and she even helped me choose the outfits I used in my first photo shoot as Sandra Nomoto. Here are my brand colours and the fonts I still use:

2. Have a website under your full name (name.com)

It’s really important to BUY THE DOMAIN FOR YOUR OWN NAME. Do not rely on a web designer to own it because if something happens to them or you lose track of them, you won’t have control over your own name. I also recommend you use a local company for web hosting (that ideally uses sustainable hosting).

Your name might be taken, but you can be creative to get as close as possible. Use your middle initial, or if you have a title (e.g. PhD), add that to the end.

Whether you create your own website using online software or work with a web designer to do it for you, use those colours (and logo, if you have one) you determined in Step #1.

3. Reserve your name on all the social media platforms.

This does not mean you will use all the social networks (I always recommend LinkedIn for business, plus one other visual platform), but you’ll want to reserve your name just like you did with your domain so no one else takes it.

Have consistent bios across all social platforms, especially the ones you plan to be active on.

Between your website and social media, this is how AI will get to know who you are and what you do.

4. Take professional headshots.

The only exception to this is if your brand is not about business at all and you’re known for being out there, wild, or super casual. That won’t be most of us.

While smartphones can take good high-res photos nowadays (and this is a great temporary solution if a photo shoot is out of your budget), nothing beats a professionally-taken photo.

I recommend you have new headshots every five years, because it always feels weird when I see someone’s photo online and meet them and they look 10 or more years older. Your photo should look like you do.

If you plan to post on social media often, do a full photo shoot that involves more than headshots from the shoulders up.

There are also now people offering AI photos that look like you. You can also go this route if you don’t want to show your real face or are too uncomfortable (or lazy) to work with a photographer, but my take on these is that people may not trust you as much, because it can be quite obvious you didn’t take that photo at that location. No one’s skin looks that good.

I’m Sandra Nomoto, a personal brand manager for established ethical female leaders. Contact me if you need someone to manage and amplify your brand for the next 20 years.