Will 2026 Be the Year of Personal Branding?

Gökhan Korkmaz - The Story Being Told Is Yours

A note on the spirit of the times, rather than labels

I haven't written in a long time.

So I want this text to be partly a reminder to myself, and partly an assessment of the situation for the coming period.

In recent months, I've often heard this sentence:

"2026 will be the year of personal branding."

But is that really the case?

There is no officially declared "year of personal branding". But I believe there is something more important: at this point in the digital age, the gap between those with a personal brand and those without is rapidly widening. 2026 looks set to be one of the years when this difference becomes particularly apparent.

Why is everyone talking about personal branding?

There has been a noticeable shift in the digital world for some time now:

People trust individuals more than brands.

A natural distance has formed towards corporate messages. Rather than a bank saying "we are customer-focused", it is much more credible to hear someone who works at that bank give a concrete example of "this is how we solved it".

Another dimension is algorithms. While the organic reach of corporate accounts on platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and X has narrowed over the years, personal accounts can still grow more naturally. The same content is ordinary when shared from a company account; however, it is perceived as more valuable when shared from the profile of a recognised expert in that field.

The third layer is artificial intelligence.

Text, visuals, presentations, video drafts... Creating them is no longer difficult. Precisely for this reason, the critical question has come down to this point:

Since everyone can produce, whose voice shall we listen to?

I think the answer is clear:

People who have a stance, know what they believe in, and genuinely explain what they stand for. In other words, those who consciously build their personal brand.

What is a Personal Brand Not?

The concept gets a bit muddled when it becomes popular. So it's good to clarify what it is not first:

It is not just a stylish logo, a designed signature, or a cool bio.

• It is not a constant self-praise, exaggerating one's achievements, a "I'm great" show.

• It’s certainly not someone who talks about everything, jumps on every trend, and tries to be everywhere at once.

• Copying someone else’s style and saying, “I want to be like that too” doesn’t make it a personal brand either.

In my opinion, a personal brand is something much simpler yet deeper:

Being able to provide a consistent and visible answer to the questions: "Who are you, what do you believe in, and whose problem are you solving?"

It is more than just an image; it is a perception and relationship that has formed in people's minds over time.

Why Could 2026 Be a Turning Point?

Every year, something is declared the year of something. But there are a few intersections that make 2026 a little different.

The amount of content produced with AI-powered tools is growing exponentially. We see similar headlines, similar sentences, and similar images everywhere. Amid this content inflation, authentic, thoughtful, and personal texts and videos will stand out even more. The feeling that “this sentence was really written by this person” will become a much stronger filter than algorithms.

The job market is changing at the same time. It is becoming difficult to rely on a single company or a single title. Roles are changing, industries are transforming, and some jobs are being automated. In such an environment, there is a significant difference between those who only have a resume and those who, in addition to their resume, have a known name, a followed voice, and referenced content.

On the one hand, organizations want to cultivate “spokespersons” from within their ranks to represent their brands. Brand ambassadors, content-creating managers, experts speaking on stage... Personal branding is no longer just an individual's “side project”; it's also part of a company's communication strategy.

Putting all this together, we can say the following about 2026:

The gap between those who choose to stay in the background with a traditional career mindset and those who consciously build their own voice will widen.

Should Everyone Chase After a Personal Brand?

I believe personal branding is not a necessity, but a choice.

When started with the wrong motivation, it can become a game that wears people down and erodes their authenticity.

But whatever we do, no matter how much we say we don't like being visible, we cannot escape how we are perceived in our field. People create a perception of us anyway. This is where personal branding comes in:

To shift the existing perception to a more conscious, fairer, and more consistent place.

2026 Can Be More Than Just a Label

My answer to the question, "Is 2026 the year of personal branding?" is this:

It is not an official title written on the calendar.

But the period we are in is transforming personal branding from a “luxury” into a professional insurance policy. In a world of content standardised by artificial intelligence, the way to preserve the difference that comes with being human is to take ownership of our own story.

This piece is also a note to myself:

Amidst work overload, daily hustle and bustle, and endless meetings, it’s easy to say, "I’ll write about it later, I’ll tell the story later." But perhaps the most meaningful investment we can make as we approach 2026 is to start telling not just what we do, but who we are.