The Power in “Selling” Yourself

You’ve probably sold something in your life, whether you’ve sold something to a friend, on Craigslist, or maybe even a customer. No matter what your background is in sales, it’s important to understand the concept of ‘selling yourself’ or ‘branding yourself’, developing a personalized identity that differentiates you from other people. There is power in doing this, especially when starting an online business. It allows people gravitate toward you, and not your competition.

I began my journey in entrepreneurship by helping Wreaths of Joy LLC get started on Facebook. When doors were opened to start Wreaths of Joy, it was nothing short of God at work. For example, how I met Ronni, the main contributor to the business, but that’s a story for a another time. Whether Wreaths of Joy stays as a hobby business or a real business, but it is a good example of the benefits of branding yourself.

We make countless live streams, teaching people floral design and how to make wreaths. There are countless wreath accounts trying to make it big on Facebook and accounts that already have over 100K followers. With all of this competition, how did Wreaths of Joy gain 722k followers in less than a year and rise above the top wreath pages that have been around for years? Branding. Yes, advertising was used, but that will do nothing for your business
if no one likes what you have to offer. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not around. We believe there are three very important parts to branding yourself and your business: who you are, what you stand for, and what your goals are. You need to figure out who you genuinely are and who you want your customers to be. You will attract customers similar to who you are, which is another reason why branding is so important. We have created Wreaths of Joy to be a joyful crafting site keeping Christ as the center and a positive atmosphere to share our knowledge of wreath making and the love of Christ. If you were to ask our followers who we are, their responses would most likely look something like that because of our consistency and drive to keep these aspects the same. One way to see if your perception of your brand is different from the of it reality is checking the reviews of your business.

Many people are attracted to businesses that have faces to them. In an online business, you have to make your face, the face of your business. People want to be connected. That’s human nature. If they can feel connected to you, they are more likely to feel a connection to your business. Developing a “know, like, and trust” factor will set you apart from other businesses that may be doing the same or a very similar thing to you. Again, you have to “sell’ yourself and one good way to do that is to put yourself out there. If you are afraid of what others might think and you never put yourself out there, people will never know, like, or trust you (at least it will be very difficult for them). With Wreaths of Joy, we go live on our Facebook page often, so we can build relationships and loyalty from our followers/customers. The more you build relationships, the more loyalty you will earn because they know, like, and trust you. This makes the selling to your customers 10x easier than before. Use social media to your advantage! It is a perfect platform to start to show who you are and what you stand for, which develops relationships.

Our branding launched our business into places we never thought we would be. As of now, we have a private teaching group, in which people pay $25 a month to be in and we are buying from wholesale crafting companies and selling their products to our followers. As an online business, we have made our branding one of our top priorities. Many wreath pages on Facebook don’t take this very important step in their business. Others have developed their brand by acting a certain way on camera. They attract people like them, which are different customers from ours. Your branding is never fully complete, you always are showing bits and pieces of yourself throughout your business, differentiating you, and creating a trusting relationship to gain loyalty from your customers.

-Lindsey Cummings