Personal Branding in 5 Steps
Whether you like it or not, the image you project into the world — whether it’s your blog posts, your selfies or the articles you share — forms a part of the way you are perceived; your personal ‘brand’. But do you need to go one step further, with your own website and business cards?
If you feel you need to step up your professionalism but aren’t sure how, you’re in the right place! Here are my 5 steps how to shape your personal brand
1. Define
My first tip is to get really clear about what your goal is — for example perhaps you are looking to get a new job, or maybe you want to be seen as a leading figure in your industry?
Once you have defined your goal, think about who you need to attract/impress to get there, and what would appeal to them.
As with most things in life, starting with a plan will make your personal brand that much more intentional and effective.
2. Get Consistent
First start with your name and job title (or how you describe yourself if you are self employed) — ensure they are the same everywhere, including any public social media channels and your email address. Then ensure you have at least one professional portrait of yourself, or if you have a logo, ensure that it’s professionally designed and is the same on your emails, your website and your business cards.
To have a personal brand you do not have to have a logo, your own image and your job title can also act in this capacity.
3. Find your ‘hook’
This is a clever little branding trick that is guaranteed to make you more memorable. Ensure you have something that will enable people to easily remember you. It could be something you say or do, or something you wear, for example, in person this could be that you always wear a hat, and on your business cards you have a hat, or perhaps you have a signature red lip? Online, it could be as simple as having an quirky fact about yourself in your social media bio. Even if people forget your name after a busy day, they won’t have forgotten the impact you had on them.
4. Have confidence
If you find yourself introducing yourself with ‘I would love to be a’ it’s time to change your wording to ‘I am’. For example, you’ve always wanted to write — well what’s stopping you? For a strong personal brand, it’s important you take the leap of faith and can say ‘I am a writer’. Words are powerful, especially the ones you tell yourself.
5. Say it. Write it. Do it.
This is my tool to instantly shift your attitude — especially if you are embracing a new goal as part of your personal brand. Whatever you want to be perceived as, say it — the best opportunity for this is with strangers at a networking event, it will feel strange but give you such a buzz. Next commit your personal brand to text by writing it on your LinkedIn, social channels and email signature. Finally, having put this image out into the world, now you need to ensure you work towards it. So, for a writer you must write — as often as possible. After all, ‘fake it till you make it’ can only get you so far.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post and found it helpful, if you need any help creating a more intentional and professional personal brand, get in touch!