Personal Branding: The Keys to a 'Brand' New You

The term 'Personal Brand' can be confusing; we often see this term used synonymously with 'reputation' - which is incredibly misleading. Reputation is actually only one of the many important elements that make up a personal brand.

Let's dive into what a 'Personal Brand' really is, why it's important, and how it can help you achieve your career and personal goals.

Breaking Down Your Brand

Sometimes, even the strongest performer can lose out on a promotion or a raise; even though they show up every day, give their best, and are deserving of the reward, they're passed over. Sometimes, this is because no one knows who they are. They haven't cultivated and built a public image of any kind, which is a difficult sell in the world of Senior Management/Consulting.

It doesn't take a Hollywood publicist to build a brand image or cultivate a strategy for how someone wants to be known; a personal brand is simply that - how you want to be known.

Your reputation is cultivated through a series of actions, but they're generally unintentional. A personal brand, however, is extremely intentional. It's the answer to questions such as 'How do I want to be perceived?' or 'What are my values, and do they align with how people see me?'

Your personal brand is about external visibility - Whereas Colgate holds a brand positioning as being one of the leading toothpaste brands, your brand is... the brand positioning YOU occupy in people's minds.

Let's break it down further into specific elements.

The Building Blocks of a Brand-New-YOU

1. Your Values - What Motivates You? - We have to start with the foundational elements that drive you as a person; what makes you who you are? Of course, you know these things subconsciously - they're important to you, and they're part of how you live your life every single day - so you don't need to give them a name. However, defining them can be a fun journey in self-discovery, and it helps you to make them known to others. Which is the name of the game in personal branding! So, first, define your values. You can use this exercise, or one similar. Then keep that list with you for a while! It will help guide your intentional steps as you progress on your branding path.
2. Using Your Values to Set Professional Goals - After you've identified your values, then you can use those values to set professional goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely). For example, my personal brand values are: Kind, Authentic, Sharp, Thoughtful, and Well-Presented. Based on my values of Kindness and Thoughtfulness, I can say with confidence that I want to make an impact on humans, and should likely focus my time and energy on a position or project involving human capital or lots of cross-department collaboration. All those italicized words connect back to the original values I defined for myself. See how we can connect the dots once we actually put pen to paper, and DEFINE our values? Magic, I tell you.
3. Identifying Your Stakeholders - Now that you have clearly defined your values and set some professional goals, you're ready to define your stakeholders - better known as your audience. Who do you need to engage to achieve those goals that you set? In the example above, I would need to engage employers in industries focused on human capital - such as Human Resources, Talent Acquisitions, or Internal/Corporate Communications. Use your goals and values to parse out who you want to reach, and then we can move on to how.
4. Stepping Into the Light - Now comes the fun part - stepping into the limelight! Now that you have your stakeholders identified, you need to find ways to reach them. Build, re-build, and white-glove review your resume. Beef up and update your social media, especially LinkedIn, and then contact your stakeholders in a diversified manner. Diversification can look different for different people and goals - maybe you build professional content (like me) or maybe you reach out via Direct Message or InMail. However you choose, make sure that you consider the stakeholder you are contacting specifically, and what their communication preferences are. Remember that when you meet people where they are, you have a better chance of recruiting them to your cause or soliciting their help.
5. Monitor & Adjust - Now you've started to make moves - you're developing content, engaging your stakeholders, and garnering visibility. While that's wonderful, the work doesn't stop there. You now need to enter the 'Maintenance & Control' phase of your Personal Branding Journey. You need to assess how your actions are moving you closer to your defined goals; are you seeing more engagement? Have you been successful in landing more interviews, or getting more interaction on your social media channels since you began? If so, what is working and how can you replicate that? If not, then what can you do to change your strategy and garner the result you want?

Branding is Not a Science

There, I said it. HOT TAKE: Branding, in my very very humble opinion, is NOT a SCIENCE.

It is a dance; it is an art.

You must sell yourself without seeming smug or needy or appear to be pandering. You must present yourself in the light that you wish you be glowing in, and find a way to live up to the expectations you set in the process.

It's difficult, and you will get frustrated at some point. Despite your frustration, you must keep moving and keep working on your brand. In an ever-digitalizing society with outrageous value for individualism, your brand is key to setting yourself apart from everyone else.

In Summary

The best thing about dancing and art is that they can be taught.

Not everyone can paint exactly like Bob Ross, but anyone can paint with Bob Ross.

Just as Ross welcomed others into his personal passion, I invite you to 'Brand' with me.

In the end, you have a choice. You can either take that step and define the expectations and perceptions that surround you - OR - you can allow others to do so for you, which is inevitable.

My advice? Get there first. Let YOU define YOU. Let there be no perception made that you did not curate. Curation does not devalue authenticity, it just minimizes negative attention and mistaken impressions.

As always, thank you for reading; you're awesome. Please reach out using the link below if there is anything I can do to help you!

My Very Best,

Colton W. Wolf - Professional Communications Consultant

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