How To Use Writing As A Tool To Grow Your Personal Brand

In today’s competitive landscape, personal branding is more important than ever. Personal branding involves defining and consistently showcasing your unique strengths, values, and expertise to the world, enabling you to differentiate yourself from the competition and making it easier for your prospects and customers to find you.

One powerful tool for achieving this is writing—whether it’s through a blog, LinkedIn newsletter, video content creation, a book, or even an article like this one. Writing is a powerful tool for self-expression and communication, and it’s essential for personal branding—both for telling your story and for growing your visibility and credibility with your ideal audience. Successful thought-leaders like Seth Godin, Dr. Brene Brown, and Dorie Clark have built their brands through impactful writing. Here’s how you can do the same.

Understand Your Brand Identity And Message

The first step in using writing to grow your personal brand is understanding your brand identity. Start by defining your brand—your unique promise of value. Know what sets you apart from others who do what you do and get clear on your unique point of view. Once you have a clear understanding of your brand, develop a consistent message that reflects who you are.

According to Deborah Grayson Riegel, an executive coach, Harvard Business Review contributor, and author of nine books who teaches other coaches and consultants how to build their business through writing and publishing, “Identifying your target audience for writing starts with knowing your niche (the “who” you are writing for), your expertise (the “what” you’re writing about), and your convening power (the groups that are organically drawn to you).

You don’t need to have all three—but where there’s overlap, there’s your strongest audience. For example, let’s say you love working with senior women leaders on their presentation skills, and women in STEM are naturally drawn to you. You could write an article for senior women leaders or one about presentation skills or one for women in STEM. Or you could write a piece that’s specifically for senior women leaders in STEM who need to improve their presentation skills.

“It might seem like that article is too narrow,” remarks Grayson Riegel, “but the more specific you are, the more your message will cut through the clutter and get to your ideal readers.” Understanding the needs, preferences, and pain points of your readers will help you create content that resonates with them. Tailoring your message to your audience ensures that your writing is relevant and impactful.

Choose The Right Platforms

Choosing the right platforms to share your writing is crucial. Blogging and creating content for LinkedIn are excellent ways to showcase your expertise and engage with your audience. This allows you to create and share content that is both engaging and SEO-friendly.

Guest posting and contributing to industry-related websites and magazines can help you build credibility and reach a broader audience. Look for opportunities to write for established publications in your field to expand your visibility and authority. Contributing to high profile publications can significantly enhance credibility. But that doesn’t have to mean Harvard Business Review, Forbes, or The Wall Street Journal. In her Writing and Publishing for Coaches and Consultants course, Grayson Riegel teaches participants to identify the high-profile publications that their potential clients are reading. For example, one of her clients coaches fundraising professionals, so getting published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy was a better fit (and an easier in) than trying to get into The New York Times.

If video is your medium, guess what? You still need to be an excellent writer. Research shows that video has emerged as “the king of content,” and so your content needs to be well-planned and well-written.

All videos start with a script, or at least a series of bullets to spark your speech. In an interview, Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes, said, “No matter what form your content ultimately takes, it always starts with a story, and it starts with being able to articulate that through some concise and cogent writing.”

Grayson Riegel, who has over 110,000 subscribers on YouTube, concurs. “Building your video brand is one of the best ways for your clients and prospects to get a three-dimensional picture of who you are and why they’d want to buy what you’re selling. Those three dimensions could be boring, disorganized, and useless if you haven’t planned what you’re going to say. Or they could be engaging, motivating, and captivating.” That comes from good writing.

Develop Your Writing Style

You might be thinking that generative AI has solved the writing challenge. After all, isn’t ChatGPT your full-time ghostwriter?

ChatGPT and writing-focused GPTs, like Write for Me, are powerful tools for supporting your writing, but they don’t remove you from the process. Finding your voice is essential in developing your writing style. Authenticity is crucial in writing because it builds trust with your audience. Develop your unique writing style by being honest, sharing personal experiences, and writing in a conversational tone. To build a following or fans, being a skilled/differentiated writer is essential and understanding exactly how and when to use AI is a must. Grayson Riegel teaches her clients to use AI as a thought-starter, but not as the end product. For example, she suggests, “You can ask ChatGPT to generate a list of 10 reasons why managers are reluctant to give feedback to their direct reports. But then it’s your job to cull that list down to the top 3-4 reasons that would resonate most with your readers and then populate those reasons with your own examples, evidence, and experience.”

Create Valuable Content Consistently

Thought leadership pieces allow you to share your perspectives on industry trends and developments. Writing opinion pieces showcases your expertise and establishes you as a thought leader. And sharing personal stories helps you connect with your audience on a personal level, building relatability and trust. Focus on content that delivers value to your ideal audience.

Consistency is one of the three critical Cs of branding (clarity and constancy are the other two). It’s the key to building a strong personal brand. Maintain a regular writing schedule and ensure consistency in tone, style, and messaging across all your content. This helps create a cohesive brand identity that your audience can recognize, relate to, and trust.

Grayson Riegel’s consistent approach to writing and publishing has contributed to her bottom line. “A single article that resonates with my prospects and clients can become a webinar or a workshop, then a keynote, then a self-paced online course,” she shares. “I’ve written several pieces that have generated five- and six-figures worth of business alone.”

And in order to know if your content is hitting—or missing—the mark, encourage interaction with your readers. Invite them to comment, share, and discuss your content. Responding to feedback and engaging in conversations helps build a relationship with your audience. Use writing to foster a sense of community around your brand and encourage reader contributions and guest posts. Grayson Riegel says you know you’re doing something right when your core audience reaches out to you with a topic and says, “I think you should be writing about this!”

Measure And Refine Your Strategy

Finally, measure the performance of your writing efforts. Track metrics like views, shares, comments, and conversions to understand what works and what doesn’t. Gather feedback from your readers and make improvements based on their responses. Stay updated with industry trends and new writing tools and adjust your content strategy accordingly.

Writing is a skill every professional needs to master. It’s essential for delivering value to your audience and growing your personal brand.

William Arruda is a keynote speaker, co-founder of CareerBlast.TV and co-creator of BrandBoost – a virtual, video-fueled course to help you grow your self-awareness and amp up your personal brand.