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Personal brand

What is a personal brand and why is it important?

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A personal brand is essential in the digital age.

But what is a personal brand and why is it important?

You as a brand – what’s your USP?

USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition and it means simply the thing that makes you different, distinctive or better from other people who do what you do.

A brand is a product or service with a unique or distinct territory or character that occupies a space in the minds and hearts of its target audience.

What territory do you or do you want to occupy in the minds of your target audiences, i.e. your current or future employers/clients?

With time so precious, it is key to create a clear differentiation for yourself through your qualities, skills, experience and/or knowledge because then it is easy for people to find a fit. If they find it hard to find a fit, then you may be side-lined, not because you’re not good, but because they can’t quickly and easily see how, where and when to use you.

This is especially true for freelance work where often quick decisions are made. However the danger is if your territory is too narrow, you’ll be typecast, so manage your brand carefully and keep track of market changes.

Gain clarity to the extent where you can answer the question, “the only xxx e.g. communications professional who…..”. Another way of describing what you aspire to is for someone to say, “Ah you mean xxx, the one who specialises in…” 

Here’s some tips to help you get clear on what your USP is.

  • Research market needs and trends – what are the emerging issues and competencies that are going to be in demand e.g. empathy with difficult clients, knowledge of innovative digital assets etc. 
  • Reflect on times in your life when you’ve found yourself ‘in-flow’, i.e. everything just works naturally. What were you doing at those times?  What natural gifts were you exhibiting that you may not even be aware of?
  • Ask people who know you well for their feedback about your skills and qualities
  • Identify the link between current and future market and employer needs and your natural skills and qualities
  • Do some training or studying to build upon your strengths
  • Write a brand positioning statement and bounce it off people your trust
  • Narrow your brand down to between 1 and 3 words
  • Come up with an impactful audio logo/verbal business card, i.e. a short memorable phrase that you can respond with when someone asks you “What do you do?” 
  • Create an impactful and consistent brand experience through everything that you do and say. Ensure that your image expresses and matches your brand 

Read how we help our clients

Reigniting passion and defining your personal brand

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/reigniting-passion-defining-your-personal-brand/

Get in touch to arrange your free 20-minute consultation:

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/contact-us/

What should I say when networking?

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Networking whether face to face or on-line is stressful for many people, especially when new to self-employment.

They worry about what to say and how to say it.

That age-old question – “What do you do?!”

Have you ever been to a networking event and your eyes glazed over with how people answer the question “What do you do?” Most people reply with their job e.g. I’m a lawyer or accountant etc.

This misses a trick and also an opportunity for you to engage people and share what sets you apart from other people who do what you do. Meeting prospects or contacts at networking events is just the start of the relationship, so why not start it with positive impact? What is needed is a great ‘verbal business card’.

What is a ‘verbal business card?’

A verbal business card is a creative and relevant way of answering the question What do you do? in a way that is memorable and evokes curiosity, allowing you to continue and develop the conversation. It also keeps you interested and be interesting to them. Just as your printed business card reflects your brand and company, setting it apart from other companies, so your verbal business card needs to too, only appealing to people’s ears instead of their eyes.

Examples; for a roofer “I keep the roof over my customers’ heads and them out of the gutter”, a photographer “I shoot people”, a business psychologist “I stop people from going mad at work” or an accountant: “I am a bean counter with a difference.”

What could your verbal business card be?

5 tips to create a verbal business card  

  1. What makes you different to other people who do what you do?
  2. What’s a creative or metaphorical way of expressing how you help people/what you do?
  3. What’s the benefit of what you do to your customers?
  4. If you had to choose 1 word that makes your approach distinctive, what would it be? 
  5. If you weren’t allowed to speak to explain your job, what prop would you hold?

Self-reflective question

If you were explaining your work to a young child, what would you say so that they understand?

Get in touch to arrange your free 20-minute consultation:

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/contact-us/

Reigniting passion & defining your personal brand

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This blog shares an example that many people can relate to – getting clear on what makes you distinctive – your personal brand BEFORE you make the leap.

There are many people sitting tight in jobs at the moment, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare yourself for when the market does pick up.  

In fact doing this is likely to make you enjoy your current work more, because you know you are taking steps towards planning a career that’s right for you.    

We helped Alison to plan her next career move, from the security of her current job.

Alison was recommended to me by a work colleague. She has been working at the same company for many years and, although very talented, like many people working in the same place over time she had lost sight of her talents and true motivation.

I helped her to see what she was really good at, passionate about and how she could use these talents to rekindle her passion for creativity.

A creative in many different forms, she became more proactive with increased confidence and pushed out her comfort zone to do new things, winning a poetry competition and being selected to judge at an exhibition awards ceremony.

