The importance of building your personal brand
What is a personal brand?
A personal brand is an identity created for a person or a company. By presenting personality, skills, experience, and behaviour; it’s the impression that is made on the world.
Why does your personal brand matter?
You can differentiate yourself and increase your authenticity. A personal brand is what sets you apart from your competition. It is the interception between perception and reality as Tia Tran talks about in his TEDx. He says, “when done with intention and purpose, a personal brand can do more benefits than harm”. Increasing your authenticity by being your true self can set you up to be seen the way you want to and not have others guessing your story.
Tips to build your personal brand
Who are you?
This may seem like a big topic, but when you break it down it becomes a little easier. Look at your unique value proposition, the statement that sets you apart and where you position yourself. This should differentiate you from your competitors while still holding strong to your values. Ann Bastianelli in Powerful Personal Branding TEDx, talks about how important self-awareness is. She offered insight into an example with her coach; he knew he needed help and got her to step in because he wasn’t capable himself. To figure out the moves you need to make to set up your personal brand, you must be self-aware of what other people know you to be. Take the first step in figuring out who you are and what you want to stand for.
What do you want to accomplish?
Your goal should establish what you want your personal brand to stand for. This is the second step, where you get to figure out what that big picture goal is. A great way to start is to think about where you want to be in 5 years. That might be a little blurry for you but think about one thing you want to accomplish. Start small and build out from there, it’ll only give you a clearer idea of why making this personal brand is important.
How can you embrace networking?
Now that you have figured out who you are and what your goal is, think about the community you want to be in. It is important to build a community who knows you. Surround yourself with like-minded people and you will have others to lean on. It allows other people to tell your story and helps to define your audience. Are the people you relate to the people who are in your audience? Define who you want to reach with your personal brand.
How can you develop a strategy?
Find your focus, be genuine, be consistent, tell a story, and live your brand. This will lead to a strategy that fits into your personal brand by creating an objective that matches who you are. Think about what kind of content you can make to align with your goal, how you present yourself is key in substantiating your personal brand. Decide what channels you want to be seen on as this will impact who your audience is. Consider whether you feel a website is necessary to brand yourself. You could use it to host any blogging you may be doing. A website allows you to highlight your story and can be essential in setting yourself up for success. Those are just a few examples that you can use to develop your strategy.
With all of that, figure out how you can create a positive impact but be ready to face adversity. You may have to re-create the things you want to do or try more than once because the goals you set out to accomplish just aren’t happening. It might take different attempts to set yourself up to understand your unique value proposition. A personal brand can advertise you as an expert in your field, allowing you to brand yourself as a necessity in the eyes of others.
Use this as a tool to set yourself up today.
