Personal Branding: It’s Not Just LinkedIn Jazz Hands

Personal branding has become one of those phrases people either nod along to like they know exactly what it means, or makes them want to launch their phone into the fucking bin.

For a lot of people, it means posting motivational LinkedIn updates, taking cringe photos, and pretending every trip to their local co-working spot taught them a life-changing leadership lesson. But that’s not really personal branding.

Well, it is part of it. You do have to show up. You do have to be visible. You do have to let people see the person behind the work. But for marketers, agency owners, consultants, creative businesses and freelancers, personal branding is really about making your expertise easier to understand, trust and remember, whilst also getting across your own unique personality.

People don’t just buy what you do. They buy into how you think, what you care about, what you’re known for, and whether they trust you to help them.

A lot of people hear “personal branding” and immediately think of the usual bullshit LinkedIn clichés. Posting every single day. Personal stories for the sake of it. “Thought leadership” with no actual thought behind it. Selfies, humblebrags, engagement bait, and being loud for the sake of visibility.

And look, I’m not going to sit here pretending I’ve never posted a selfie or humblebragged slightly. I’m guilty of some of it too. But it can’t be your whole strategy.

The problem is that most people reject the idea of personal branding because they think it means becoming a fake version of themselves. They think it means selling out, performing online, or turning every mildly inconvenient life moment into a post about resilience.

That’s why it makes people cringe. They think personal branding means LinkedIn jazz hands, and a whole “look at me” kinda thing.

In my opinion, personal branding is what you’re known for. It’s what people associate with you, what they trust you for, what problems they think you can solve, what they remember when someone mentions your name, and how easy you are to refer.

In my case, I’m known for sales, and I’m also known for playing the saxophone. That is pretty much the whole Sax Sells brand.

The sales part builds trust. That comes from my content, client work, case studies, testimonials, anecdotes, training, messaging and the way I talk about solving problems. The saxophone part makes me memorable (I hope 😅)

So if someone is talking to an agency owner who needs help with sales, it’s much easier for them to say, “I know a sales guy. Plays the saxophone. You’ll know the one.”

That is what good personal branding can do. It gives people a clear hook. Not some fake “I wake up at 4am and journal next to a protein candle, whilst giving myself fellatio” nonsense, but a proper, memorable association. Something that makes it easier for people to understand who you are, what you do, and why they should care.

Marketing, creative and consultancy work is massively trust-led. You’re not selling something people can pick up off a shelf. You’re selling expertise, judgement, strategy, ideas, advice and execution. All the slightly intangible stuff that makes people think, “Do I actually trust this person with my business?”

That’s why personal branding matters.

People are more likely to buy when they believe you understand their world. They want to see that you have a clear point of view. They want to know you can solve a specific problem. They want to feel like you’re credible before they ever get on a sales call.

This is especially true for agency owners and consultants. The founder’s personal brand can start building trust long before someone is ready to buy. If people see you showing up with useful, interesting, relevant points of view, you stop being a random supplier and start becoming a recognised voice in your space.

That makes everything else easier. Outreach feels less cold, sales calls start from a better place, and referrals become clearer. People already have a sense of what you stand for before you’ve even spoken to them.

Good personal branding is not random posting, it stems from positioning.

You need to be clear on who you help, how you help them, what problem you solve, what you believe, what stories prove your credibility, what language your audience actually uses, and what you want people to remember.

For example, I swear in my content. Not because I’m trying to be edgy like a Poundland Liam Gallagher, but because that is genuinely how I talk, and most of my ideal clients talk like normal human beings too. That doesn’t mean everyone should do that. It means your personal brand should sound like you, while still being relevant to the people you’re trying to reach.

If your positioning is fuzzy, your content becomes jazz hands. You’re visible, but people don’t really know what you do. You’re posting, but nobody knows what to come to you for. You’re showing up, but not leaving a useful mark.

There are a few different types of content that help build a proper personal brand.
Firstly, you need content that shows how you think. This could be the questions you ask clients, how you approach a problem, what you look for in a great strategy, or what you notice when reviewing a bad one. It helps people understand your brain, which sounds mildly terrifying, but is actually very useful.

Then there’s content that shows what you believe. Your opinions, disagreements, lessons learned, frustrations with the industry, and the things you think are complete bullshit. I’ve called out misogyny in the sales industry before, which was apparently controversial to some people. I hate that it even needs saying, but I also think it’s important to say it. That’s part of personal branding too. Not pretending to be opinionated for engagement, but actually having a point of view.

You also need content that shows what you’ve done. Client wins, behind-the-scenes process, examples of your work, case studies and even just nice client messages all help people trust that you can do the thing you say you can do.

Then you need to show who you are. That can be stories from outside work, personal experiences, your values, your quirks and your personality. For me, that includes sax videos, memes, daft stories and the occasional bit of self-deprecating nonsense, because I think I’m quite a fun person to work with, and I want that to come across.

And finally, you need content that shows who you help. This is where a lot of people get it wrong. They wee everywhere. We do this. We do that. We’re experts in this. We’ve been doing that for years. Stop pissing all over the gaff. Your audience is sat there thinking, “What has this got to do with me?”

