5 Steps to Building a Personal Brand

Today, building a personal brand is critically important. Here's how you start!

Whether you're starting or running your own company, building a corporate career or deciding what comes next, you need to focus on defining and communicating your brand clearly and consistently.

Step 1 - Think about your brand goals. 

As with most things, start with gaining clarity on your goals. What are you trying to achieve, how do you want to be perceived, what type of opportunities are you attempting to attract. Keep these in mind as you go through the next few steps.

Step 2 - Understand yourself. 

Your brand must be a reflection of your authentic self (anything else would be exhausting to maintain). So, write down your values, passions and strengths (Marcus Buckingham's Now, Discover your Strengths is a great resource).

Step 3 - Determine your superpowers, that is, what makes you uniquely you? 

Ask 15-20 friends/colleagues to name your top 1 or 2 best qualities. You can do this over the phone, in person or send an email. A few qualities will come up consistently - these are your superpowers.

Step 4 - Define your Audience. 

Who are you hoping to reach? Are you seeking new clients? Describe your ideal client in detail...I mean a lot of detail - I want you to know them better than your BFF. Are you looking for a new role? Think about the companies you want to work for, the manager you want to be employed by - again describe these in as much detail as possible - only with detail will you be able to create an effective communication plan.

Step 5 - Create a collection of brand stories.

With your values, strengths, superpowers and target audience in mind start to write down the personal stories that showcase that which makes you uniquely you, and also resonates with your audience. From these, select one to be your core business story. The others will remain in your arsenal to select from as required.

Step 6 - Start marketing your brand.

You are now ready to start sharing your brand in an impactful way. Develop a strategy using your insights gained from the exercises above and start building your community.