“ If you don’t have a powerful and visible personal brand, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage in almost every aspect of your professional, business and personal life.” ~ entrepreneur.com~
As a public relations professional and owner of a boutique public relations firm, I’ve had the pleasure of working with entertainers, actors, business professionals and 70+ brands for the last 9 years. Along my professional journey of storytelling for people, products and brands, I’ve come to realize that every individual has their own unique brand story, and that story becomes an important part of their personal brand, but how many of us are really leveraging our brand story to our advantage?
Did you know that:-
Women are more likely than men to underestimate their abilities
Women speak with less confidence about their accomplishments
Women are more likely to apply for jobs only when they meet all the listed qualifications
We are totally selling ourselves short. As women, we tend to be very conservative about sharing our success stories, sharing our ideas and just self-promotion in general. We have a really bad habit of underestimating our own potential. It’s time to realize that your unique brand - that thing that only you possess - can sabotage the best talent and boost an average talent – it’s time to tap into that, it’s time to be seen and be heard. It’s time to share your accomplishments, celebrate your successes and promote an image to the world that reflects who you truly are.
Your personal brand story is what differentiates you from the crowd and simply makes you who you are today. Sometimes it’s not easy to identify your personal brand super power without asking a few key questions: Who am I? What makes me unique? What am I known for? What am I associated with? What is my personal mission statement and what are my core values? And how am I sharing this awesomeness with the world? In some instances, you may even know the answers to these questions, however, you may not be leveraging this to your advantage.
It’s super important how we “show up” in the world, and according to Valorie Burton’s book “Successful Women Speak Differently” (a must read) what people really want is:-
- Communication
- Connection
- Influence
- Presence
- Confidence
- Personal Branding
Here are a few tips from our workbook “PR Chick’s Guide - 8 Steps To Building Your Personal Brand” to help you on your discovery to finding your own unique personal brand story and sharing it with the world.
1. Know Who You Are
- Take the time to really know who you are, think about your personal journey and where you are in this moment?
- Why do you think developing your personal brand would be important?
- How would this directly affect your positioning in your area of expertise?
2. Mirror Your Mentor
- Who do you want to be? Think long and hard about the person that you want to become, what do you want to be known for? How do you plan to leave your mark in this world?
- Who are some of the people that you admire – What do you like about them?
- How can you incorporate some of their essence into your personal brand?
3. What’s Your Personal Brand Story?
- Create a personal mission statement – incorporate your WHY
- Write down core values that define you as an individual
- What are some of the key things/words that you would want to be associated
with your name?
- What is your area of expertise, what do you need to do be seen as a thought
leader in this field?
4. Your Reputation Matters On and Offline
- How are you managing the content that’s accessible to rest of the world?
- Review the type of content that you post on your social media channels
- Update your Linkedin with a “winning” opening statement and professional
headshot
- Be a contributor in your field of expertise to position yourself as a leader
with purposeful posting
5. Network with a Purpose
- Get dressed, Get Out, Show Up and Share your uniqueness with the world
- Be purposeful with your networking: speak to new people, go to industry related
events, meet the event organizers, distribute your business cards
6. Define your personal style
- What’s your own personal style – what do you like to wear, what’s your style, what are some of your favourite brands?
- Do you know your dress codes?
- What words do you want people to associate with your personal style?
- We all want the designer outfits but until then you can find great styles with the same “look and feel” that you want to emulate
Start with these questions and you will be well on your way to defining your personal brand and sharing your brand super power with the world. And don’t forget, your internal beliefs, the things you tell yourself will have a direct impact on your personal brand story – so start the journey by truly believing with your whole heart that you are deserving and worthy of everything the universe has to offer and then let’s get to work.
NG
