Personal Branding: A Guide to Building and Differentiating Yourself

In today's competitive market, it’s vital to find creative and memorable ways to stand out. ?

By understanding how to?present yourself in this?digital world, you can easily amplify?your skills, abilities and values, ensuring your target audience knows who you are, what you stand for, and why it’s worth choosing you over your competitors.?

Think of personal branding as a “self-marketing campaign.”?

A positive perception of your personal brand can lead to some exciting opportunities in your career.?The way you choose to communicate your unique combination of skills, professional experience, and knowledge can determine whether hiring managers see you as a possible match for the roles they hope to fill. Similarly, your representation and online presence will influence the type of followers you attract, enabling?you to own your?narrative?and set the?tone for how others can?engage with you. ?

An audience who finds you consistent and relatable will be drawn to your personal brand and more likely to advocate for you. ?

How to Build a Personal Brand?

Consider this step-by-step approach to getting started:?

1. Understand your current digital footprint:?

The first step with building anything requires research and analysis. Google yourself. Do a thorough audit of what you have shared online in the past. Chances are, you’ve grown since your initial introduction to the internet. Clean up and delete any posts which no longer serve you. ??

As you continue to grow your brand, be aware of who you are engaging with. On most platforms, others are able to see what posts you have “liked”, shared or commented on. For example, on LinkedIn anything you engage with will also be amplified to the rest of your network. Ensure you are amplifying others who mirror your brand in a?positive light. ?

Knowing a broad network can view your online actions,?before engaging with a potentially controversial post, I encourage you to ask yourself: “could an employer or customer potentially take offence with this?”?

2. Determine your USP: ?

In marketing, we have something called USP which stands for: “Unique Selling Proposition”

By understanding your own values, vision and personal mission statement, you can ensure all your activities represent consistency to?influence prospective connections. You’ll use this USP in all your messaging, branding, copywriting, and other external sharing. ?

Think of four personal values which are important to you and are a proverbial “North Star” for all your decisions.

For example, mine are:?

• Integrity ?
• Respect?
• Empathy?
• Fun?

Next, think about the direction you want to take with your career. Come up with a list of things you love and things you dislike. From there you can combine your goals with your passion in one or two simple sentences. ?

The difference between a vision statement and a mission statement is goals and intention. A vision is the goal you want to build, whereas your mission is how you’re going to achieve this goal. ?

For example, my personal vision is:?

“I contribute to my global community?by providing clarity, elevating conversation and accelerating progress.” ?

My personal mission is:?

“I develop long term, trusting relationships and am laser focused on ensuring all stakeholders goals are achieved.”?

3. Understand your target audience (aka: do your market research): ?

Consider the industry or specific niche you’d like to establish yourself in. Connect with people who are already embedded?this industry and ask them what they’re interested in. Learn about topics they are most likely to engage with and areas they are less focused on. This will guide your strategy as you build your brand awareness.?

Frame your questions around the following:?

• What were the last three articles you read about? ?
• Have you attended any lectures, events or demos in the last three months? If so, what were they? ?
• Who do you admire in the industry and why? ?
• Where do you go to learn??
• When do you feel most inspired? ?
• What industry trends are you most interested in??
• What does success look like in your career?

By learning what your target audience likes (and dislikes) you can build your own strategy for engagement based on their interest. ?

This will help to guide your personal brand while also creating networking opportunities to strengthen connections and potentially be introduced to others within the industry. ?

4. Update your image:?

Now that you have a foundation for your brand, review your online profiles and ensure you are representing yourself in a way which complements the research you have done. ?

Start with your LinkedIn: ?

• Ensure your featured images and introduction represent the feeling you are looking to convey. ?
• Think of how you can share your passion and skills in an easy to read format?
• Hyperlink any portfolios or links you’ve created to show real world examples of your experiences ?
• Treat your LinkedIn profile as a resume of sorts, sharing your?functional skills and emphasizing your past successes?

5. Create consistent content: ?

Be it through blogs, podcasts, articles or videos; by creating a self-drip campaign you can (with very little effort) keep your brand top of mind. ?

Choose a consistent date and time for engagement and track the data which goes along with this campaign. For example, posting on a Monday morning allows for your audience to expect new information at a regular cadence, and allows for continued momentum throughout the week. Document who is engaging with your posts the most, and use this information to evolve your “market research” (step three) ?

Creating content is an opportunity to tell a story. Build a narrative?by sharing your brand with topics you are an expert in that?your audience can engage with.?

6. Measure your success regularly: ?

As mentioned above, it’s important to track your content data to create repeatable and scalable future success. Set?KPI’s (key performance indicators) to guide your future actions for benchmarking and growth of your personal brand.

A few valuable KPI's include:?

• Number of impressions?
• Likes, comments and shares ?
• New followers / increased profile views
• When someone in your network refers you or introduces you to a new connection ?
• If you get invited to be a guest speaker / writer / podcast guest / etc?
• Direct messages and the theme of communication

(For example, if someone wants to share their thoughts regarding your content, or continue discussing the topic you shared in greater detail)

?

Remember, building your brand is amplifying your own voice and can take time. Be steadfast with your commitment and don’t be afraid to ask others for feedback as you create impact. ?