4 Tips for Developing Your Personal Brand

As outlined in an earlier blog, a personal brand will follow you in your personal and professional life for a very long time. It’s therefore important your brand is a valid representation of you, and that it is presented with consistency and coherence.

Essentially, your personal brand is what people say about you and how they would describe you when you aren’t in the room. This is the impression people make of you after engaging with your social media presence, after reading your resume, or after using your business, product or service.

Once you understand why your personal brand is important, it is time to learn how to start developing one:

Determine who you are

First things first, you can’t brand yourself without first understanding who you are. You will need to develop a baseline with a few key traits.

Start by asking yourself:

• What areas do I excel in?
• What motivates me?
• What have others recently complimented me on?
• What roles and jobs seem to drain my energy?
• What projects leave me feeling overwhelmed or tired?

It is important that you understand both what you should promote about yourself and what you should be sure to not misinterpret. You should target not only things you are good at, but also things you enjoy.

Define your audience

This can begin in a broad sense, because a personal brand should be consistent across a variety of audiences. But the things you highlight, and how you highlight them, will depend on what platform you are on and who you are trying to reach.

For example, if you are trying to reach recruiters and potential employers, you should develop a personal statement that reflects your personal brand and update this on your LinkedIn profile.

Determine each audience, how you will reach them, and how you will tweak your message to best relate to them.

Ask for informational interviews

It is important that you go into developing your personal brand with an understanding of your industry and career path inside and out.

Find industry experts you respect and ask if they would be willing to sit down with you for around 30-60 minutes so you can develop your own skills and knowledge. Networking is powerful.

Ask things like:

• How did you get into the industry?
• What would you look for when hiring someone in this industry?
• If you were to do it all again, what would you do differently when starting in this industry?
• How have you seen the industry evolve, and how do you see it evolving in the future?

Become a reputable source of information

You know your personal brand is working when you become a source of relevant and valid information for your peers.

Be careful what you share on social media and what you share in in-person discussions.

Stay up to date on local and national news.

The Final Word

Some of the most successful people start developing their personal brand by writing down their personal value and purpose proposition.

They then use this to develop their personal brand and use this as a guide throughout their life.

How are you going to develop and use your personal brand?