Personal Branding in 9 steps
Are you spending time and energy barking up the wrong tree?
How much time and energy this week have you spent trying to make a particular person happy [your boss / successful best friend / your old business partner / that colleague in the other department / a potential client / your partner / Aunt Mable / Mum / Dad*] ?
*delete as appropriate
Have you thought about whether you are putting your focus and effort into caring about the right person/people? Well, it depends on what you are trying to achieve.
When working with a client this week, it became clear how easy it is to focus on the wrong people. My client had been offered a promotion at work, but had a conflict. She didn’t want the job. Despite the good money and the good title, she knew it was not her passion. She was stuck and tired.
During the session we established that her dream job is doing something else, but there were some fears holding her back - a fear of not being taken seriously for her dream job, a fear she doesn't have the experience and a fear of letting her current boss down.
It became clear that my client was focusing most of her brain effort on satisfying her current employer and putting what she actually wants at the back of the queue. Her fears were holding her back.
To help break through this, we worked on her personal brand. What value does she offer? How is she perceived by others? How does she want to be perceived? Who EXACTLY is her target audience, i.e. the future employer? What makes them tick?
Her strengths and development areas became really clear. The exercise helped her to pivot her focus to build her personal brand. The goal is to reposition her as a senior hire to the future hiring manager. The exercise also helped her decide to accept the promotion as an interim solution that will help position her for the future role.
WHY YOUR PERSONAL BRAND IS IMPORTANT
I worked in branding for over 12 years, and if you strip it right down, branding is merely influencing (or convincing) particular people to think about a product/service/thing in a certain way. Clever branding folks spend their days noodling this stuff to make or break companies. The way a brand looks, feels, tastes and sounds, influences whether we say “yay”, “nay” or “meh” to a particular product or service
Successful brands know who their target customers are. They don’t waste time, effort or resources on communicating to people that won’t help their business. Alton Towers don’t advertise to the elderly. Diptyque candles are not stocked in Morrisons.
The clever branding folks only focus on the potential customers that can help them meet their objectives, the ones that actually need or want their product. They don't spend time thinking about the wrong type of customer.
The same logic applies to people. We all have a personal brand that influences others to say “yay”, “nay” or “meh” about us.
Your personal brand is your first impression. It’s also your reputation. And everything in between. Delivering your personal brand clearly and consistently in the right way to the right people can open up new opportunities for you.
Knowing who you need to influence and what make them tick is the first step. Spending your precious time worrying about the wrong people is exhausting, and is unlikely to get you anywhere. You should stop that right now! Follow the steps below to understand your personal brand further.
9 STEPS TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
1. Brand Identity These are the your visible elements that make you, you. It includes your physical characteristics and style. Your personality, the way you speak, your choice of vocabulary. For a product it would the logo, name, packaging, etc.
2. Brand values These are the things you believe in. Often it’s the things you will not compromise on, or make you feel uneasy if you don’t follow them. I like to think about values as the things that make you tick, your operating manual so to speak. They are different for everyone, examples include - Freedom, fun, belongingness, family, health.
3. Brand mission When you know where you want to go, you then can then work out how to get there. What do you really want to achieve?
4. Your product This covers what you bring to the party. If you were a product or service, what exactly are you offering and what features are valued by others?
5. Reasons to believe. This is stuff that makes you credible. The evidence to back up your product offering. It's your experience, CV, education, references.
6. Your brand promise. This is what you promise to deliver. What are the benefits someone will get by working with you. Consider both functional and emotional benefits.
7. Your audience. In brand speak, this is known as your target market or target audience, but put simply, it’s just the people you want to influence. You should only focus on the people that you actually care about. You will never appeal to everyone and that doesn’t matter. You just need to appeal to the people that will help you meet your mission.
8. Your competitive advantage. What makes you distinctive and stand out from the crowd?
9. Sod the rest. List all the people you are going to stop worrying about. Your energy is better spent elsewhere.
I will be creating an online personal branding workshop for you lovely people. We will deep dive into each step to help you to position your personal brand to the people that matter.
Make sure you are signed up to my newsletter, Slick Pivot Sunday to hear about the first online workshop.
Liz Ward is Founder and Coach at Slick Pivot - Providing personal and business pivot coaching. If you like this blog and want more, sign up for Slick Pivot Sunday, the weekly dose of pivot inspiration below, or follow SlickPivot on facebook