How to create a personal brand in e-commerce: tips that help build trust and loyalty

Personal brand building is an exceedingly ‘hot’ topic for eCommerce businesses today. In fact, developing a personal brand is a mandatory requirement for any company that wants to succeed. 73% of consumers prefer dealing with such businesses, and 45% of shoppers prefer online stores that offer personal recommendations. To create a unique brand of your own, you must research your audience, create an original ‘personality’, and set up routes for communication with prospective customers.

Personal Brand Building: Simple ‘How To’ for eCommerce Businesses

1. Research and Analyze Your Audience

To build a brand with a ‘personality’ that will appeal to your targeted audience, you must understand what interests them. So start with research and use surveys and various specialized consumer studies. You can set up a simple survey yourself using tools like Google Surveys or SurveyMonkey. You should also use specialized consumer behavior studies reports. For example, Advantec eCommerce Consumer Behavior Survey 2017 or reports from MarketResearch. Another important source of information (and inspiration) for a personal brand building is your competition. Look at the leading businesses in your industry and see how they do it. Bear in mind that emerging businesses cannot realistically compete with large established brands, but you can get ideas from them.

2. Develop a Unique ‘Personality’

‘Personal brand' building means that you must give your business a character that customers can identify with. Think of it as a personality. Everyone is unique even though people have the same problems and needs. Identify or create a unique feature that will set you apart from the competition. As you are establishing a ‘personality', it must be some unique trait of character or a quirk that will ‘humanize' your brand. This will make your business seem more approachable and will enhance customer loyalty. The point of personalizing your brand is for buyers to see you as a friend instead of a faceless shop. Therefore, you must develop a brand character that will appeal to your specific target audience.

3. Get Your Brand Out There

Establishing channels of communication is the essence of a personal brand building for an eCommerce business. You must have social media accounts and a blog where you can share content coming from your brand.
Note that it’s not necessary to have an account on every social media network. Base your choices on your audience. For example, 71% of Pinterest users are women, and buyers from this network spend about 50% more than the average customer. Millennials are more likely to use Twitter, and the majority of brands use Instagram as the perfect place for sharing visuals.
Creating accounts and a blog isn’t enough as you must spread the word about them to draw in your first audience. Use an email finding tool and various email databases to launch an email marketing campaign.
Connect with social influencers and online communities connected with your targeted audience and promote your brand there. Note that 43% of organic eCommerce traffic comes from Google search and 26% from Google AdWords. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure your blog and website have good SEO. The personal brand building must always be a part of your general marketing strategy.

4. Become an Influencer in Your Niche

A strong personal brand is the one that has an active voice that customers both hear and respect. Growing your brand to this degree will allow you to influence buyers’ opinions, which will boost your sales.
To become an influencer, you must be extremely active online. This means that you have to not only post fresh and interesting content regularly (11+ blog posts a month) but also participate in discussions. Join niche-specific online communities and become active there. You also should follow and share opinions from various influencers.
Don’t forget to keep up communications with your clients. Be sure to repost and like their posts and comment on all mentions of your business.

Personal Brand Building for eCommerce Done Right

Building a personal brand for an eCommerce business is hard work that requires a full-time commitment. Develop your brand identity by studying what your customers like and then proceed to give it to them through appropriate channels. Be very consistent and attentive in your updates and interactions. Remember that one must be active online at all times to reap the benefits offered by digital marketing.