How to Find Your Personal Branding Coach (Costs & What to Expect)
Is branding something you can sort out for yourself, or do you actually need a personal branding coach to do that? The truth? It depends (annoying, we know). But we’ll explain it all if you keep on reading. You’ll find info on what they do, how much they cost, including a free alternative: Brandi, Copyfolio’s 24/7 AI branding assistant.
What does a personal branding coach do?
Your personal branding coach is here to help you discover your personal brand. To put it simply, they help you figure out who you are or want to be, what makes you special, and how you can communicate that.
That’ll include things like:
- The specific niche or industry you’ll be focusing on
- Your customer persona, so you can get to know your target audience
- The message you’ll be communicating through every piece of content
- The tone of voice with which you’ll write or speak to really resonate with your audience
- Your brand positioning, so you know what your competitive edge is, and how you can differentiate yourself
These are the basics, but if you work with a branding coach on an ongoing basis, you might also get help with setting up your social media profiles, your content strategy, storytelling, reputation management, and more.
And help, in this case, means guidance. The job of the coach is to guide you with questions and tips, so you can figure out your personal brand. Because when it’s you who draws the conclusions, your brand will be truly authentic and unique.
Do you actually need a branding coach?
You can build your personal brand by yourself with enough research, but here are some telltale signs that a little help might be welcome:
- You get flustered when someone asks what you do. If your unique selling point is not even clear to you, how could others see your value? A coach can help you get clear about your USP and craft the perfect elevator pitch.
- Your online presence is all over the place. If you put the look and feel of your website, your posts on social media, or the way you interact with others together, and it’d feel like a mess… then it’s time to bring some consistency to your digital presence.
- You find it hard to take a step back and see the big picture. When it’s about you and your own work, it’s suddenly much harder to be objective, find the strengths, and put it all in a compelling package. Even for seniors, an outside perspective can give a lot of clarity.
- You keep procrastinating because it feels like too much work. It’s easy to get overwhelmed before even starting. So if you’ve been telling yourself you’d get your personal brand sorted for weeks but still haven’t, a coach might make it feel less overwhelming and way more doable.
- You’re just about to go freelance. Having a personal brand is important when you’re working full-time, but when you’re a freelancer? It might make or break your success. So before you take the leap and leave your 9-5 behind, working with a personal branding coach might be one of your best investments.
Basically, whenever you need clarity, an outsider perspective, or even just a little motivation, working with a branding coach would be a great choice for you.
But actually, you can skip the research and get that clarity with Brandi instead.
Meet Brandi: Copyfolio’s free branding coach, available 24/7
Not sure if you’re ready to spend the time and money you’d need for real-life coaching? Try Brandi, Copyfolio’s AI branding assistant, who’s available for you any time of any day. Even if you decide to do this at 3 am.
All it takes is one chat, and Brandi can help you nail your brand personality, define your USP, and find the perfect tone of voice. And if you need more help, she can write your tagline, draft a client pitch, or even help you update your portfolio or website.
It’ll take you a couple of hours max instead of weeks, not to mention saving hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the process. There’s nothing to lose, give it a try!
Branding coach vs. brand consultant vs. branding strategist. What’s the difference?
As you start looking around, you might bump into all these different people. Branding coaches, consultants, strategists… What’s even the difference between them? It can be super confusing, so let’s take a quick look.
- A branding coach uses questions and exercises to guide you in discovering and promoting your brand
- A brand consultant will give you explicit advice and recommendations
- A branding strategist will actually build things like frameworks and content plans for you
There are of course overlaps, as some coaches do consulting too, or are more hands-on with helping you create content and a strategy once you’ve got the basics.
Hire a branding coach if you want to lay good foundations for your personal branding, making sure it’s authentic and you’re promoting it in a way that’ll lead to success.
Work with a branding consultant if you already have an established personal brand that people know about, but want to pivot a little or take it to another level.
Choose a branding strategist if you have your brand already, but need hands-on help with putting it into practice. If you’re not a marketer or have never worked with social media or content, their help can come in handy.
What does working with a branding coach look like?
There are a few different ways to work with a personal branding coach, so the process will change a little bit based on that. You can typically:
- Get a fixed package for specific things, like your brand foundations (personal brand traits, tone of voice, USP, etc.)
- Have recurring 1:1 sessions with work to be done by you in between sessions
- Join group sessions or workshops where you can work alongside others as you each discover your personal brands
One thing is common: you’ll generally start with a discovery call with your coach. Here you can get to know each other, see if you’re a right fit, and specify what you’ll be working on together.
Then in the following sessions, you’ll be having a conversation, with your coach most likely askings you various questions. Don’t expect to get the answers from them, they’re only to guide you.
