An Adventure in Personal Branding
I was speaking with a potential client this morning who was interested in learning more about personal branding, but also a little hesitant to share too many personal details in her “marketing”. So, I thought it would be worthwhile to share a little bit about my journey in my personal brand development and hope it sheds some light on what exploring your personal brand truly is.
Your Personal Values
Everyone has personal values that make you who you are. For better or for worse ;)
These values will either make it easy or difficult for someone to do business with you. People who have the same values will find it easy. People who don’t have the same values will find it difficult.
There are no “right” or “wrong” values, but there is danger in not knowing what yours are. Each time someone asks you to do business in a way that is against your values, it will feel bad. And by having this clarity, it can really help you get comfortable doing business in the ways that work for YOU, and not any other way it “should” be done.
For example, one of my values is teamwork. I grew up playing team sports, coaching team sports, and leading corporate teams. I believe that the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts, and as leaders, it’s our responsibility to bring the team together to win.
So, if you believe in doing everything on your own, not leaning on others when you need it, or taking credit for all the wins around you, we’re going to butt heads. A LOT. And I can feel confident that my solution is not for you, and wish you well in your journey.
Your Core Beliefs
Unlike values, beliefs are actually assumptions. Things that we assume to be true. They may or may NOT be true, and they live inside us nonetheless.
Generally, beliefs are based upon certainties (e.g. mathematical principles), probabilities or matters of faith, and can come from different sources, including:
a person’s own experiences or experiments
the acceptance of cultural and societal norms (e.g. religion)
what other people say (e.g.education or mentoring).
While I’m a big believer that most mindsets can be changed, core beliefs go one level deeper. They have become part of who you believe yourself to be (again, for better or for worse) and attempting to change them is an attempt to change a part of yourself that you highly covet.
If you are religious, how easy will it be for you to work with someone who is atheist? If you believe in vaccinations, how hard is it to have a conversation with someone that doesn’t?
How in depth you want to discuss these things in your marketing I address below. AND, it’s important to decide how you want to deal with people who have other core beliefs. Are you a “block and ignore” kind of person? Or are you actually interested in hearing their perspective. It’s critical to be honest with yourself as this makes up a huge part of your personal brand.
Your Expertise & Skills
For however many years you’ve been in the workforce, you have gained expertise and skills that are unique to you.
That’s right. UNIQUE TO YOU.
I’ll use myself as an example. I have my BComm with a major in Marketing. My BComm education (on paper) is the same as anyone else’s. But the projects I worked on, the people I met, the teachers I had, and the experiences I had alongside my education, are 100% unique to me. Which means, I have a unique way of looking at that information and incorporating it into my solutions.
It’s the same with industry experience. I’ve worked in marketing for 15 years. I’ve had different bosses at different companies (at different points in their growth), different training opportunities with different coaches/trainers, different co-workers with different challenges. 100% unique to me.
And that doesn’t even go into anything in my personal life. Competitive sports with different coaches. Personal development opportunities. Becoming a mother. Starting my own business.
So, yes. There may be lots of people doing" “the same thing” as you. But they aren’t actually doing it the same ;)
What Your Personal Brand is NOT
Everyone has some messy parts of their story. Everyone. That’s what makes you who you are. Those times may have helped you learn about a personal value that you don’t want to sacrifice. They may have created a core belief about how you want to interact with other people. They may have helped you develop a mindset, or another type of expertise that is a critical strength of your personal brand. That doesn’t mean that you have to talk about it; especially in your marketing.
Marketing is about sharing. Sharing a solution to someone’s problem. That solution is influenced by your story. But your STORY isn’t what people need to hear. They need to hear (and believe) that you can help them. That’s it.
Marketing Newsflash: no one actually cares about YOU. They care about getting their problem solved ;)
Interested in seeing what this looks like for you? Check out an upcoming Personal Branding Workshop!
