How to make your personal brand more intentional
When I’ve worked with clients who are ready to create a personal brand, they often acknowledge finding success in their professional life just being the person they are. But they don’t always know the place of personal branding itself or if they even have a brand in the first place.
Whether you’re intentionally creating a brand or not, you already have one.
Let me say that louder: You do already have a brand. Everything you do— every time you speak, send an email, or create any kind of content, you’re reinforcing that brand.
The question is whether or not you’ve intentionally created that brand. If you don’t have a defined brand identity, your message can get muddled, meaning you’ll lose out on ideal clients.
Personal branding is about intentionally creating your message and then moving forward with it through every communication. By going through this process, you’ll minimize confusion and create clarity around what you offer. It’ll make your life easier moving forward as you build out your services and offerings, from the values up.
Whether you’re creating a personal brand, building a business, or simply looking for a way to reposition your expertise, read on for guidance on creating your personal brand.
1.Start by getting clear on your values.
We start this process by looking at your values, because this is the foundation that drives your brand forward. When you’re centered on your values, pivoting services isn’t such a big deal because people are already connecting with who you are and what you believe. You can learn more about building out your core values here.
Then we discover who you want to work with and how you want to work with them. Your mission statement naturally emanates from these three points so you’re able to intentionally put forward your vision and perspective and then get really specific about your audience.
My advice? Always gut check it to make sure it feels aligned with you.
2. Narrow down your services and get clear on your differentiators.
Once you know your values, you can get clear on the services and products you offer. If you’re looking for a job, this is when you’d consider what makes you a unique applicant or how you stand out as a contractor, if you’re freelance. When you know these differentiators, you can summarize them in succinct mission statements that tell the world what you do in an easy way. That means you no longer have to fumble when people ask what you do.
That’s where your brand voice comes in. You start to discover things like whether you’re someone who writes in short, punchy sentences or if you’re serious, humorous, or edgy. At this stage, you’re keeping your brand foundation in mind, which merges your individual uniqueness with your audience. If you’re applying to a Fortune 500, you’d talk about yourself differently than if you’re working with a small, community-oriented organization that may be more casual.
If you don’t have personal branding in your corner, you’re not able to project your values, your offerings, and your perspective in an intentional way.
Regularly ensure that you are promoting the most important, unique parts of who you are. It's an opportunity to examine yourself and ensure that you are promoting the most relevant things and that you're no longer promoting the things that you've outgrown or don't really want to do anymore.
When you commit to building a brand foundation, you’re saying this is what I want people to know about me. You’re able to be super clear about who you want to work with, what makes an ideal client, and what kinds of projects you love to work on.
When you know yourself, you know your business, and that comes through naturally.