How do you refresh your personal brand in a changing market?

I believe that Authenticity is the most unique and compelling thing about the brand image you project. This is a singular missing quality in most situations today. People can easily figure out this quality and see through the marketing spiel. So you need to introspect and be very clear on the Why of what you have on offer. If this is clear then Authenticity starts to creep in. In an ideal world they say that “if you are solving a genuine problem then money will automatically find you” With branding at many times we are doing the opposite and tweaking it for the other way round. This may be a little old fashioned approach but being Authentic with your brand helps in the longer run.

“How do you differentiate?” Is extremely important and challenging to do because you’re super close to … well yourself. That makes objectivity very challenging. Here is the exercise I run: 1. Write down every negative critique you’ve received. Are you too young to have an opinion? Too cocky? Too sweary (GUILTY!)? Aim for 10. 2. Write the opposite. Seasoned. Humble. PC. 2 is what everyone sounds like. It is boring! 3. Spin. Find the positive spin on your flaws. Fresh. Surefooted. Relatable. Choose the 3 words that are core to YOU! Rewrite your bio and reconcile everything you put out, including how you show up at work, against those words.

One of the realities of today's world is the micro attention spans that the audience and prospective customers have. So asking the question, does the brand evoke a response from the target market so they are able to afford a few seconds to learn more. Or do they scroll away because it does not evoke anything. Second, if they do afford a few seconds, how do they react. Is it a silent majority that don't share anything beyond spending a few seconds on the website, LI business page or a post. Or do the they ask for a meeting, add a comment, send a DM ...

As a LinkedIn coach, I regularly assess my personal brand's standing in the marketplace. The aim is to continually align my brand with my business goals and values. My focus on supporting freelancers who want to build a compelling personal brand on LinkedIn to attract more opportunities guides this self-assessment. ??

People are drawn to other people. Showing up as who you are demands that we do the work to discover who that really is. It's more than your job title or resume. It's requires you to also identify who you are not (those stories you tell yourself that aren't grounded in reality). It's building the self-awareness to see you as others may. I call this building a personal brand of integrity.

You don't need to be a content creator, business owner or a celebrity to focus on your personal brand. Working on your brand will impact your internal audience as well (the organization your work for) and elevate your influence within. So when identifying your audience, think about your internal stakeholders too. I experience great engagement from the people that work in the organizations I worked for due to the content I create and my positioning online.

Your brand is never really about you or what you do, it is the perception you portray and the promise you make to your audience. When your audience needs and wants change, your value proposition needs to change with them. It is not about the product or the service of us about the value you add in their lives and the transformation you bring. Your brand needs to match your audience pain points, goals and desires. A good example is what happened during and after COVID the brands that didn’t match their audience suffered

The needs of my ideal audience can change over time, especially when it comes to leveraging LinkedIn for personal branding. I ensure that my brand adapts to these shifting needs, providing relevant and valuable content to my audience, which are freelancers keen on using LinkedIn to its full potential. ??

I’m about to start a role with a new organisation, and I plan to use this technique as part of a stakeholder mapping process. By building empathy maps I’m able to better understand my colleagues and stakeholders, and will be able to build better relationships.

Answer lies in one simple question - Why you do what you do. And it’s not an overnight thing. It’s a journey of introspecting yourself over a course of many days, weeks or even years. The ‘Why’ has a lot to do with your past life, your experience and how you have evolved as a person. Once that is identified, you can define clearly your brand positioning, differentiation, and value proposition. And after that, only 2 things matter: 1/ Authenticity and 2/ Consistency. If you will be authentic if you stick to your ‘Whys’, and Consistency is important so that you don’t become obsolete and your audience doesn’t forget

I think one key essential element in this personal brand assessment is to look inside into your purpose. By the way, you know it? Why you do what you do? Without look to it as a first step you cannot understand clearly your professional points of differentiation and not be able to design an authentic and coherent value proposition and narrative in the market. Your why is a very important guide to define your brand positioning, your career portfolio and your brand vision.

