How to build your own "Personal Brand"

Robynn Storey, PHR is the founder and owner of "Storeyline Resumes", a well-known, well respected Personal Branding Company. In business for 16 years, with well over 40,000 resumes developed, Storeyline Resumes has never lost the "personal touch" when it comes to working one-on-one with their clients. Known for their effectiveness and nearly 100% success rate for helping clients to 'get more interviews', Storeyline Resumes is a surprisingly affordable option in the world of executive resume services.

• Want to work with us on building your brand?
• Give us a call - 1.877.276.1027
• Visit our website - www.storeylineresumes.com
• Shoot us a note - [email protected]

What is a personal brand? How do you build it? Successful companies develop their brands by creating a polished, interesting, and informative image that consumers can identify with. They set themselves apart in their niche or industry and build a perception of authority as a top provider of select products and services. A personal brand isn’t much different in the sense that it involves marketing yourself to a growing audience and establishing an accessible platform that showcases your talents, knowledge, accomplishments, and personality.     

This means that you create an ongoing narrative through thought, word, and deed – one that allows others to develop an idea of you as a professional. No one else owns your unique set of abilities and character traits. Whether you’re a company or a person, competing brands have to set themselves apart to distinguish value. Only then can you grow independently – smartly – with more control over your career trajectory. These are a few ideas to help you get started or to reexamine your current efforts. 

Your Resume

Common Misconception: “This is a list of things I know how to do.”

Okay, this one is obvious. You need a resume. But good resumes aren’t just records of daily responsibilities; correctly executed, they become personal brand statements. Imagine that you’re applying for a job opportunity at a firm that doesn’t offer interviews. If your resume is everything they’re going to look at, what differentiates you from other candidates? Sure, you’ve spent the better part of the last decade doing exactly what they need you to do, but so what? So have 50 other people and they want that position as much as you do.

An effective resume covers your basic skill set and qualifications, and then transforms you into a Special Little Snowflake, distinct in experience and value from every other person on the planet. It’s the story of you; you need to tell it like you would in an interview, with the same kind of narrative put to paper. You may be a fantastic sales manager, but no one is going to think twice about calling you into their office unless your resume compels them to do so.

This is why you need to convey your accomplishments and reputation. What do you have that no one else does? A resume is a promise of value to your next employer and a means of creating chemistry between the two of you. Your strengths, passions, and attributes are a mental template for transforming a boring list of duties into an exciting brand statement built not only to prospect the job market but to make your presence felt in the professional community. Resumes can open more doors than you may realize. Get it done by a pro and get it out there.   

LinkedIn

Common Misconception: “This is how I give my resume a website address.”

Resumes are outbound marketing tools. In that regard, the onus is on you to initiate conversations and promote your brand. The goal is to put your resume in the right hands and land some interviews. That’s fine. That’s how resumes work. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is an inbound marketing tool. You can treat it like a resume but a LinkedIn profile is an interesting variant because recruiters and employers are also looking for you. LinkedIn is the ultimate classified section for employment turned on its head.

But that’s not all. It’s essential to make full use of this platform as you shape and broadcast the message that portrays your career. That doesn’t mean you should fill out your profile and hit the autopilot switch. LinkedIn requires time and effort. It’s a wellspring of socialized resources for professionals. While Facebooking is a great way to share kitten videos and alienate family members, LinkedIn lets you create and manage more business-minded content to support your goals and objectives.

What can you do here? Follow the latest news from top corporations, join industry-specific discussion groups, exchange new best practices with your peers, or create your own newsletter or article series to build an audience that respects your insights and remembers your name. Dialogue with colleagues, introduce yourself to recruiters, develop business collaborations, prospect new business, and seize opportunities before they go commercial. LinkedIn is powerful if you commit to it and part of any serious brand-building endeavor.    

Outreach

Common Misconception: “More flyers!”

To help build your brand’s momentum, you need to go where your target audience is and get their attention. But it’s going to take more than italics. Outreach is all about providing value to new and pre-established audiences comprised of the people most likely to be receptive to your message. Such relationship building leads to opportunities and each relationship expands your sphere of influence. Thus, you create ripples in a pond. It’s like multi-level marketing, except ethical, sustainable, and free of mathematical absurdities.

How do you go about this? First off, the idea of networking needs to be reexamined. Become friends with industry authorities. If you’re calling them “associates,” you’re doing it wrong. Take the time to develop a bond more substantial than was required of your last business deal. Friends promote you, they do favors, and they’ll take a bullet for you. And you’ll do the same in kind – not because you’re using each other unabashedly, but because you’re friends. Life waits for nobody, so if you’re looking to propel your career forward, take the initiative: seek out new connections, offer help, and collaborate.      

Some of the best places to build professional relationships are local cities and communities. The enormous power of social media notwithstanding, face-to-face interaction remains an essential way to cultivate career opportunities. Quick tip: type “[Your City] business” or “[Your City] business events” into the Google search bar. Or perhaps “[Your City] business events that serve drinks” if you’re so inclined. Find the events that match your professional niche and become a social butterfly.

Your goal is to identify people with similar aspirations, working in similar fields, and acquaint yourself. These relationships are the framework from which opportunities arise, whether they’re job offers, partnerships, business ventures, or learning and development at the professional level. If you really don’t have much time to commit, make some, or make the best use of the time you do have. Clever individuals can use existing obligations to their industry and community to develop their brand without sacrificing too much free time.

These are the fundamentals of brand building. You become very much like your own company broadcasting a unique message with emphasis and consistency. It’s up to you to decide how you want to come across. Your personal brand is about you, so don’t be afraid to show a little personality. Whether you work in the corporate world, in a skilled trade, in the healthcare industry, or as a new hire at your first job, accomplishments speak volumes, but relationships – and their benefits – start with people.