Who are you in 2026? How to update your personal brand in a post-AI landscape

Let’s be honest: most creatives hate the phrase “personal brand”. It sounds corporate and fake. And make no mistake, I get it. You became a creative to make things, not to turn yourself into a walking marketing campaign. Reducing your creative identity to a handful of keywords and a carefully curated grid can feel deeply unnatural.

But here’s the inconvenient truth. Personal branding, done well, has always been one of the most reliable ways to earn more and attract better opportunities. Not because it’s glamorous, but because it works.

The people who actively shape how they’re perceived – who are clear about what they stand for, what they’re good at, and what kind of work energises them – tend to earn more, have better clients and more control over their careers. Those who hope their work will “speak for itself” usually end up frustrated.

Now AI is widening that gap.

A changing industry

As creative tools become faster, cheaper and easier to use, the market is filling up with work that looks fine on the surface but feels interchangeable. So when anyone can auto-generate a logo or produce passable copy in seconds, the real question becomes simple: why on earth should anyone hire you?

Technical skill on its own is no longer enough. What clients are really paying for now is something more human: perspective, taste, judgement, lived experience. In other words, the things AI still struggles to fake convincingly.

A strong personal brand helps people see that clearly. And in a post-AI world, it’s one of the most reliable ways to stay relevant, even as the way creative work gets hired and paid for changes beyond recognition.

What actually works in the post-AI era

So how do you build a personal brand that feels genuine – and actually helps your career – when everything feels like it’s in flux? Here’s what matters now.

Firstly, get clear on what’s genuinely yours. Start with the uncomfortable questions. What do you care about that AI doesn’t? What experiences have shaped how you see the world? What problems do you notice that others overlook? What kind of work would you still want to do, even if nobody was paying you for it?

These aren’t woolly self-help exercises. They’re how you avoid blending into a sea of competent, forgettable work. Because, despite what you might think, personal branding isn’t about claiming you’re “the best”. It’s about being clear enough about who you are that the right people recognise you instantly.

Secondly, look for patterns in the work you’re proudest of. What themes keep coming up? What values show up again and again? When clients recommend you, what do they actually say about you?

That’s your personal brand forming naturally. And that's crucial, because your job isn’t to invent it from scratch: it’s to notice what’s already there and put it into words.

Thirdly, treat your process as part of what you’re selling. AI can produce outputs; what it can’t show is how you think; the false starts, the odd references, the leaps of intuition, the judgement calls that shape the final result.

That’s why it helps to share your process; not in a performative “look how creative I am” way, but by occasionally showing how you solve problems. This makes the thinking behind the work visible, in a way even the slickest portfolio can’t.

This doesn’t mean documenting every coffee break. It just means letting people see how your brain works from time to time: the questions you ask, the connections you make, the decisions you weigh up.

Relationships, not metrics

Fourthly, focus on real relationships, not follower counts. The social media playbook that worked five years ago (post constantly, chase engagement, build a massive audience) is pretty much irrelevant now. Platforms increasingly reward whoever pays the most, algorithms change constantly, and most creatives are exhausted trying to keep up.

The good news is you don’t need thousands of followers. You just need the right people to understand what you do and why it matters. That might be 50 peers in your industry. It might be five decision-makers. It might be a small group of people who genuinely care about your work.

So put your energy into relationships that feel human. Engage with people you admire. Join conversations where you have something real to add. Build connections that don’t feel transactional. This isn’t networking in the old sense; it’s just showing up as a curious, generous participant in your professional world.

Finally, make your values visible; not just your output. In a market full of competent execution, clients increasingly choose creatives whose values align with their own. They want to work with people they respect, whose judgement they trust, and who care about similar things.

That means your personal brand can’t just show what you make; it also needs to hint at what you believe. Not through preachy posts or mission statements, but through your choices: the projects you take on, the clients you support, the conversations you engage in, the problems you’re drawn to.

All of that says far more about what you stand for than any carefully worded bio ever could.

Conclusion

Many creatives get stuck waiting until they’ve perfectly defined their brand before sharing anything. But personal brands, just like brands in general, aren’t built through big announcements. They’re built by showing up, again and again.

Your personal brand is always forming, whether you shape it intentionally or not. Every project, interaction and conversation contributes to how people see you. The question is whether you’re guiding that perception or leaving it to chance.

You don’t need a flawless website, a pristine portfolio or profound insights to share. You just need to share work you’re proud of; speak when you have something genuine to say; be useful when you can.

As AI continues to reshape creative work, the people who thrive won’t be the ones who fight the technology or pretend it doesn’t exist. They’ll be the ones who understand that when competence is everywhere, being recognisably human becomes your biggest advantage.

For better or worse, making that visible is no longer optional. It’s the difference between having a successful creative career and sitting there twiddling your thumbs, hoping the algorithm notices you from across the room.