LinkedIn has amazing tools to switch up your branding. Yes, it’s about being authentic, but bells and whistles, when relevant, can add a lot! Consider adding a custom banner (Canva is my go-to tool), emoji bullets to highlight content, or copy/paste bold or italics (yes, it can be done!). Above all, be creative ????. (See what I did there?)

Engage online to showcase expertise, credibility, and personality. Customers value the person behind the brand. LinkedIn is perfect for B2B convos and sharing valuable content. Reciprocate engagement and adapt as a workplace futurist. Challenge assumptions and migrate to "Customer experience" for relevance. Be authentic and excited to embody your brand. Genuine confidence is attractive. Tailor your brand honestly to evolving markets. Prioritize purpose and value over brand focus. Amplify consciously and avoid dilution. Authenticity is key to a compelling image. Stand out with genuine solutions. In short - "Elevate your personal brand, stand out in changing markets. Engage authentically, prioritize value, and embrace evolution"

The best way to showcase your expertise, credibility, and personality is to engage online. My experience in B2B sales and marketing settings is that customers buy the person. Of course, product and brand matter, but a key factor in market differentiation is demonstrating your subject matter expertise, and showing your willingness to help first and sell later. LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for engaging in conversations with B2B customers and prospects. Of course, sharing high-value content is key, but don't overlook the many opportunities to engage your audience based on content THEY share. Pay your attention forward and it will come back to you!

To promote your brand value successfully, you have to develop a practice of self-inquiry. Take time to think about what you've done, where you've been, and where you would like to go next. Answering those questions will help you identify what is most important to you and help you build your story. Knowing the right stories to tell that will align with what you are trying to accomplish will help you define your brand value effectively.

As a workplace futurist, my business is to challenge long-held assumptions, notice change, and take action. Change affects industries, the economy, and most important, your presence and messaging. I often say, "when change happens, don't do nothing." Ask yourself, "how does this affect me?" For example, customer experience terminology is an evolution in market need and the creation of a special category within an industry. It enriched the areas of customer support and eventually resulted in the training and recruitment of customer success managers. If "Customer satisfaction" was your specialty (as a professional speaker or subject matter expert), your migration to customer experience is the difference between relevance and being outdated.

While adapting to market changes is important, any adjustments should not change the core of your personal brand. My adaptation process focuses on enhancing my skills and knowledge about LinkedIn and adapting my coaching methods accordingly, all while retaining the fundamental values that differentiate my brand. ??

Engage online to showcase expertise, credibility, and personality. Customers value the person behind the brand. LinkedIn is perfect for B2B convos and sharing valuable content. Reciprocate engagement and adapt as a workplace futurist. Challenge assumptions and migrate to "Customer experience" for relevance. Be authentic and excited to embody your brand. Genuine confidence is attractive. Tailor your brand honestly to evolving markets. Prioritize purpose and value over brand focus. Amplify consciously and avoid dilution. Authenticity is key to a compelling image. Stand out with genuine solutions. In short - "Elevate your personal brand, stand out in changing markets. Engage authentically, prioritize value, and embrace evolution"

A missing piece here is that you need to be *excited* to embody your personal brand in order for it to be authentic and credible. Genuine confidence is attractive. It’s less about a “brand refresh” and more about the fact that people are whole complex human beings with stories to tell. Narrative psychology plays a role here: what “self concept” are you rehearsing inwardly and putting out into the world? How does that story guide others, offer insight, help find solutions? Tailoring your brand to a changing market means keeping abreast with industry changes, new information, cultural shifts, etc. and communicating honestly about your brand trajectory. Your story/brand will evolve organically because you also exist within these shifts.

Brand should not become THE focus. Purpose and Value come first. Brand should be used consciously to amplify the purpose and value behind the product and service. Brand dilution can happen very quickly if the purpose and value is too broad. Going niche allows to tailor the message appropriately in congruence with the purpose and value for the target audience.