Know You, Do You, Be You! – Vee’s Strategy for your Life

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Personal branding. A concept creating back in 1997, it’s the most common way for the working class, and entrepreneurs to distinguish themselves in this tough market. There are so many references, books, articles, blogs, and “experts” on how to create your personal brand that all of us can become inundated with information, and spend too much time trying to “discover” who we REALLY are.  Which leads me to my first question; do you know who you are or what you want to be?  This is the most important aspect of developing your personal brand: know you, do you, be YOU! Have you discovered your niche? What skills or field of experience interests you most that you’d LOVE to make a career. C’mon son! It’s the 21st century, having a “job” is outdated. You want a CAREER.  Something you can be proud to say, “I did that and I loved it”.  Before moving on to the remainder of this article figure that out, then come back. It’ll still be here

In an article by Tom Peters titled, The Brand Called You. He gives some great tips on how to begin creating “You, Inc.”  The firststep is creating a message and strategy for promoting YOU.  When creating your message and strategy, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What makes YOU different? – Identify the characteristics and attributes that distinguish you from others.
2. What have YOU done to make yourself stand out? – This will help in identifying those distinguishing characteristics.  For example, there are many web designers on the market. What is about what you bring as a web designer that’s different from the rest? It could be a style of design, a specific technique…identify what makes you “pop”.
3. What are YOUR “feature-benefits”? – This is a typical corporate approach when developing a brand.  Not sure how this relates to you? Try these supplemental questions:
   1. Do you deliver work on time…every time?
   2. Do you continuously offer reliable service that meets strategic needs?
   3. Do you anticipate and solve problems before they arise?
   4. Do develop creative, innovative means to meet challenges?
   5. Do you complete projects within or under budget?

When answering these questions, think of how that particular feature will benefit your market. Whether relative to your current position or field, asking those similar questions can help with this process.

1. What do I do that adds “remarkable”, “measureable”, “distinguished” value? – In what ways have you positioned yourself to be an asset to your company and others? Knowing your value is the foundation to creating your personal brand.  If you’re having a hard time answering this, begin reassessing your work over the years. Pick out those strong points, then revisit.
2. What do I do that I am most proud of? – Most times we don’t recognize our own contributions to our team or our field.  Really assess your work (you’ll have this already from tip # 4) and pick out those projects, skills, etc. that really spark an emotion of achievement in you. These are the things that you’ve done, that have made you proud, regardless if they were recognized by someone else.  These are your accomplishments.
3. What have I accomplished that I can unabashedly brag about? – Sure, they say it’s not great to brag or boast but if you don’t, who will? Pull from those accomplishments you’ve listed and determine those that make you pat yourself on the back.
4. What do I want to be famous for? – Sounds silly? Well if you’re developing your personal brand, you have to be known for something.  Think of the big corporate brands, and what they’re known for. What do you associate when your see their name or logo?  Now think of yourself. This should help in determining how you want your personal brand to resonate with your market.

Once you’ve figured out your brand message, it’s time to develop your brand pitch. There are several ways to create your pitch, and no I don’t mean your typical elevator speech, although it’s great to have that handy and memorized.  The first step is Visibility. By your market seeing what you offer, it creates a buzz, and every brand needs a buzz, right? Word of mouth is about 75% of how companies and entrepreneurs make their sales, so start creating your image now! The following are simple strategies that you can use to increase your visibility:

• Moonlighting – taking on separate projects outside your business group and get to know different people within your organization.  This can lead to freelance projects, that will add value to your personal brand and help you carve out your niche.
• Teach or facilitate a workshop – the point is show that you are an expert in your field, the “go to source” for whatever you’re selling (in the figurative sense). By teaching, you’re able to showcase your skills, allowing people to solicit your expertise.
• Become a contributing writer – nothing says “brand” better than providing your audience directly with your expertise. It can be a blog site or a local newspaper. Having evidence of your contribution helps build a strong portfolio, which is great for your brand.
• Become a presenter or host – nothing says “see me” better than being a presenter on a panel, hosting an event, or being a guest speaker. Start out small. A career day here, a women’s/men’s workshop there, maybe a few fundraising gigs, and now you’ve become a hot commodity. Goal achieved!

