With a new year and new goals ahead of us, it’s the perfect time to think about creating or refining your personal brand–especially as we find ourselves in the midst of a continuously evolving workplace. People are prioritizing better work-life balance, higher pay, and flexibility, which led us to where we are now – in the Great Reshuffle. Talent is more abundant than ever, too. Being good at your job is no longer good enough in this competitive job market.
Developing a strong personal brand will help you stand out from the crowd and open the door for new opportunities. You have seven seconds to make a first impression, so you need to make sure your personal brand is up to par. Read our tips about how to build a memorable brand:
1. Decide on an area of expertise.
The first step of this process requires some reflection. Identify your skills, strengths, and experiences. A personal brand is, well, personal, so you’ll need to be authentic in your reflections. To get started, ask yourself some questions around these topics. You can also solicit feedback from others about how they perceive you. This will identify potential blind spots you missed when conducting your own review.
After identifying your strengths, think about what makes you different from everyone else. Maybe an aspect of your personality or your prior work experience sets you apart from others in your industry. Once you have a better awareness of your strengths and what makes you unique, you can use that information to determine what you want to be known for.
2. Define your audience.
Create a profile of the audience you want to appeal to – the more specific the better. You might consider creating customer personas to get really granular about your target audience. Think about their demographic, geographic, and psychographic information as well as their pain points and goals.
Having a defined audience will make it easier to engage with people since your messaging will speak directly to them. This will also enable you to create a strong unique value proposition – explicitly clarifying what you do, who you do it for, and how you do it differently.
3. Craft an elevator speech.
As you introduce yourself to people it’s important to have a clear and concise elevator speech to effectively communicate your brand in a short amount of time. If you created a compelling unique value proposition, you can develop that into a 30 – 60 second sales pitch. Include your “special sauce” or the benefits you provide and back that up with a brief example.
Spend time practicing your speech so it becomes more natural and easier to deliver. Give your pitch to a friend or record yourself on Zoom. You will show up more confidently when it comes time to introduce yourself to a stranger online or in person.
4. Develop consistent visuals and messaging.
Consistency is key. In addition to showing up regularly and aligning your visuals, make sure your messaging is similar across platforms – including your social media, website, blog, and any public speaking gigs. This will help you become memorable and build credibility.
You might consider creating brand guidelines to ensure your visuals and messaging remain consistent. They will house important information such as the proper way to use your logo and other design elements, tone of voice and personality, and appropriate topics to create content around.
5. Build your social media presence.
Leveraging the power of social media can help you boost your brand’s visibility. With Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and now TikTok, it can feel overwhelming to choose where to show up. While you might want to have accounts on a few of these platforms, it’s wise to invest your energy on one to start.
Once you make sure your profile is up to date, then you can begin creating and sharing meaningful content. You should consider spending about 15-30 minutes engaging on social media each day to respond to comments, replying on posts, and participating in discussions.
Building a strong personal brand will position you to achieve your career goals and set you up for future success in our ever-evolving world. Now it’s time to put yourself and your brand out there with confidence!
If you’d like more personal branding strategies, contact us to learn more about how we can create a Personal Branding session tailored to you and your team’s needs.