Often you’ll get some homework to do, too: worksheets, journaling prompts, and other exercises. They’re essential so you can reflect on your answers in the following sessions. It usually takes a few rounds of exploration and reflection before you get to testing and results.
Don’t forget: coaching works best if you show up
With that, a friendly reminder: coaching is powerful, but it works best if you also do your due diligence. Your branding coach won’t do these things for you, but can help you pull it all together based on all of your input.
If you’ve never done reflection work like this before, it might feel cringe at first. But remember: you’re doing this for your career and community. So try to be open-minded and honest, even if you encounter uncomfortable questions.
We’re repeating ourselves here, but if you put in the time to work with a coach instead of getting a branding agency to do it all for you, the end results will be way more unique and authentic. It’s 100% worth it. Especially in today’s world of cookie-cutter freelancer brands.
How long does it take to see results?
You’ll hate this answer, but it really depends.
It depends on how you get along with your coach, how frequently you meet, what your exact goals are, and how much work you’re willing to put in outside of the sessions.
When you’re starting from zero with weekly sessions, even a few sessions can make a big impact. But if you’re adjusting things about your existing brand, and perhaps chatting with your coach every 2-4 weeks, it might take longer to change people’s perceptions.
Personal branding packages can give us an estimate on what you can expect: most branding-foundations packages are 8-12 weeks long, with a couple of 1:1 consultation sessions during that time.
How much does a personal branding coach cost?
Now this one’s a real doozy and probably the biggest con for working with a personal branding coach. Most of them are pretty expensive, so it’ll be a real investment from your side.
It’ll of course all depend on how established your coach is (beginners charge less) and how long you’ll work with them. For beginner coaches, you might find 1:1 sessions for $100-$250. But if you want to work with a more experienced personal branding coach, expect something in the $500-$1,000/session range. And for top-tier, exec-level ones? $1,000-$3,000/session prices are common.
Packages often range from $3,000 to $6,000+ for the complete branding plus consultations in 8-12 weeks, but you can find monthly pricing plans around $1,000-$3,000/month, including 2-4 sessions.
But most personal branding coaches offer free discovery calls. So if you want to make sure you’re spending your money well, do discovery calls with a few different coaches. It’ll help you find one that you really vibe with—and one who feels credible too.
Try Brandi, your free AI branding coach inside Copyfolio. She’ll help you define your brand foundations and perfect both your writing and portfolio, all without spending a dime.
But is it worth it?
When thinking about whether working with a personal branding coach is worth it, think about what it’ll give you in return. The ROI, so to speak. If you manage to nail your personal brand and grow your online presence thanks to the collaboration, it can lead you to:
- gain confidence,
- become more visible online,
- and with that connect with people,
- get a better job or a promotion,
- land new freelance clients,
- perhaps even take the leap to go freelance from your 9-5.
Think about the financial impact that’d have on your life, and how that compares to the money you’d have to pay for your branding coach.
How to find the best personal branding coach
You can of course do a quick Google search for a personal branding coach—you might have even ended up here after doing so. But if that didn’t help much with the actual “finding”, here are a few other ideas for you.
Ask around among your friends or colleagues and see if anyone’s worked with a coach before, whom they’d recommend. If talking to people one-by-one seems like a hustle (and you don’t mind everyone knowing about your quest), you can also share a post on LinkedIn, asking for referrals.
Research before you reach out. To save time for both you and the coaches, take a good look at their websites before getting in touch. Check their references and previous transformations, and make sure they seem like a good fit personality-wise too.
Always ask for a discovery call before making your final decision. Someone might sound perfect in writing and pictures, but you might find you’re not actually vibing with them in person or on a call.
Questions to ask before hiring a branding coach
We know “making sure you vibe with them” is a bit vague, and deciding who’s a good fit is not that self-explanatory. So here are a few questions you can ask potential branding coaches that can help make up your mind.
- Who are your typical clients? Have you ever worked with someone like me?
- Do you have a certain area of expertise within the realm of personal branding?
- What aspects of the brand character do you find most important?
- How do you track your clients’ progress? And how do you measure success?
- What frameworks do you use to help your clients build their brands?
- What’s included in your different packages? If my goal is X, which one would be the best fit for me?
- How much time will it take me to do the work you assign outside of the sessions?
- What’s a client success story that you’re most proud of?
Final thoughts
Discovering and perfecting your personal brand doesn’t have to be stressful or expensive. But the right guidance can make all the difference, whether you’re just starting out or already have a brand that’s in need of a little refresh.
You could hire a human coach or start right now with Brandi, Copyfolio’s free AI branding assistant. She’s available 24/7 to help you define your brand personality, tone of voice, USP, and more. She’ll get you set up to confidently show up online, with no waiting lists, sky-high price tag, or stress.
Go ahead and give yourself a head start. Your future self will thank you for it.
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