Next in developing your brand pitch is…YOU. Yes, YOU! It’s important that you are mindful of your communication with people, your actions, even how you answer the phone. Those subtleties define who you are as a brand, so it’s important that you move how you want people to perceive you. Think Enron.

Your behaviors and decisions also reflect your style, which is another aspect in developing your brand pitch. When you address colleagues in meetings are your argumentative, “matter-of-fact”, or are you simplistic in your answers, fair in your responses, and to the point. Your style doesn’t just include your fashions; it encompasses every aspect of your presentation. Nonverbal communication is 97% of the way we communicate. Tone of voice, body language and facial expressions are the first to be absorbed by others before you even utter a word. Structuring your style to reflect the direction of your personal brand is important to the progression of “You, Inc.”

“Your network; determines your net-worth” – Tim Grae

If you’ve ever met him you might’ve probably dismissed the statement as being cliché, but now that you’re here trying to get your brand together, it doesn’t seem all that cliché now does it? Attending all those fancy-shamancy networking events serves a purpose. CEOs need a break too. You never know who you’ll meet at Yotel, Katra, Pranna, World Bar, or Room Service. Having a strong network will help get the word out about your brand.

Power…sounds gritty, selfish, and self-centered doesn’t it? Well that’s because all the nasty corporate Mongols took the word and misused it. Power in the terms of developing your personal brand means influence.  As a brand leader, you need influence. Again, think big corporate brands. There are a few ways in which you can use power to your advantage:

• Take opportunities to lead to strengthen your influence in the workplace. The point is to make sure people see YOU and what you can DO!
• Power = perception. Remember style and movement. It’s important people perceive you as a person of power and influence. Once they associate these words with you, the opportunities will open immensely.
• We’ve entered a “project-based” workforce. Most of the work you do on the job is project-based. Use those projects as means to market your skills. “Let those deliverables be your braggables”, says Peters.  Allow them to show off your capabilities. Remember power = influence.
• Once you’ve switched to a “project-based” mentality, use it to design ways to boost your power and felt presence. Put your stamp on it….mark your territory. Do whatever you can (legally, within reason, and without consequence) to make your presence known in your field.

The last step in developing your personal brand is understanding the value of loyalty. The premise behind Vee’s Strategy – when providing individual consultation and development – is get individuals to see themselves as a business. This is utterly important when creating your personal brand. All brands, big or small have loyalty consumers. It’s how they make their money. Without that loyalty, who would know about them? Same idea. Once you understand how having people loyal to you and in your corner affects the growth and expansion of your personal brand, you may not have to do much promoting, because those who are loyal will do it for you. Think brand management/brand ambassador. Your network is a representative of you, and your brand.  The best way to get the most out of those who are loyal to you is to ask for feedback. Those who are true to assisting in the development and growth of your personal brand will be honest with you and even offer advice on how to improve. A great association…SURVEYS! How often are you asked to fill out a survey? It’s important that brands ask for their consumer’s opinion, because it helps them improve and give those who support them exactly what they ask for.  How else would Coke have known to create Cherry Coke?

So it’s a start, yes? Developing your personal brand can be as easy or hard as you allow it to be. All of us have a tendency to be all over the place, but when you really focus on those things are most important to the progression of your career – not your job – shaping and molding yourself into the brand you want to be will be easier said and done.

Check back next week when I talk about staying in your lane, quite relative to developing your personal brand.

Your thoughts are welcome!

Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html

Vee is the Director of Operations for GRAE Enterprises, LLC; writer and Assistant Editor for GraeGram, as well as the founder of Vee’s Strategy, a copywriting and business consulting service geared to helping businesses and individuals “strategize” their lives.  For more information on any of the information in this article, email smorris@graeenterprises.com