What do you do if your personal branding lacks creativity and is affecting your professional reputation?

Feedback from experts in the field where you are making your personal brand is the best approach. These days there are some platforms which lets you schedule 1:1 call with experts in personal branding like topmate.io

IMO - Zoom out and ask yourself where you are lacking with your branding from a creative standpoint. Is it your communication style that is lacking? Is it your online presence that is lacking? Determine that first. Then begin to research people in your field and read through their content. See if you can incorporate how they brand themselves into your own brand - basically remix what they're doing and put your own spin to it so it has an authentic feel. That's where I would begin

Inspiration is very important and to have role models whom you want to make your north star or even go ahead them. The best way to see the personal brand of any renowned person is using their public social media channels like LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter.

Learn from people you admire and want to become. However, do not compare yourself to them. Use others' successes as motivation and inspiration to achieve your success. With that mindset, you will become more creative and achieve similar things as them, but in your own way.

Consider incorporating storytelling. By doing so into your brand narrative this would involve crafting compelling stories that highlight your experiences, achievements, and values. Select key moments in your professional journey, structure your stories with a narrative arc, and emphasize authenticity and emotion to engage your audience. Highlight the impact of your experiences and the lessons learned, using multimedia elements to enhance engagement. Maintain consistency with your brand identity and messaging to create a cohesive narrative that differentiates you from others in your field and leaves a lasting impression.

Use your education, experience, and background to craft your story to grow your brand. Since no two people will have the same education, experience, and background, you will always have something unique that others do not have. Sometimes, your uniqueness might be small, but it can give you an advantage and grow your brand if you use and share it properly to show others your competitive edge. Your uniqueness could be your culture, gender, race, education, or experience. See which one(s) separate you from others?

When you think about the visual identity for your personal brand, think about what visual clues describes your personality / unique trait or what inspires you. For instance, is red hair a trait of yours that makes you unique? Do you always wear a certain color? Do you admire rainbows? Are you a stargazer? Then maybe a star or rainbow should be in your branding? Do you have a fancy signature that people tend to comment on. At the same time, what does your chosen target market expect from a brand in your industry? Your brand should incorporate something that your audience can identify as speaking to them and something unique and different about you - to stand out from the crowd. Try to find a balance between these two.

You create a personal brand when you and others acknowledge and appreciate it. It is important to share your knowledge and skills as much as possible so that others can learn from you. Your content should also represent who you are, your values, and your beliefs. Share with others what is important to you. What causes do you support? Share the action steps you take to support your cause. The more people can understand who you are, the stronger your personal branding will be.

Personal branding is about you. How do you want others to perceive you? Positively, I hope. Therefore, becoming a lifelong learner and on a personal development journey is important to improve yourself. The more you improve, the more it will show through your branding when others interact with you online or offline.

'Affecting your professional reputation' according to who? Who is benefitting by buying into this perception? Not you! And who even came up with this assessment? Question why you feel you need a 'creative' personal brand. You are putting more importance on society's and other people's expectations/opinions rather than your own. Developing your personal brand is about staying true to who YOU are. Not following everyone else because that is the 'in' thing to do. Dig in to what it is you truly believe. If you are getting backlash, then is that really an industry/career you want to be in?