Creating Your Personal Brand

What is a Personal Brand, and what do I do with it?

What is personal branding?

This says it better than I can, so here ya go:

Figuring out Your Personal Brand

Here’s a quick and dirty approach to defining your Personal Branding Statement. As you do 1–4, don’t overthink things. Just write what comes up top of mind.

1. List 5 things you love to do
2. List 5 things you do best
3. List the most unique 5 things about you
4. List 5 things with high market demand
5. Put the 4 lists side by side and look for intersections, consistencies, links.
6. Create a smaller list that just represents those intersections, consistencies and links.
7. From that, start to form a 2–3 sentence summary which encapsulates those items

This Is How We Do It

Here is how a mythical person might do their lists, create their smaller sub-list, and then a personal branding statement.

Step 1 — the Lists and Sub-List

Step 2 — How Do I Take That ^^^^ and Make It My Personal Branding Statement?

Let’s say you’re creating this Personal Branding Statement with the intent of figuring out what you want to do with your life. The lists above lead to some thoughts on career focus, listed here.

• Content Manager

• Social Media Manager

• Web Designer/Developer

• Localization Expert

• Maybe focused on Animal Welfare, Sports or Dance

Now it’s time to take a stab at a Personal Branding Statement:

Personal Branding Statement: Multi-lingual Web Designer and Content Manager, adept at telling the stories of rescue animals through illustration, photography and copy.

Obviously, this statement is very specific. Depending on your career stage, you might want a slightly broader Personal Branding Statement, so you are not screening too many options out. A broader rif might be “Multi-lingual Web Designer and Content Manager, adept at storytelling through the use of illustration, photography and copy.”

Step 3 — Spreading the Word

· Make a great resume, highlighting and reflecting your Personal Branding Statement

· Make a greater LinkedIn profile, highlighting and reflecting your Personal Branding Statement

· Make your other social media clean and consistent with your brand

· Your profile and content should map to your brand, even if it’s just in 140 characters.

PS to new Grads — If you are fresh out of college, and stuck on direction, you can contact a career coach that specializes in new grads, such as Shannon Philip of ShineBrite. She has a program specifically tailored to you!

Related posts you may want to check out:

· Creating a Great LinkedIn Profile

· How To Write a Great Resume

· Networking for NetworkPhobes

· It’s All About Who You Know

· I Graduated. Now What?

· Ready, Set, Interview