What is personal branding? It’s a powerful and clear idea that comes to mind when people think of you. Tells your audience 3 things: 1. Who you are. 2. What you do. 3. What makes you different or how you create value for others. It’s like your brand’s flavor! The goal of personal branding is to attract people who want what you do or what you sell. You Are Your Biggest Asset, Brand You!
The first question when discovering personal branding is: Who Am I? We will dive deep into this with 3 exercises.
Exercise #1: Identify Your Talents
What are you good at? What do you enjoy the most? Jot these down and you will start discovering your uniqueness.
Exercise #2: Get Clear on Your Values
Your values are what you believe is important and they become apparent in the way you do things.
To identify your values:
– Write down the names of all the people you admire.
– Next to each name, write the qualities you admire in that person.
– Review your list to see if there are any qualities that you admire in more than one person. These qualities tell you what your values are.
Exercise #3: Embrace Your Archetypes to Get Clear on Your Mission/Purpose
Archetypes are symbols, forms or images that everyone recognizes.
The Caregiver: Motivated by a desire to help others and protect them from harm.
The Creator: Has daydreams and flashes of inspiration, which they must translate in to reality.
The Explorer: Maintains independence, is naturally curious, dissatisfied and restless.
The Hero: Acts courageously to improve a situation, is attracted to chaos and stands up for what they believe in.
Example: OPRAH – Visionary, Caregiver and Performer
What are your archetypes? Start thinking about that. After you have identified all these key points where do you broadcast it? All your communications. Email signature, business cards, social media channels, wardrobe. EVERYTHING!!
Why is it important? Increases credibility, leadership roles and more of the right kind of clients.
– A strong reputation is a great start, but if you want to build a successful personal brand, you need reach.
– If you build a strong brand, it will carry you through changes in your life. As we develop, so does our personal brand.
– Your brand should be authentic, it should be based on who you really are: your talents, your values, your mission and purpose.
Branding is about you! Like a great pair of shoes, it must: Make you feel powerful and happy, fit, feel good and tell a good story.
Here’s a similar post about the Power of Your Story.