5 Steps To Build A Personal Brand That Helps You Reach Your Goals
Strong personal branding accelerates your path to success. Have you already taken these fives steps to build a memorable personal brand?
Every professional woman needs a personal brand.
Not only influencers, entrepreneurs or industry leaders - each and every one of us. Professionals, experts, aspiring entrepreneurs and women in the first steps of their careers.  A strong personal brand defines what you stand for, what you’re an expert in and how you can help others. Having a clear brand makes it easier to find your next career opportunity, tpo attract the talent your team needs or to land your next dream client.
But how to start building one?
- Admit you are a brand
We all have our personal brand, whether we’ve built it consciously or not. We communicate our brand, our beliefs, goals, ambitions and expertise through informal WhatsApp chats, body language and social media presence as well as through well-prepared presentations and speeches.
These messages, be they intentional or unintentional, build our professional brand and impact how our colleagues and clients see us.
Since this branding is happening unconsciously anyway, why not leverage it and put some intentional thought into your brand? Communicating your values and ambitions clearly accelerates your career growth and makes reaching your goals quicker and easier.
- Stick to one message
Building your brand starts with a strong message. What do you want to be known for? What is the one problem you can help your clients solve? Which topic do you want to be an expert in?
Many ambitious, talented professionals stumble with this step, because they are afraid of narrowing down their expertise. They wish to impress their entourage by showcasing all the different areas they master, but unfortunately, end up confusing their audience and diluting their brand.
Showing up with a clear, defined message makes it easy for your audience to engage with you - and to remember you.
This is why it’s important to build your personal brand on a strong, well-defined message, even when you have a rich background and plenty of experience to share.
- Speak to your targeted audience
Once you’re clear of what is the message to build your brand upon, it’s time to think about your audience and narrow it down to the people who matter most to you.
Here many professionals and entrepreneurs flail as well. They start wondering if narrowing down your audience excludes someone. They get worried about missing out.
In reality, however, focusing on a defined target group makes it easier to get your message across. When you know who you’re talking to, you can adapt the topics and the language to meet their expectations. It increases your chances of being seen and heard.
As a bonus, it will also make your job easier, because you don’t have to participate in all discussion on all possible platforms. Focus on those that are relevant to your message, and hang on networks, platforms and events where your key audience does.
- Show up consistently
Now that you’ve determined the foundation of your brand, it’s time to step out of the closet.
Your brand is not something theoretic that happens only in your mind or on paper. It’s something that gets its final shape in interaction with your audience.
It’s important to show up consistently. Choose a few platforms that are relevant to your message and your audience instead of aiming to be present everywhere, all the time. In the beginning, you can even start with only one platform.
These platforms can be digital, such as social media communities like LinkedIn or Facebook. But don’t undermine in-person networks or professional online networks (like Professional Women’s Network) either! They are great places to strengthen your brand and connect with others in your industry.
- Embrace controversy
One question I often get at this point of discussion in workshops or webinars is this: How clearly should you voice your own brand? Is it better to be rather neutral or to stimulate discussion? What if I start getting angry comments and critique?
My advice is to not shy away from controversy. It’s okay to stand behind your values, and if your brand is too neutral, it’s again not very memorable or clear. Answering questions and stimulating discussions are great ways to position yourself as an expert.
This being said, the level of controversy depends of course on your personality - and your brand. The discussion, even critique is okay, as long as you stay authentic and respectful. Disrespectful comments and messages deserve to be deleted and blocked.
Ask questions, correct inconsistencies and engage authentically with your audience. Authenticity builds rapport and helps you forge lasting relationships that help you reach your most ambitious career goals.
About Pauliina:
Pauliina Rasi is a communications consultant and copywriter for ambitious professionals with mighty missions. She helps entrepreneurs and professionals alike to get their message across and connect with their audience so that they can reach their goals more quickly and turn their vision into a reality.
PWN Global members can watch the recording of the webinar she hosted in collaboration with PWN Global about Building Your Personal Brand in a Digital World - and download your Personal Branding Toolkit that helps you implement the steps. Not a member and want to join PWN, so that you can access this and many more great resources? Join here.
Author: Pauliina Rasi
Date: April 2021 |
