Personal Branding – Who Am I? – blog

STRATEGIC PERSONAL BRANDING

CONFIDENCE is still the #1 most common communication-skills-related topic that I get asked about from listeners and clients. PERSONAL BRANDING is a close second.

Interestingly, when we take the time to define and communicate our PERSONAL BRAND, our CONFIDENCE is elevated. So focusing on your personal brand is like a double-whammy!

image: unsplash @ Sharon McCutcheon

This week we focus on STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES of PERSONAL BRANDING.  Read on to learn:

• What is a Personal Brand?
• What’s different about this Personal Branding approach
• The most important thing to know about Personal Branding (and the #1 most common mistake that people make!)

WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING?

• You can think of your Personal Brand as simply your identity or your reputation. It’s “what people say about you when you’re not in the room”
• This includes both your personal and professional identity. Of course, we filter what we share depending on the context and the audience. 
• We can do things to strategically manage our personal brand, just like a brand manager manages a product brand. 

WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS PERSONAL BRANDING APPROACH

Based on my work experience and my research, it’s not surprising that PERSONAL BRANDING is one of my favourite topics.  I’ve worked in marketing as a brand manager, I have a doctoral degree in marketing, and my research focuses on the social psychology of interpersonal communication.

What always stands out for me in terms of what others say and write about Personal Branding is the disproportionate focus on PROMOTING our Personal Brands. 
 
I take a different approach.  Well before we focus on promoting your Personal Brand, I advocate a strategic approach to identifying precisely what your PB is.  How to articulate it.  This process is much more strategic. And I’d say, much more effective.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT PERSONAL BRANDING 

If you learn just one thing from this week’s podcast episode, I hope it’s this: the most effective personal brands are UNIQUE.  In fact:

Just like Brand Managers craft a strategic, competitive positioning statement for their products, we can also craft a strategic, unique personal brand for ourselves.

Here’s your challenge: consider your outlier traits. For example, this could be your sense of humour, your ability to synthesize information in real-time, your ability to read a room, your empathy, your technical know-how,…

These are the values, skills, or traits where you’re “off the charts.” That thing that feels natural and comes easy for you.  You probably know what it is.

The #1 MOST COMMON MISTAKE that people make with their Personal Brand?

It’s easy to get caught up in emulating others.  Especially when you see people around you who are successful, whom you admire. Learning vicariously from others probably won’t hurt you, but this strategy won’t elevate you to your true potential.

Instead, I urge you to focus on your unique traits and qualities – your SUPERPOWERS.