How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Business leaders have a responsibility to speak up and take action. They are expected to be the voice of their company, provide direction and guidance for employees, and drive results. Thus, for more senior executives, the greater the need for personal branding to influence people at every level of an organization. There is also a lot of confusion around how to define your personal brand for success and in the following post and all the others on this site, we will dispel any myths you may have.

Contents

What Are The Benefits Of A Personal Branding Strategy?

Personal branding is an increasingly important factor for business leaders and CEOs. So what are the benefits of personal branding? First, it helps build trust in your brand, demonstrate leadership skills, and establish a solid professional reputation.

According to Entrepreneur.com, when building a personal brand for business:

  • 561% more reach from employees sharing messaging
  • Content is shared 24X more frequently
  • 8 X more engagement from employees VS brand

Personal branding is a strong leadership tool that allows executives to build trust with stakeholders by communicating personally relevant messages about their expertise on strategy, culture & values or innovation. It can also help them gain visibility within organizations where they may not be heard because of organizational hierarchy or geography challenges. In today’s business world, it is necessary for individuals who want to succeed in business – especially those who aspire to become CEO or want to be more visible as a seasoned business leader – to invest time into building a personal brand.

Once you have finished this article you can dig even deeper here.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

What Is Personal Branding, And Why Is It Important?

Personal branding, self-positioning, and all individual branding were first introduced in 1925 from The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill who studied the top Millionaires of his time. These ideas were expanded on his next book.

“It should be encouraging to know that practically all the great fortunes began in the form of compensation for personal services, or from the sale of IDEAS.”

In Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (1937)

The idea surfaced later in the 1981 book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, by Al Ries and Jack Trout.[9]

Personal branding is a strategy for building your personal identity and making it known to the world. Personal branding is important because it helps you be seen as an individual who isn’t just defined by their job title. It makes you more memorable, trustworthy, and valuable in any business or social situation. You should also get your own domain name if possible.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

“You can benefit by using positioning strategy to advance your own career. Key principle: Don’t try to do everything yourself. Find a horse to ride”. 

Tom Peters

Can A Person Even Be A Brand?

A person can be a brand, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to build trust and goodwill with customers and the public and then use those connections as a foundation for future success. Brands are more than logos or slogans – they’re about personality, values, authenticity. The best brands know who they are (and their purpose is) and emotionally connect with their audience. But before you start thinking of yourself as a “brand,” ask yourself these questions:

What do I want people to think of me? 

What do I stand for to my followers? 

How will my products/services make them feel? 

Who am I on the inside when speaking? 

What story will I share with the world? 

What legacy do I wish to leave?

What does my brand mean to you?

“What does your brand mean to you?” The question is a difficult one for any CEO or business leader. Some CEOs might say that the meaning of their brand means “the promise of my product or service,” while others may think that it means “paying homage to the past.” But what if I told you there was a third definition? A more personal and less corporate way of looking at this word we call “brand.” What if I told you that your brand should be seen as an extension of YOU? Authentically you! Don’t panic, and it doesn’t mean you need to share everything with your network on social media!! 

Why Is Personal Branding Important?

You need to create your own personal profile. Your identity helps you to stand out. For example, Apple had used Steve Jobs personal branding much before he used it. Another well known personal brand is Elon Musk, but not in comparison. It would be reasonable if all entrepreneurs could develop relationships with potential customers first on an individual basis before delivering the company’s message.

What Is Your Personal Brand?

Personal branding means something different to everyone; however, some commonalities make it successful: consistency with messaging across all communications is key. They are also building relationships online whilst being authentic.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Personal branding has gained significance due to the Internet, as social media and online identities affect the physical world.

How do you market yourself to stand out in a room full of similar professionals doing similar things? How could you show others what distinguishes your value from the pack? How do you get them interested and keep their attention long enough to buy into your product or service? This is not an easy task, but it doesn’t have to be hard either.

Very few understand “what is a personal brand?”; they think it is all about logos, photos and a website and blog posts. Yet, these elements are only a small part of the strategy and consistent authenticity that underpin your online self and how to market it.

As part of this blog post and a series of posts, I will begin to explore personal branding examples briefly; we will leave more detail for further explorations. First, however, if you are looking to become an expert in personal branding, this will be one of the many go-to knowledge website resources for you to market your authentic self or become a better consultant.

