I have spent most of my career in the corporate sector and not- for- profit space working with companies to build their brands, to unearth what is unique about their brand to grow awareness, drive revenue and build pride in their organization – enhance its culture.
Recently, I was approached by a colleague for help with their personal branding. They were new to Toronto having moved from Calgary and asked if I could help to position them in the market place to get a job. I asked myself – Do I do personal branding? Can I help her? Is this the same work that I have been doing for years for organizations and the answer was YES!!!
In doing some digging to see what is being talked about on the topic and how personal branding is positioned I was both delighted and disappointed. Delighted because people were digging into how to uniquely position themselves, what are the 3-key words that best describe you? What is your brand colour? How do you want to appear online? I loved this… the energy, the excitement and ideas.
These ideas are great and necessary, but they don’t tell the full story. These ideas are your image, it isn’t all of you – think if you were at an event and you saw someone, the logo may be what they are wearing, and the colour their visual identity and how they interact with people may demonstrate their 3-key words…. is that really who they are? Is this the whole story? Of course not, there is more to us than that, like there is more to a car than how it looks on the lot or to a product and its packaging on a shelf. We are the total experience of having driven, used a product or as McNally and Speak say having a relationship with you.
“Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you.”
So, to ensure that your brand goes beyond your image more work needs to be done. A full brand strategy needs to be created to demonstrate what it would be like if you got to know this person, work with this person, what people would say about you or as Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, says: “ personal branding is what people say about you when you leave the room”.
So, when I worked with my colleague to create her personal brand, we went beyond the image and created the whole story from naming to clarifying her target audience or those she wanted to serve, her unique point of difference or what she can do that no one else can and then the behaviours that will reinforce her brand over time.
A personal brand statement, according to Wikipedia, answers what you are the best at (value), who you serve (audience) and how you do it uniquely (USP). It sums up your unique promise of value. Your personal brand statement is distinctive to you and you alone.
And once you have determined all of that you do need to define your 3 key words: your values, your brand character. Your visual identity: what your brand looks like, in colour and in imagery. Your written identity: your voice, your tone and manner, your manner of speaking.
Once you have unearthed your brands potential it is time for you to launch your brand on the world and it is through others interacting with you that your brand will be defined, it is through consistent and authentic interactions that your brand will gain traction and it is through delivering on your brand promise that you will become indispensable and unleash your talents on the world.