You, Incorporated: Defining Your Personal Brand

With career mobility at an
all-time high, the typical professional will work in as many as 15 to 20 different
positions before retirement—and do all the job searching, interviewing and
selling themselves that goes with that!

Landing the right opportunities to propel
your career toward fulfillmentrequires a free agent mentality and the
ability to sell yourself to many different employers. To succeed, you must be
able to articulate your value—the reputation you're known for and what people
know you'll deliver—and relentlessly promote this as your personal brand.

How would you articulate
your personal brand today? If you were to ask your manager, colleagues or mentors
to describe it, what would they say?

Whether you need to take a first stab at your brand or even redefine it, this tutorial will help you consciously and strategically develop a personal brand that harnesses your positive attributes and passions, effectively articulating your value and differentiating you.

Branding Basics

Think about some of your favorite
brands. Why do they stand out for you? Chances are, you feel some connection or
relate to them in some way. You probably also know off the top of your head
what each brand represents to you and what makes it special.

Ethan Allen is a favorite for me and
stands for high quality, durable furniture. I'm also emotionally connected because
the first major furniture purchase my husband and I ever made together was our
Ethan Allen dining room set.

All brands stand for something, and
the good ones are adept at moving beyond association to equivalency. Zappos isn't
just a shoe retailer on the web; they are
"internet shoes," according to brand strategist Laura Ries. Google stands
for "search." Beyond tech, think about
how Kleenex overtook the category and became synonymous with tissues.

What's
a Personal Brand?

A personal brand is really no
different from the company brands we know well, except it's built around and
intended to promote a person. Ries points to Marissa Mayer, whose brand is defined by being “the woman
that made Google successful.”

If you're like me, your personal
brand isn't quite that lofty, and that's ok. What matters is that it is a reflection
of what's uniquely you—what specifically differentiates you from others in
your field.

Your personal brand should represent what people have come to
expect when they work with you and the value proposition you bring to the table.

Why You Need to Keep Reading

You may be thinking this sounds like
a lot of marketing fluff. With everything on your plate today, you can't afford
to waste time—and that's precisely why you can't afford to ignore your
personal brand.

Think of it as an insurance policy that protects you against
the ups and downs of today's job market. Should you need to make a move, you'll
land on your feet quickly.

Even if you haven't experienced a
layoff or watched someone close to you go through one, you know without
question that none of us can bank on retiring after 30 years with the same
company. Professionals who don't think ahead about their own marketability, and position
themselves for mobility, are at risk.

Now for more on that
insurance policy.

Your Brand Today

Think about how many businesses in the same category seem virtually interchangeable. Is there a real
difference between the Walgreens and theRite-Aid experience? How aboutChase Bank compared toSunTrust orBank of America?

Even if their executivescan articulate what differentiates
their brands, which isdoubtful,there's no question that they'refalling down in their communications.

As CEO of You, Incorporated, how
would you articulate yourbrand?

Even if you haven't made a conscious
effort to create a personal brand, rest assured that you have one: it's your
reputation and what differentiates you. In what areas or on what topics are you
the go-to person? What is it aboutwhat you deliver that makes you different?

Deciphering
Your Brand Identity

If you're not quite sure how your
brand is perceived, some self-assessment should offer clarity. Consider
questions like these, courtesy of PwC, to identify your stand-out qualities:

1. What was the most successful project I
   ever tackled, and what made me successful?
2. What was the most important team role I ever fulfilled and why?
   
3. When faced with an overwhelming obstacle, what’s my “go to” skill to overcome it?
   
4. What are the strengths that others acknowledge in me?
   

I'd also add "how do people benefit from
working with me?" and "what descriptors should be used in talking
about my work?"

Beyond introspection, there's another
sure-fire way to figure out how your brand is perceived: ask people. Get your
manager's take and input from your mentors and colleagues. Anyone who really
knows what you're about will be able to describe what they've come to expect from
you based on real experiences.