Building A Personal Brand Is Not Easy Without A Process

It is not easy to define your personal brand, but it is necessary. How people perceive you are going to be a reflection of your organization. You need to ask yourself what you want people to say or think about you when they first hear your name or see your content. Do you want them to look up to you and think of you as competent at what you do? How can you convey this message to your followers in ways that are understandable and true? How can this get communicated to people in simple language?

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

On many occasions, C-level executives, entrepreneurs and others are too busy to find the time needed. As a result, they waste considerable time on social media without reaping any rewards; they have no credibility or authority in their marketplace. Unfortunately, they talk about what they do in words that no one understands, so no one takes them seriously.

“Personal branding programs are still misunderstood; they are being implemented the wrong way; in many cases people using social media without the necessary skills or support to get their personal brands in tip-top shape first.”

From My Article in CEO World Magazine

The key is understanding who your audience is and what it wants. For example, is it millennials or Boomers? How does jargon sound coming out of your mouth? How do acronyms affect the way people see you?

People seem to think that using complicated words are necessary to make them sound more important; they think that these words give extra weight when they speak; most of the time, they are a waste of words as they mean nothing and confuse people.

Explaining what you do precisely in words that everyone can understand is not that easy until you can shift your mindset. Unfortunately, very few people understand technical terminology and using the wrong language is costing you dearly in lost revenue. In this post, you will gain enough knowledge to understand the value and pick up some great tips to follow.

In The Ultimate Guide To Personal Branding, we discuss more on this key topic.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

More often than not, they just need a little guidance to get their wording right or use a thesaurus before building their personal brand and growing their visibility. This helps create value and knowledge. Thus, developing their online platform the right way without being seen as aloof or unapproachable. 

There Is Much Confusion Around “What Is Personal Brand”

Your personal brand is YOU and is something that evolves, and it is a part of you that contains a massive value if crafted correctly and not in haste.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Many of us have been told we can’t do things or aren’t good enough; many have been told we shouldn’t be arrogant or tell anyone how good they are. So, many people are waiting for their brilliance to be magically discovered and for others to tell the world. 

Unfortunately, some people still jump onto social media marketing without formulating the suitable wording to express who they really are in the right way and control their content and image. Usually, a considerable amount of money is wasted on a website without even having the basics in place first. Many have no experience or understanding of the first steps needed or the time-honoured marketing process that “experts” should use to get the best results.

Time wasted on social media would be better off working out the correct wording to show off your authentic self, your key elements and your value. Using simple words that a 12-year-old child can understand really pays dividends.

Just imagine if you were asked what you do for a living by someone that had no idea about the niche industry buzzwords, but they owned a company, or their family owned a huge company, and you explained in your technical wording what you did. You would stop them from doing business with you or introducing you to their team for that job offer you were looking for.

Trust Yourself: Don’t Copy Other People’s Personal Branding

Some, unfortunately, copy other people’s wording, website and even posts because they either think they lack the tools, skills, time or the eloquence to put together a blueprint themselves. 

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

If you copy others, it can make you seem untrustworthy in an interview or a meeting, as you will not come across as genuine. In most cases, you won’t remember to use the words in your resume, on your website or in your LinkedIn profile, and you may not know back up what you are saying.

If You Build A Personal Brand, It Will Mean You Can Explain What You Do Simply

Following a clear process and having a brand blueprint; has helped many of our clients have engaging and informative profiles. Enabling people to learn what they are all about quickly and in a tone that works for their target audience. Naturally, this has led to stronger relationships, better network growth, and helped grow their businesses and relationships.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Some begin to obtain the recognition they deserve for their inner genius very fast. Many gain recognition for their skills quickly when they get the ALL-important wording right and promote themselves authentically. They write a post or two on LinkedIn for FREE or whatever platform they prefer. Some even take the step of having their own website.

Trust Yourself To Use Simplicity When Creating Your Personal Branding Strategy

Before you begin, start with research and do a Google search for your name. Next, one of the best tips and tools I can recommend is finding a Thesaurus and thinking of some friends, family, or colleagues you can ask to give you some feedback. Ideally, you should work with a colleague, friend or expert to get your wording right and get rolling on your journey. 

