We often have executives and business owners ask us what is the difference between these two concepts. They ask why it’s important to know their Personal Brand if they already have a niche. This very question is a good indication that they are not sure what the difference is between these two.
Let’s start off exploring what a niche is. We take the time to explain this first because it’s the more simple of the two. Niche is an important aspect of marketing yourself or your business. It speaks to your area of expertise, knowledge base or a specific skill set. For example you may have several years working in the non-profit sector or as teacher. These both come with a skill set and experiences.
You may know what it’s like to be a teacher because you were one. This indicates you have empathy for what a teacher experiences. You have specific skills for creating teaching material, presentation and evaluation of learning experiences.
So what we are talking about is creating a target market. Who you want to work with and why you feel your experience might make you the best choice.
Personal brand is much bigger than your target market. Personal brand is about what you believe, how you go about implementing your personal brand, what services and products you offer AND your target market.
What we are saying is that while determining your niche is useful from a marketing aspect, it is only one aspect of your Personal Brand. Any relationship you create, allows people to buy in to what you believe, not the relationship, product or services that you offer. This indicates that emotion is involved in any kind of transaction you may have, not just from a career perspective but in all parts of your life. Personal branding is much bigger than just having expertise, skills and knowledge.
What are your thoughts on this?