Take Charge of your Brand (Article 3): implement today--three personal brand strategies!

by Guisselle Nuñez

BECOME YOUR OWN BRAND MANAGER

As I mentioned in Article 2, building your brand is not going to happen overnight. Remember, you need to become a brand manager for YOU (YOU- the brand). This is why, this work, is a continual process, and something you manage every day. So that now that we have re-established your new role in this company called YOU, then what’s the strategy we are going to build to roll out the product called YOU? 

Previously I have talked about three personal brand management strategies for you to use, which include, planning, assessment and expression.  

PLANNING: Know what you want. Know where to get it.

ASSESSMENT: Know who you are.  

EXPRESSION: Know, how and who you will share with. 

THREE PERSONAL BRAND STRATEGIES

For today’s article, I’d like to take a deeper dive into each of the above strategies. For each one of these strategies, there are a number of tactics to help you develop and implement your personal brand management strategies. This is your homework…so carve out time on a daily basis to work on these tactics…

PLANNING—What are your goals for branding YOU? These could include but not limited to: Visibility; Preference; Credibility; Engagement; Influence; Perception. Who is your audience and who do you want to influence? Choosing a niche or target market will make personal branding easier. Define your key stakeholders, niche, influencers, peers, etc. 

ASSESSMENT- What is your brand identity as it stands now? Identifying BRAND YOU involves looking at yourself and your attributes in a brutally honest way.  This tactic involves assessing your persona, your promise, and building your personal brand statement. 

As I recommended in Article 1, it will be helpful, in order to accomplish this part of the assessment strategy, to perform your own personal brand assessment survey. You can use an online assessment tool or you can use email or a (free) survey tool. Come up with a list of friends and/or colleagues who could answer the below (sample) set of questions:

• What do you think are my greatest strengths?
• What is my unique expertise or value that differentiates me?
• How do I come across to others?
• What are the key adjectives that describe my personality?
• What are the weaknesses that may hold me back?

What is a persona? A persona describes who you are and the qualities that make you, YOU. They are your distinct attributes, characteristics, vision and values.

A persona includes the following:

• Attributes
• Characteristics
• Vision   
• Values

Helpful resources for uncovering your persona:

• Friends, family, and colleagues
• Hobbies, interests, and passions

Helping Questions

• What are your strongest attributes? 
• What am I passionate about?
• What motivates me?

What is a Promise? It is your unique value. How does someone benefit from working with you? It is what sets you apart. Do you offer unparalleled quality? Do you provide quick turnarounds? Do you enjoy solving complex problems?

Helpful resources for uncovering your promise:

• Performance reviews 
• Project and product feedback 
• Team assignments

Helping questions

• What makes me unique?
• What results do people experience when working with me? What can I help others to achieve?
• How do people introduce you?

Now let’s put your hard work into action by creating your personal brand story.

What is a personal brand statement? A personal brand story is a short pitch (1‐3 sentences) that communicates your value (what you are the best at), your audience (who you serve), and your promise (how you perform your value uniquely).

What a personal brand statement is NOT. Your personal brand story is NOT your job title, personal mission statement, career objectives or life’s purpose. These items may be part of your brand statement but they do not encompass the purpose of a brand statement.

“You’re not defined by your job title and you’re not confined by your job description.” - Tom Peters

What makes a personal brand statement successful?

• Memorable 
• Solution oriented
• Combines logic and emotion
• Describes your history in your career field
• Provides brand attributes that make you unique and valuable 
• Gives specific examples
• Authentic

Here’s an example of a personal brand statement from Jane Doe:  A focused and determined business leader, I offer the entrepreneurial stamina and wisdom to drive bottom line growth and lucrative business (AUDIENCE), inspire employees to peak performance, and cultivate profitable business relationships built on respect, loyalty, and trust (PERSONA). My easy‐going sense of humor has been a defining management strategy to bring out the best in everyone, instill pride, and mobilize them to make their company the best in the industry (PROMISE).

Jane Doe’s personal brand statement contains all the elements of a successful brand statement: it clearly tells you what Jane does, for whom and gives you an insight into how. (This is identical to what marketers have to do for their products, which is to build a positioning statement for each product and its intended audience). 

Now it’s your turn:

• Define your target Audience or ideal audience base
• Define a value statement by focusing on your key attributes, or Persona
• Define your Unique Selling Proposition or Promise
• Combine these elements to create a narrative that tells others about you!

In other words: Link your strongest attribute (Persona) and the results it created for someone (Promise) into a story.

Last, but not least…EXPRESSION. OR how will you PROMOTE your brand?

• How will you tell Your Brand Story?
• Develop Brand Advocates
• Do you need a mentor?

Link your strongest attribute (Persona) and the results it created for someone (Promise) into a story. Tell your story to one of your Brand Advocates (Promotion).

What are the ways you can tell your brand story? (sample ideas)

• Present at Conferences
• Attend Conferences 
• Volunteer at work, in your community 
• One‐on‐one conversations
• Blog 
• LinkedIn Articles
• Email signature
• Local Meet‐up 
• Interest Groups
• Networking events

Three things you can do today!

• Update your LinkedIn Profile –use your personal brand statement for your profile description.
• Need a mentor? Write 1-3 names of people you call today and ask them out for coffee.
• Conduct your personal brand assessment survey