What do they see as your core strengths? How would they describe your reputation? If they were introducing you, what
would they say?

You now have a clear sense of how others define your brand
attributes.

Making Sense of the Data

You now have a number of data points, including attributes ascribed to you and your view ofyour own value. The brand waters have gotten muddier, but I promise the confusion is a necessary but momentary phase on the
way to a clear brand identity.

You need every bit of information you gathered to
take control of your own reputation and begin consciously shaping it.

Corporate Brand Mantras

When I'm coaching I like to start
with defining a "brand mantra," borrowing from Dartmouth professor
Kevin Keller's work on corporate brands. He defines it as a very
short value statement that describes what the company or product has to offer
that's of value to customers and unique from what competitors are offering.

Disney,
for example, is fun family entertainment. Who wouldquestion that they've defined
the category?

Your Personal Brand Mantra

The notion of brand mantra applies
just as effectively to personal brands. Defining it isn't easy, but the answer
is in the data you've collected:

• What adjectives or themes recur?

• Which of
  those align with your uniqueness or what Keller calls "points of difference."

Those attributes that lie at that intersection of frequency (what a
bunch of people perceive about you) and differentiation (ones that are unique
compared to people you work or interact with) are the brand attributes to highlight
in your new mantra.

You can nextuse those attributes
as the foundation of a short personal value statement that describes what
you have to offer and gets to the crux of who you are. That's your mantra, and it willserve
as the heart of your brand definition and the foundation of all of your
branding efforts.

Examples of personal brand mantras are “dependable, strategic
planner” or “a creative professional connector.” Another one could be something
like, “motivating others to do their best.”

The Authenticity Test

We've all encountered companies that
defined a brand and promoted specific brand attributes, only to then operate in
ways that contradicted every single one of their brand promises. An airline or
two come to mind here.

Whatever brand
mantra you settle on, give it the authenticity test. Give yourself time to chew
on it, think about it, even test it out in limited ways with safe audiences to
make sure it feels right.

Your brand mantra needs to truly,
authentically reflect you. It must allow for transparency, and push you to be yourself.

If living up to your mantra would require you to act like or try to become
something you naturally are not, it may be a great brand mantra... but it's not
your brand mantra.

One Promise You Can't Afford to Break

Before you plunge head-first into communicating your new brand mantra,
there's another step in the discovery process that will make or break
your success. You need to translate your mantra into the brand promises it
represents to your target audience.

Each personal brand mantra embodies expectations,
or core promises, that you've led people to believe you will meet. Your brand,
in turn, will be defined by their experiences with you and how
closely you meet these expectations with what you delivered.

Gallup suggests that making sure people's real-life experiences with you actually line up with your brand promise is critical—and more important
than any promotion, words or images.

Imagine you're that "creative, professional connector" we mentioned earlier. Your brand implies
creative contributions and a big network that you know how to tap into effectively. You'll need to prove this in your regular team meetings and online activity; you also mightstart blogging about
networking to cement your expertise.

Every touch point you have with a target
audience is an opportunity to deliver on your brand promise and increase
awareness of your (very positive, very memorable) brand identity.

Targeting
Your Message: To Infinity...and Beyond!

Yes, "infinity and beyond"
is too broad a definition of what you should shoot for in targeting your brand communications
(even for a Toy Story fan). But the phrase highlights a key point: it's
critical to define a target audience that's larger and much more diverse than your
current boss.

Your personal brand can help open new doors and connect you with
new people that can help your career, if you take the time to clearly define
the profiles of these audiences.

Think about:

• Who will see value in what you bring to the
  table?

• Whose attention do you want to attract? Maybe
  there are industry influencers who don't know you yet and you'd like to get on
  their radar.

• What doors do you want to open to you? This
  could be a new employer, the executive leading an interesting new department—whatever
  opportunity piques your interest.