Her brand territory was very clear indeed – she is passionate about creating ambience, and I helped Alison to define and crystallise it, build her identity as an individual creative as well as an employee, and see how she could create a clear and distinctive niche in the minds of her target audience, establishing a solid foundation for long-term career success.

“Rachel’s coaching process, combined with her empathy, creative yet practical ideas and insight, allowed me to reconnect with what really motivates me, understand my challenges and self-imposed obstacles, and how to overcome them, and become aware of my full capabilities. It has given me the confidence to start exploring other skills and formulating new goals.”

Alison, Designer 

The brand called You – why you need a personal brand

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Personal branding is becoming not just more important, but essential. Increasingly employees and consultants for projects will be resourced online via ‘Trip Advisor style’ sites. Just as videos and infographics have grown in importance to provide communication cut-through online, so defining your personal brand is a modern way to stand out.

Picture a sea of faces on a resourcing or recruitment web site. An avatar (headshot of you), and a couple of sentences maximum to get the message across, plus ratings about you from previous clients, employers and peers.

A busy executive looks at the site to find someone for an exciting career enhancing project or contract. How will you stand out and be chosen from the hundreds of choices? What will make the browser notice you in a good way so you are on their initial resourcing or recruitment list? Or will you be invisible – your online profile showcasing your high-quality experience not even read, because you didn’t get past the first hurdle.

So what is a personal brand and why is it so important for the future of work?

A personal brand is the territory you occupy in the minds and hearts of your target audience. It gets you noticed in a good way and positions you as the ‘go-to person’ for your specialism or niche.

The wording of your personal brand is crucial. The best personal brands are memorable, relevant and emotive. Articulating your personal brand in just three words follows in-depth analysis of yourself and the needs of your target audience, plus emerging trends, takes time and thought.

Articulate your brand in just three words.

Many people find it hard to create their own personal brand because they are so close to themselves that they can’t see their own unique talents. Synthesising, distilling and articulating the essence of you and the gift you bring to others in just a few words is a skill in itself.

Here are some pertinent quotes about personal branding.

“All of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” Tom Peters in Fast Company.

“Building a profitable personal brand online is not a sprint, and something that happens overnight. Don’t aim for perfection early on. Instead allow your brand to evolve naturally over time and focus on providing massive value and over deliver to your target audience. Then you will get more clear over your message and brand as well.“ Navid Moazzez.

“Personal branding is about managing your name — even if you don’t own a business — in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records. Going on a date? Chances are that your ‘blind’ date has Googled your name. Going to a job interview?” Tim Ferriss.

“If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.” David Brier.

“Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful.” Sir Richard Branson.

My personal brand is ‘Talent Liberator’. I do what it says on the tin. Originally at the beginning of my business 20 years ago, my personal brand was ‘Energising Connector’ which was an accurate summary of what I do, but it lacks the emotive quality which makes a better personal brand.

Here are some examples of personal brands:

‘Network Navigator’ – a networking specialist

‘The Body Coach’ – a personal trainer

‘The Clean Food Coach’ – an expert in natural food to stay healthy

‘Mr Loophole’ – a lawyer who specialises in getting celebrities out of driving bans.

‘The Book Midwife’ – a writing coach who helps her clients to self-publish a book

‘Insight Integrator’ – A strategist specialising in insight to inform an integrated strategy

‘Career Sherpa’ – a job search coach for the digital age

‘Miss Masala’ – an Indian cook and food writer

Make time to think about and create your personal brand. It takes time, but is one of the best investments you will ever make to attract the work you really want.

If you would like to receive information about Energise Personal Branding individual mentoring service, please e mail me using the link below. Thanks!

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

 

What’s your personal brand?

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It is important to have a niche to build your personal brand, but how do you know what niche to choose so that it motivates you and there is enough of a market for you to get your teeth into? Many people worry about narrowing down what they offer, fearful that they will limit themselves or say no to opportunities and regret it. Trying to appeal to everybody means that you end up appealing to nobody.

The internet means that the whole world is your potential market, so having too broad an offer of services or target customers can mean that you waste time and marketing budgets and achieve little, and do not build your personal brand.

Here are 10 questions for you to think about your personal brand:

  1. What words do people who know you well use to describe you?
  2. What are you really good at that you take for granted?
  3. What kind of problems do you really enjoy solving?
  4. What specific group of people do you feel most passionately about helping?
  5. What challenge have you personally overcome that you can now help others with?
  6. What type of project, if you could only choose one, would you love to tackle?
  7. What would be your dream role and why?
  8. Imagine getting to the end of your life and looking back. What would you like to be remembered for?
  9. What themes consistently come up in performance appraisals/client testimonials about you?
  10. What 2 words best sum up the gift you give to others?

What questions would you add to help to help build your personal brand?

Everything is changing fast, so plan time at least every three months to review and update your personal brand.

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