Can you imagine this happening to you: The phone rings and it’s Oprah’s people calling to write an article featuring you in the next edition of O Magazine. Good morning America stumbled across an article you wrote and wants you in New York in two weeks to be a panel expert. Steve Harvey’s studio just had a guest drop off and wants to know if you can step in.
Question is..are you ready for that call? Or does the sound of all these scenarios make your skin want to crawl?
Can you believe that there are a number of business owners who would actually panic about these types of opportunities because they are embarrassed about the way their brand looks? Can you also believe that there are people who are highly qualified and talented experts that get passed up for major opportunities like these because people don’t think they look professional?
If you’ve ever gotten snubbed for a great opportunity or shamefully passed it up because you felt you didn’t look the part today is the day to change all that.
Outside of our expertise, people are gaging us and making serious money making decisions based on how professional our brands look. The fastest way to get seen by the right people, heard by the right ears, and paid handsomely for it is to create a polished professional looking brand that elicits the exact responses you are looking for.
Today we’re going to dive in and discuss how you can do a complete 180 to create a brand that look super professional.
How To Make Your Brand Look More Professional
Establish a style persona.
I think it goes without saying that each and every one of us have a little something unique going on. And it’s that little something unique that will actually turn heads and get people curious. The trick is to leverage that “thing” that you’ve got and give it a personality.
For instance, I personally go through phases where I just want to wear a comfy pair of sweats with a t-shirt, and leave my hair in chunky braids neatly tucked under my silk bonnet. I have a laid back, quiet but silly personality and it’s completely reflected in how I look. Of course you can clearly see the dilemma here right? I design high 4 figure site and preach about aesthetics all the time, yet I can’t even bother to put a comb through my hair. Big no no!
So I created a persona for my style that would appeal to my ideal customers. She wears makeup, phenomenal dresses, and rocks an amazing shoulder length hair cut styled in curls, straightened or wavy depending on her mood. She’s constantly smiling and laughing in her pictures, which almost always are taken with family in her lovely home or on a vacation. When I established this style, potential clients loved interacting with me and took me more seriously because they believed that I could deliver what I was marketing.
Now you might be thinking, “doesn’t this mean I’m being fake?” To which I say, no! You’re putting on a show. If you call it fake you’ll act phony and people will see right through all that fakeness. So get into the mindset that you’re simply an artist giving your fans what they want: entertainment. For example Issa Rae did not start off looking as fly as she does now. In fact, behind camera, Issa is an everyday girl like you and me. But for the public, she established a funny, fashionista, persona. Same for Lizzo. She’s created a persona that helps attract people to her loud, and proud persona.
Issa Rae 
Lizzo
The reason you have to figure out what your persona is before you start polishing your overall brand is because it’ll make it a whole lot easier for you to figure out the next step, which is taking professional pictures.
Take some professional pictures.
With that persona you’ve got going on, you can figure out exactly how to dress and pamper yourself. Think of this as wardrobe and makeup for the movie that you’re creating for your people. Don’t forget, you’re an artist creating some thing entertaining for your people. The more your people find you entertaining, the more likely it is that you’ll be contacted by the right people.
Now let’s face it, we’re not going to look this perfect and amazing everyday. Hence why it’s so important to grab some professional pictures of you at your best so you can showcase them over and over on the days when you don’t have enough energy to get dressed. With professional pictures you control the way people see you, and control the what images of you are circulated across the internet.
Now when it comes to getting pictures, my motto for everything is this…you have two choices: do it yourself or pay for it. If you’ve got the skills to take your own pictures and edit them professionally than do it! If not, don’t stress yourself out trying to learn something you don’t know! Hire someone. They’ll be able to produce amazing work in 1 hour vs. the several hours it will take you to learn an execute the same task.
Example are Onyi Moss, who is an influencer, takes her high quality photos herself with just a tripod and remote. However Mattie James, who is also an influencer, hires a photographer to capture her images.
Onyi Moss 
Mattie James
Create Your Own Website.
Now perhaps I’m biased because this is what I do for a living, but I highly recommend having your own website. Whenever I read or listen to an expert in public relations, they say that the first way they almost always try to reach out to people is through their website.
A website will almost always contain your most recent contact information, which is why people will go here first to contact you. People not only use your website to contact you but use it to find out information about you, your philosophy, and basically all the information they can get that will help them make a decision about your brand.
Also know that a website makes your brand look more professional because you control and own all the content on your site. It’s not owned by someone else ( cough Facebook) who could possibly sell, twist or change the context of your information for their own purposes.
For example, my client Kim Blount was running her business by just word of mouth. She invested in professional picture and a website, and now is able to not only book clients, but now has a place where people can learn more about her professional expertise.
Create Your Own Content.
What I love about social media is that people are constantly sharing stuff. I could literally repost, and share like 100 new things on a daily basis. But sharing stuff that’s not your doesn’t help you establish your own brand. The reason you want to create and share your own content is because down the line, your brand will become synonymous with the content you share.
Summary
Overall, a brand is your reputation. If you’re looking to create a more polished brand, 4 ways you can start to do that is by…
- Establishing your own style persona. This will not only help you understand how to present yourself visually, but to also help you establish a voice for your brand
- Taking professional photos. This investment will help you have a consistent image that you people are attracted to, and help you maintain the look on days where you may not feel like dressing up.
- Creating you own website, because this is where people will first come to not only do their research on you, but likely the first way they’ll think to reach out to you.
- Creating you own content. When you do, you help establish yourself as an expert on a specific topic which people will know you for.
Now it’s your turn, in the comments I want you to share you brand persona, and tell us how do you showcase that on your website?