Don’t Forget You, Your Personality And Opinions May Not Suit Everyone’s Taste

So, take the time to figure out who you are and who you would like to work with. Then make sure that you show this off in the right light by using the right words.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Do not become just another digital carbon copy of someone you have seen online who you think looks good. Instead, trust yourself and don’t be afraid to be authentic, move forward, and grow into the person you would like to be and, in many cases, already are.

If you do not focus and take control of your content, then you are at the mercy of Google search and other websites, which retain your information for many years; your digital footprint is out there whether you like it or not. So taking the time to manage it and show off your skills in the right light is one of the best things you can do to attain the recognition you need and safeguard your future happiness.

Embrace Your Uniqueness And Explain Why You

Whether you are just starting, working towards getting a better job, better clients or building your own business, investing in your personal brand is one of the most important things that you will ever do. 

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Building A Personal Brand Will Grow Your Success

No matter what walk of life you are from or what job you do, building your personal brand could enable you to build a better living and focus on a more rewarding life.

Trusting yourself and sharing your unique voice without being afraid to stand up and be counted is one of the best things I have ever done in my life and why I help others do the same.

You Have Invested In Learning Skills, Now Tell The World What They Are

Building my personal brand is one of the best investments I have ever made. At first, it was not easy. But, it gave me a sense of focus and a certain degree of professionalism expected in this competitive world.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

No matter what industry you are in, you will find people who have worked at making their personal brands and expertise stand out; they will be using their brand to build whichever business they are working with.

Completely authentic people have built the most incredible personal brands throughout history. This is because they have defined clearly what they do, why they do it differently, and who they do it for. These are just some of the key elements in building one’s personal brand, which I explain in more detail.

A Couple Of Personal Branding Examples

Throughout history, what you do and what you leave behind can be seen to be part of your personal brand; many people reading this will be thinking, but I am not Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa; remember you still need to think about your brand if you want to create more success within your professional life. Trust yourself. You are more capable than you realize, and the magic happens when you push yourself.

Take The Time To Get Your Wording Right And Review It

Many business owners, entrepreneurs and C-level leaders I speak to have a good understanding of what a personal brand is but have left out many key elements; some manage to show off their brand in the right light and need a few content tweaks and an objective opinion to improve on their work. Others need to take the time to get their content and, in particular, their wording right and to be able to describe what they do to their target market, what gives them authority and credibility and why they are different and better than anyone else.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Many entrepreneurs and business leaders get distracted by their day-to-day tasks; they get immersed inside the business and forget all about their personal brands instead of working on moulding them to show off their skills and attributes in the right way. 

Trust Yourself: Take The Initiative To Build Your Personal Brand

Whether you want to make more money, show off your expertise online and create more recognition for what you do, change jobs or even pivot into unchartered territory, your personal brand can help you.

Trust Yourself: Tell Your Story, And Others Will Too

The idea of waiting for things to fall into our laps is fundamentally wrong, of course, and unfortunately, in our society, it is not going to help us to further our careers. It is doubtful that someone will discover us and tell anyone else unless we make it easy for them to do so.

Pivoting Your Personal Brand To Move Into A New Direction

Personal branding strategy was something I didn’t give any thought to myself until about 5 years after I left my father’s business. As a result, I built authority and credibility in the wine industry as we had a great brand for nearly 25 years. (at that time, I had no website, no audience, no personal email, very little online at all except a Facebook profile with some travelling pictures.)

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

It may seem simple to some, but it is time-consuming and costly without the right professional guidance and breaking it down to easy steps.

It can be steered in the right direction, providing you take the time to create a bridge between where you are now and where you want to be heading; you can use your past as an advantage; in fact, your past is one of the key (free) elements in marketing your personal brand so why not invest the time in yourself for maximum results.

Make The Time To Get Started Today, and You Won’t Regret It

Many people don’t make the time, and they don’t have the eloquence, personality or skills to create their blueprint. The good news is you can begin with as little or as much time and the tools you have. The words you use can be chopped and changed if you take enough time to use a thesaurus.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success NOW

Discuss with your HR department and leadership team

Many businesses now contribute towards personal branding coaching for free. HR departments will help with niche research, good profile shots, a promotional video or speaking opportunity and the industry knowledge to help build you into a thought leader in your niche.