Good personal brand content speaks to the reader. It addresses their problems, frustrations, ambitions and questions. It should not all be about you. Even when it is about you, it should still be useful to them.

LinkedIn probably matters the most for personal branding, especially in B2B. I won’t pretend it doesn’t. But your personal brand does not only live on LinkedIn.

It shows up in (takes deep breath) your website copy, emails, outreach, sales calls, case studies, comments, networking conversations, podcast appearances, talks, videos, follow-ups and any other place where people interact with you.

I’ve recently launched a YouTube channel because I do a lot of video content, especially with sax covers and more personal brand-led stuff. That makes sense to me. TikTok or Instagram might make sense for some people. For me, I do dabble in TikTok, but I don’t love it for my personal brand.

The point is not to be everywhere. The point is to make sure that wherever you do show up, people get a consistent sense of who you are and what you’re about.

Your personal brand is every interaction where someone is thinking about you as the person behind the business.

Most people start with “what should I post?” before they’ve really thought about what they want to be known for, what problems they want to own, what stories they have that prove it, and what their audience needs to hear before they trust them.

Now, I’m not saying you need a 47-tab content strategy spreadsheet and a colour-coded posting calendar blessed by the algorithm. Some people are brilliant at planning a month of content in advance. I am not one of those people.

You can absolutely post things that come to mind. You can be spontaneous. You can have the odd random post. In fact, that can make you more human. But the majority of your content should still connect back to what you want people to know, trust and remember about you.

As you post more, this becomes more natural. You start to notice stories and spot ideas. You start to realise that a conversation with a client, a mistake you made three years ago, or something that annoyed you on LinkedIn can all become useful content. But only if you know what you’re trying to build.

Start by picking a few topics you want to be known for.

For me, it’s pretty simple. I want to be known as the sax-playing sales guy. I want to be known for creative and unique ways of doing outreach, especially in the marketing industry. And I want to be known for helping agency owners and freelancers with sales.

That gives me a clear lane.

Then collect stories that prove your point of view. Client stories, nice messages, screenshots, personal stories, conversations with friends and family, lessons from your career, mistakes you’ve made, wins you’ve had and stuff you’ve learned the hard way.

If a client sends you a lovely message, ask if you can screenshot it and post it. It can be anonymous. It does not always need to be some giant polished case study with graphs, charts and a stock photo of two people shaking hands in a glass office. Sometimes, proof is just a real message from a real person saying you helped.

I keep a big notebook of content ideas. Any time something pops into my head, I put it in there. Then, when I actually sit down to plan content, I’m not staring at a blank page wondering whether I’ve ever had a thought in my life.

You should also share your process. How you think, and how you work. What you actually do to get results. What decisions you make that clients might not see. That is where a lot of your credibility sits.

And make sure your website, LinkedIn and any other channels are singing from the same hymn sheet. If your LinkedIn says one thing, your website says another, and your outreach sounds like it was written by a damp corporate brochure, people will feel the disconnect.

You do not need to be identical everywhere, but it should feel like the same person, the same business and the same message.

Finally, repeat yourself. You are allowed to tell the same story more than once. You are allowed to make the same point in a different way. You are allowed to revisit the same theme from a slightly different angle.

Most people probably didn’t see it the first time, and even if they did, repetition is how people remember you.
It shouldn’t be boring – but it deffo should be consistent.

Personal branding helps sales because it builds trust and keeps you front of mind.

Even when someone is not ready to buy, they might listen to a podcast you appeared on. Then they might see a few LinkedIn posts. Then they might watch a video. Then they might get a referral. Then you might send them an outreach message.

By the time the conversation starts, you aren’t a complete stranger. They already have a sense of how you think.
That makes sales easier. Discovery calls become warmer, referrals become clearer, inbound leads are often better qualified and follow-ups feel less random. You become more memorable.

Now, having a strong personal brand will not close the deals for you. Annoying, I know. You still need to understand the client’s problem. You still need to ask good questions, follow up properly, and of course, you still need to actually sell.

But personal branding can do a hell of a lot of heavy lifting before the sales conversation even starts.

Personal branding is not about shouting online. It is not about turning yourself into a content machine. It is not about being a performing monkey for likes. And it is definitely not just LinkedIn jazz hands.

It is about showing your expertise, your personality, how you think, who you help and why people should trust you.

Personal brand and personality are linked (duhhhhhh). If people only understand what you do, but get no sense of who you are, you become forgettable. If people only see your personality, but have no idea what you actually help with, you become entertaining but commercially confusing.

The sweet spot is both. Expertise with personality. Clarity with character. Proof with a bit of seasoning.
That’s what makes people remember you and trust you. And it’s also what makes your sales conversations feel a lot less cold.

If you’re a marketer, agency owner, consultant, creative business or freelancer, that matters more than ever. Because people are not just buying the service, they’re buying into the person behind it.

I cover personal branding and LinkedIn, amongst the wider sales landscape in my small group sales training sessions, launching soon.

It’s built for marketers, creatives, agency owners and freelancers who want to sell more consistently without turning into the kind of salesperson they’d normally avoid at networking events, or hang up the phone on.

If that sounds useful, check it out here. Or drop me a message if you want to make your sales, content and personal brand a bit more saxy.