Imagine if you could know exactly how others see you. How your personal brand is. In this way, you would be able to make full use of your strengths and qualities and appear both fascinating and valuable. Read along as we review how to identify and use your personal brand.
It may be that you lack impact or visibility in your day-to-day life. Maybe you're an entrepreneur, an external representative of your company or maybe you just want the business to grow (who doesn't?). Either way, your personal brand is important. Other people's perception of you can both increase and destroy your revenue.
You probably don't know much about what most celebrities are like as individuals, but you know them as a personal brand. In fact, we all have a personal brand within the social circles we move in. It could be that you are the annoying little brother, a hysterically funny friend or a tireless and efficient employee. Take control of how you are perceived and consciously use it to create more value for yourself and others.
Branding expert and author Sally Hogshead explains in this article the key to becoming more fascinating as a personal brand and to mastering other people's perception of you.
It's about focusing less on your weaknesses and stopping trying to fix them. How you perceive yourself and the world is irrelevant to your performance. It's about how the world sees you. It is therefore about branding. The psychological aspects can be taken care of by DISC and similar analyses.
The key is to focus on creating value for others. According to Hogshead, you do this by first identifying three core characteristics about yourself based on these seven personality categories:
Which ones suit you? These three characteristics will henceforth be the foundation for your way of acting.
If you e.g. are very direct in your appearance, so let this be your starting point: You start your presentation straight and hard, and you do it with confidence and exuberance, because being direct is authentic to you. Being yourself gives you strength.
If, on the other hand, you are more exuberant, spontaneous and creative, then this is the approach you should always choose. Because this is where you are strongest. This is where you contribute something of special value. This is your brand.
Those who perform best deliver a very specific value and thus do not try to please everyone in every way. They know where they are most likely to add value and where they can differentiate themselves from others, and they target this area.
These "high performers" are extra good at something or other, which other people then associate them with. They are authentic about their expertise and are therefore sought after precisely on this basis.
Just like other brands, your personal brand is all about identifying your core areas and then excelling exactly there – and not everywhere else. You leave that to others.
Forget your shortcomings and only ask yourself what makes you different. How do you differentiate yourself so you can make a difference? How do people perceive you when you are at your best? Are you creative or analytical or something else entirely? Use this to make yourself interesting and add value.
Once you've answered the questions above, you'll be able to take control of your personal brand, just as you would your business brand. And the social media is an obvious place to start, according to Jimmy Rohampton of Forbes. Here he gives four good tips on how to:
What do you want people to think when they see or hear your name? Here, your personal and professional qualities may merge, which can become a bit blurred. But follow Sally Hogshead's approach from before. Maybe you're looking for authenticity, expertise and authority?
On the digital platforms, it is typically about delivering content that relates to your niche. It can, for example, be a blog about innovation that illustrates your expertise, passion and desire to share knowledge. Digital content must always be created in a way that makes it easy to share with others and who are engaged.
Maybe you need a personal website? One that presents your information, your experience and links to your business, your publications and all your digital presences?
Another piece of advice from Jimmy Rohampton is to form relationships with other well-regarded experts in your niche. You can create great value for each other by exposing each other's content and expertise.
Also, proactively reach out to the press and offer stories relevant to your niche. Once the contact with the press is established, you can more easily become a go-to source and thus an expert in your niche.
First of all, it's a good idea to Google yourself often. What pops up? You can activate "Google Alerts", which remind you when someone mentions your name online. You should use Google to read other people's perception of you and your personal brand. Adjust to fit the brand you want.
This also applies to your profiles on social media. The content must be suitable 100 % for the brand. You want to be seen as an expert, but at the same time also as a human being.
You must be in control of yours LinkedIn profile, but please also consider whether Twitter, Instagram and especially Facebook is the way forward for you. Perhaps you should have both a personal and a business profile?
It is extremely important that you are considered an expert right now, but also five years into the future. If you do not signal that you are up to date on all the new things that are happening in your niche, then you will soon be overtaken within by others. Without constant relevance, a personal brand does not work.
It also means that you are available and willing to communicate and share with your customers, followers and contacts. Be present, be generous and create value. These are the building blocks of your personal brand.
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