Marketing departments help with blog posts, search for good niche speaking opportunities, and assist you in HR programs to ensure CSR objectives are met.

In many cases creating a few short statements tailored to your target audience is the most difficult task. Like anything new in life, getting started seems to be the biggest hurdle. Usually, employers and business owners spend ages trying to get these words right. They don’t do anything and believe that their business brand is enough to grow their sales and careers when their employees and senior management teams don’t have up to date profiles on social media networks.

The Good News When Creating A Personal Brand

Once the first statements are completed, you will feel a lot better about building your personal branding. In addition, you will begin to enjoy positioning yourself and enjoy looking at the results when you search on Google for yourself.

You can then use some of the value statements for your social media profiles, a blog post on your favourite digital platform, perhaps. Obviously, your website and online presence will contain your resume containing all your relevant information.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Alleviate fluff entirely

The brand blueprint is a core block of wording with no fluff, no waste of words and no grammar or punctuation; once it is in place, it acts as a word palette for writing articles. You or your PR or agency partners can also use these words when writing press releases, blog posts, and online and offline communications.

In other chapters of my blog, we cover more of the key elements of your personal brand, and I look forward to helping you understand more about what you need to do to make your brand stand out in front of the crowd and be one of the professionals and public figures that everyone admires.

Follow The Method Outlined To Create Your Brand Blueprint 

I have taken the time to make the process as simple as possible to build your brand statements. They will formulate part of your brand blueprint for use in your CV or Resume and use it on your all-important social media profiles and any other marketing materials you have or decide to create in the future.

You can be selective about using the words in different publications to appeal to the audience’s demographics.

Creating your wording should not be difficult. However, it takes some brainpower, and I recommend you take regular breaks, go for a walk, go to the gym or have a nap. 

Writing about what you do may take a few revisions, and having a colleague or friend bounce ideas off is really helpful.

Create your statements in the fewest words possible; grammar is not something to worry about here. You can add in punctuation as you utilize the statements. The blueprint is a bare structure, so you can use it a bit like a colour palette if you were painting. 

I recommend compiling all the statements into your brand blueprint in one place.

Covering these elements:

What do you do?

Why are you better?

What gives you authenticity?

What words would you use to describe yourself?

Whatever your reasons are for learning more about personal branding, you can understand a lot more about it from my blog, and if you follow the advice, you can also take control of your life.

If you think you need help, please let me know, and we will see if we can recommend a good personal branding consultant to help you: nat@natschooler.com

Building Your Personal Brand

Your personal brand must align with your business brand. In addition, they should correspond with your target audience, ideal clients, perfect customers and in fact, you should be able to take control of how you show up in articles and to your followers.

You don’t want to seem like a car seller. It cannot be overshadowed nowadays by the importance social networks give us. Part of branding ‘personal marketing includes having social channels on all the social sites where your audience spends their time.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

You Build Trust With People Who Matter

People want to feel like they know you, particularly before they buy or sell anything with you.

Personal branding – can give a person something that creates naturally strong relationships with people in a global community? Our interactions are there for our online reputation, and a consistent or inconsistent approach to content is visible online for decades (What we did years ago may need cleaning up!)

In building relationships, trust “consistency” is a key factor. It is always important to show our authentic selves. It is important to show your authentic selves on social media, especially with the most reliable and informative information.

What Is A Personal Brand Strategy?

Using a personal branding strategy can take your content, your reputation and resume out of relative obscureness into high visibility. A well-designed personal branding strategy removes uncertainty from your quest for visibility, showcasing your expertise as it concentrates your efforts on fulfilling your purpose.

A Few Techniques To Build Your Personal Brand and Helpful tips

Your personal brand must encompass all places people might come across when buying. It is up to you to design a public face to reflect who you are. Remember offline.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Seek Out Mentors, Professionals Who Can Help You Figure Out Your Niche

There is no “self” successful person. They had to help somebody in the future in some way. Tiger Woods, one of the most successful golfers in history, worked virtually throughout his entire career with a swing coach. 80% of surveyed companies have a mentor at the early beginning of their careers. I’ve met a large number of successful business leaders and entrepreneurs who have been helpers with their careers and becoming recognized specialists today. You should.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

Even More Personal Branding Tips For Success

It takes developing an identity which is what identify you and your career. Each person can build their own brand and gain an image that stands out among the crowd. Your personal branding efforts should reflect not only who you are. If you can describe to others the goals of your personal brand, you will be in the right direction.