Each of the answers you come up with
points to a target audience for your brand communications. You might end up with
a list that includes prospective employers, senior execs at your current firm, colleagues,
partners—any connection with the potential
to impact your career.

Communicating Brand Value with Storytelling

Your audiences may be diverse, but you
can bank on one commonality: they all like a good story. Storytelling offers an
effective, minimally painful way to highlight your unique value. Not
surprisingly, companies have been doing this for years with stories that
position their product or company as the hero.

Stories let you highlight who you
are, what you're interested in and what you excel at, and connect all of that
with what your target audience needs in an interesting, memorableway.
They even help you make an emotional connection with your audiencethat
builds relationships and loyalty.

One Great Story

Creative entrepreneur Kathleen
Shannon advises that you
"get real" when telling your story and shares the story of a meeting
she and her partner had shortly after launching their new firm:

It was 2-hours long with a used car sales man.
Tara and I literally got in 3 words the whole time while this used car salesman
with a lazy eye and sweaty lip went on for hours about how much integrity his
business has (not). By the end of it I literally thought I might throw up on
the desk we were meeting at. Tara and I both left shaken up and ready to throw
in the towel and find a day job. (Instead we vowed to never work with used car
salesman and wrote our Braid ECourse on Dream Customer Catching.)

This story works because it's memorable
and entertaining, encourages audience empathy, and ultimately communicates strength,
persistence and creativity (while also promoting their course offering).

Writing the Story of You, Inc.

How can you take your brand mantra
and bring its key attributes to life in a story?

Many career coaches use the CAR (Challenge/Actions/Results) approach. It focuses on telling the story of a challenge (C) you faced, the actions (A) you took in
facing it, and the positive results (R) that you reaped.

Another option is to look to age-old
themes as a guide. Like times when:

• You were the underdog but struggled and overcame

• One moment or discovery changed everything for you and your career

• You almost quit when your journey got too long or tough, but you didn't (and here's
  why).

Past victories can also make great stories, depending on what went into
getting there. You get the picture.

Consistency
is Key in a Web 2.0 World

It used to be that we made a first impression whenmeeting someone face-to-face. With
social media and web-based communication channels, that impression is now often
made well before we ever shake hands.

If someone unfamiliarreaches out to me, the first thing I do is
Google them and look them up on LinkedIn. First impression? Check.

No matter where someone encounters you or seeks you out—an online
profile, bio, comments you've posted on a discussion board or in a group forum,
resume—they should get the same impression.Everything shouldcommunicate the same message about who you are. This goes for your in-person
presence, too, like your appearance.

Author Dan Schwabeloutlinesa variety of communication tools that you can use in building your brand, like:

• Social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
  Instagram profiles). Figure out which channels your target audience is on and
  focus efforts there. Give your existing accounts a close review to
  make sure they're consistent with your newly solidified brand identity, and
  make any changes (or deletions!) immediately.

• A portfolio showcasing
  your work. A number of sites, like Behance, allow you to
  create a virtual portfolio for free.

• Your own website or
  blog. I'd suggest starting with a blog and only expanding into a full site if
  you have a compelling reason to go there, given the time investment required to
  keep it fresh.

• Your resume, cover
  letters and reference documents still play a role in career management. Just make sure they're consistent in messaging across formats.

• Blogs and websites in
  your field; you can look for opportunities to create content for them and establish
  yourself as an expert.

Defining and building a personal
brand isn't easy or quick. It takes time for brands to develop and evolve. It's a
process that requires commitment. You need to proactively, consistently
communicate in real life and online. Also, continuously evaluate your own actions
and behaviors for alignment with your brand promises.Nothing about building a personal
brand is easy—but the peace of mind it delivers and the doors it can open more than justify the effort.

What
value does You, Inc., deliver? It's time to define it, own it and be true to
it.

Resources

Graphic Credit: Diamondicon designed byAnuar Zhumaev from theNoun Project.