Your Personal Brand: Why it’s important - How you can grow it
Below are resources on personal branding I compiled when researching for a client. My client wants to ensure that she conveys her personal brand to her new supervisor and team when she moves to a new position. A friend also asked how she could be known for what she wants to be known for. This compilation is useful to those who already know or have a strong sense of what their personal brand is and is also useful to those seeking to identify their brand.
Why is your personal brand important? In Tips on Creating and Growing Your Personal Brand, Laura Lake, says it well: “It’s something no one can take away from you, and it can follow you throughout your career. It’s a leadership requirement that lets people know who you are and what you stand for.”
How to Define Your Personal Brand in 5 Simple Steps, Ryan Erskine
Before starting to generate lots of content online to distinguish your personal brand, identify your goals. Otherwise, all that work could be a wasted opportunity.
“Determining your own story arc will be crucial to crafting a brand narrative that your audience will relate to and remember. Your brand narrative will come naturally if you ask yourself the right questions: What obstacles have I overcome? What desirable goals have I reached or am in the process of reaching? How have I changed for the better?”
Reinventing Your Personal Brand by Dorie Clark (author of Reinventing You)
“The key is not to explain your transition in terms of your own interests (“I was bored with my job and decided to try something else,” or “I’m on a personal journey to find the real me”) but to focus on the value your prior experience brings.
Consider it “search engine optimization” for your life: The more connections you make, and the more value and content you regularly add to the stream, the more likely it is that your new brand will be known, recognized, and sought out.”
14 Personal Branding Tips To Help You Grow Your Influence, by Forbes Coaches Council
“Make sure you are adding value to others if you want to be influential. Self-promotion without value creation negatively impacts your influence.”
“Plant, create and bloom where you work now. Create content for your company's newsletter. Volunteer to write for an industry-aligned publication. Drive up your brand where you work. Create value where you are allowing your personal and professional brand to thrive simultaneously. Instead of just looking at shiny ideas outside of work, find ways to align your personal brand with your organization.”
6 Tips for Perfecting Your Personal Brand, by Jill Bowers
“One of the most important steps in maintaining your personal brand is to stay consistent. Anytime you do anything online, you should consider how it contributes to your personal brand, said Matt Brady, founder and former CEO of career consultancy Path2Hired. This means that every time you write an article, post an update on social media or interact with your audience, you should think about the overall message you're trying to convey. Keeping your brand consistent helps you build a strong brand that others will begin to recognize, Brady said.”