Developing Your Personal Brand

You might ask: ‘Why is personal branding important?’. Personal branding is your reputation and expertise within your field of work and industry. You might be thinking about how to go about identifying your own personal brand and what is needed for it. There are a few ways to establish your personal brand which will be discussed below from a coach’s perspective and hopefully these tips you will find helpful.

First, it is important to ask ourselves internal questions to identify and clarify our own personal branding. The question ‘Who am I?’, you might never have been asked this before by anyone or you might not have asked this about yourself. It is not the easiest question to answer as it requires self-reflection and solitude to understand your own thoughts, how you feel and mindset. To answer the ‘Who Am I?’ start looking at your own values, beliefs, passions, principles, know your interests and hobbies. When you are clear on these the ‘Who am I?’ becomes easier to answer and then you can move onto the ‘what’ and ‘why’.

Questions to look at for the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ can be the following:

-          Why do I want to do this?

-          What is my purpose?

-          What are my motives?

-          What do I want to achieve?

It is also important to look at the ‘How’ for your personal branding. A question you can ask yourself is ‘How do I see myself and what do I want other people to see in me?’. This is the story you want to portray with your experience and journey of your career. Know your ‘Who’ which is your niche and target audience for your personal brand.

Another important step in establishing your own personal brand is to be able to identify your core values. Your values will help you clarify what is most important in your life and what is not important. Your values help bring purpose, meaning, fulfilment and reward to your life. Knowing your values will help make decision making easier since you know what you desire. Most people would have between 3-5 core values. It is worth the time to clarify your values as it will help make it easier to find the work you are meant to pursue. Your core values will represent your personal brand.

Another way to help develop your personal brand is to look at your key skills and strengths. You can look at all the jobs you have had to date. This can be part-time or full-time roles. List the roles, responsibilities, tasks you carried out, the skills you gained, the people you reported to and the people who reported to you. You can also look at all the qualifications and training you have done to date for your education. A qualification can include a degree, masters or a diploma from university. You might have done a course or a workshop that helped you gain a new skill. You might have had training in marketing, sales, assertiveness communication, presenting or bookkeeping. All the training and qualifications will show your strengths and skills within your personal brand.

Look at your personality traits and soft skills for your personal brand. You might be independent, self-motivated, kind, caring, responsible, warm, adventurous, empathic, curious and creative. With soft skills you might have a good attitude, communication (speaking and listening), problem solving, time management, critical thinking and able to work in a team.

Your achievements and awards can help support your personal brand. It can be academic like writing a thesis, publishing an article or getting the highest results in your class. Teamwork and group projects, your contribution and participation in what made the outcome a success. Volunteer work, this can be within your local community, organisation or charity. Did you receive an individual or team award? This could be in sport, drama, music, athletics, public speaking, writing or art. Also have references or testimonials if this is from academic lecturers, your manager and colleagues from past or current jobs as this will help support your key skills and strengths for your personal branding.

For your own personal branding the best advice I can give you is to just be your authentic self. By being authentic you are comfortable and happy within your own skin. You act and live in the way that shows your true self and how you feel in the moment. You share your journey in how you reached where you are. By being authentic it separates you from the market, as no one else can be you and you are unique. When you are authentic you know your purpose and why. You trust yourself and know your core values. You are honest and tell your truth. You have found your own voice in this world.

Once you have taken the time to do the internal work on yourself, you can start to build and develop your personal brand. Consider social media platforms you want to be on like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Make connections and establish a network. Join groups, post your own articles, including blogs and thoughts. Give tips and advice for those that seek your help. Get a mentor that can help and guide you in developing your personal brand. Reach out to more experienced professionals for advice and ask them questions. Most would be happy to help share their expertise. You could set up a podcast and get people of interest on it and/or be a guest on a podcast.

I hope these tips will be of benefit for creating your personal brand for both your personal and professional life. Don’t leave it to chance and take control over the life you want to have. For your career you are your own best asset. Have fun with it! Be creative and enjoy the journey! Live in the moment and do your best!