How Can I Improve My Personal Brand?

Personal branding has proved massively popular among many people, but without your Personal Brand Blueprint, it can be difficult to judge the success of your initiatives. The steps in improving branding and self-branding will help you improve on your progress. The KPIs are as follows: in order of importance, increased revenues increased top-level PR invitations, and increase in high-quality relationships. You will follow these steps to have a successful branding experience.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

What Is A Personal Brand Example?

What is a personal brand example? It will be covered deeper in future blogs. What does it mean when you are considered to have a good personal brand? What should you do to build your own personal brand, and why is this important for business leaders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. The answers start with understanding the role of branding. A brand is defined as what people say about us when we’re not in the room or who we think they are talking about. It can be thought of as one’s reputation in society, which stems from how someone behaves or performs on the job. Successful companies develop a strong reputation by building an enduring identity that differentiates them from their competitors while also being consistent with their core values and beliefs (such as customer service).

What Is A Successful Personal Brand, And Why Is It Important?

Your personal brand is your identity in the marketplace. It encompasses how you present yourself, what you are known for, and what people say about you when asked. Your brand can be a key factor in determining who will want to work with you, buy from you or invest in your company.

– A strong personal brand leads to opportunities beyond just one job or business venture – it allows you-the-individual-to define yourself by your own terms and not let others dictate how you’re perceived – which is an increasingly difficult task as content marketing and social media have amplified the voice of critics everywhere…

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

How Do You Personally Brand Yourself?

The adage goes, “you are what you eat.” In a sense, it’s true. For example, when we’re feeling down and our energy is low, the last thing we want to do is cook an elaborate meal for ourselves. And when we’re in a good mood or looking to get a boost of energy, that’s when some comfort food like macaroni and cheese might sound fantastic. The same can be said about branding yourself: what you put into your network and how you make people feel affects how people see you. 

How Do You Do Personal Branding?

The definition of personal branding has been evolving over the last decade. The term is often used to describe how an individual’s personality, skills, and values are presented to others to be promoted as a credible expert. 

You need to follow a proven, tested method and commit to building your expertise and showing it off to the world.

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

How Do You Define Yourself As A Brand?

“It’s a question that every business leader and CEO needs to know how to answer. What is your brand identity? And what does it say about you?” 

“What do you want people to think when they hear your name? “There are many facets of defining ourselves as a brand and thinking of the legacy you wish to leave the world is crucial to planning your best personal brand activities.

How Do I Build A Personal Brand?

“Gone are the days of having to rely on your business card for a handshake. Instead, it’s now all about personal branding and how you present yourself online.”

If you wish to look into this, search for a consultant who can help or research how to do it. Unfortunately, you will find that most personal branding consultants have no classical method to follow and cannot help you. Please let me know if you would like assistance finding a personal branding consultant who would be a good fit for you. (If you are one, then please fill your name in below in the form as we are building a database of resources, tips, knowledge and tools in this important area)

How To Define Your Personal Brand For Success

What Is An Example Of A Personal Brand?

“One CEO that stands out is Richard Branson, founder of Virgin. This brand has become synonymous with fun, excitement and entertainment – all qualities Branson himself embodies.”

This blog is part of the in-depth/ultimate guides series. We dig into the archives of knowledge and outline the best methods to figure out what to do next; this website is a valuable resource. The main focus is making people’s lives better.

If you want to find posts about something specific, please take the time to use the search bar above and if your topic isn’t covered, drop me an email, and I will see if I can help; we have an extensive archive of interviews that contain valuable tools, tips and knowledge with useful articles for any level of management, covering: marketing, branding, business, leadership and other important topics are contained on this blog.

Nathaniel Schooler – Futuristic Podcast Host, Trusted Advisor

I am a trusted advisor, podcaster and your personal branding expert. I have been in the branding industry for over 10 years and specialize in helping entrepreneurs, professionals, executives and other high achievers leverage their personal brands to speak volumes about who they are as leaders. I help people find their authentic voice to connect with others on an emotional level while still being professional. Email me contact@legacymediahub.com

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