First impressions can be challenging. In today's increasingly virtual environment, it can be even harder to pin down. It's not practical to tell people our entire life story in a resume or video conference introduction, and words aren't everything. And that's where this latest marketing trend has emerged: personal branding. I'll define it as conscious and consistent self-presentation. Here's a story to emphasize its importance: A few years ago, a co-worker was going through a divorce and was back in the dating scene. We grilled him at lunch every day, just for fun. He was in his early-40s, had children, a busy career...and zero time to waste with a woman's online dating profile. He complained about profiles that said, "I like to dress up, but I still like to wear jeans. And, I like to go out, but I also love staying at home, too." Then he looked at me and said, "Also we are looking to date YOU, not your dog...don't post pictures of your dog. Just post cute pics of yourself and skip all the words. That's all." Okaaay. Point taken. What he said is 100% relevant to personal branding. And it's not just for online dating profiles. When people present themselves as anything-goes and feel the need to check all the boxes, it leaves their audience with, at best, zero impression. Or worse, it appears that they don't want to commit to a personality, in hopes of appealing to a wider audience. Whether it is social or professional networking, trying to please everyone is a bad strategy. The goal is to increase the quality of our connections, not the quantity. So how do we go about doing that? There have been many ads around personal brand development, career consultants, and executive coaches. Can they help you? Probably so. Can you start on the brand discovery process yourself, before asking for outside consultation? Absolutely. After some years of research and practice, I have laid out a process for brand profiling. Even better, it costs little to no money...but you do need to spend some time on it. And by showing you my own personal brand as an example, you will see how the entire brand story unfolds. Let's give it a go, shall we? Personality Chances are, you have taken a personality profile test through your employer, or on your own. Go back through that data, and take a few more tests and see how consistent the results are. DiSC®, Myers Briggs Type Indicator®, CliftonStrengths, and 16 Personalities are among the most popular tests. I am an Myers Briggs INFP Mediator type, and a DiSC D/C Creative Pattern, which are both introverted, detailed, creative, and often misunderstood personality profiles. In my DiSC pattern description, it is noted that my personality has opposing/contrasting/contradictory forces: I like things ready ASAP, and I also want it to be perfect. Let this statement set the tone for what happens as we continue to build my brand. Projects With that personality profile, there are certain kinds of projects you gravitate towards. And there are tasks your personality totally despises, too. This is where you need to remember that your personal brand focuses on what you naturally enjoy, rather than try to list all these things we want to improve one day. Pinterest is a great tool to collect projects, whether it is fashion, recipes, life event planning, health/fitness, travel or DIY interests. Try stalking your own social media posts for some insight on what interests you. Do your projects have a pattern or unifying theme? Are they very technical and detailed, or are they more spontaneous and freeform? Take note of why you enjoy these projects and how they suit your skillset. You will also notice if they align with your personality test, are they team-oriented, individual projects, or both? Much of this process is about stalking yourself online to see what kind of stories you tell, or appear to tell. Here's a series of photos from my Instagram account. Browns, blacks, greys, pinks, creams...and lots of asymmetry and texture among all of them. My projects tend to be about food, art, and gardens, with pets nearby. Everything is freeform and evolves in some loosely-planned way. The ideas progress much better when I collaborate with one or two people, rather than a large group. I often have unrealistic expectations for results to be absolutely perfect - even when I am fully aware that my project is very experimental and risky. Can we make that a brand value? Possibly. Palette Here's where we get into the fashion and all that slick styling stuff. There are favorite colors, there are habitual colors, and colors we don't optimize to their full potential. You may need someone to help you with this, if you feel less color-savvy. Take a look at what colors you use in your surroundings - the office, home, car, garden, clothes, etc. Think about what colors have earned compliments, or what colors just make you feel most comfortable. Using a color app like Pantone® Connect is free and very helpful in finding color harmonies and palettes for clothing, decor, and more. I used the phone app version to extract colors from my apartment, closet, and website...and explore all the parallels and contrasts. I am a color nerd, so this is possibly less interesting to you. Find a visual friend or family member to help here, and it will change your life. I promise. Check out my Pinterest brand board. Generally, I like a minimalist and monochromatic wardrobe, but with some stacked sparkly rings and/or a pop of color or print - like animal print shoes or sunglasses. Because I love contrast, my dark hair has very pale colored pieces in the front. My preferences for home decor have Art Deco or Hollywood Regency elements in it, and it tends to be very eclectic due to the mix of styles and colors. I also added some favorite quotes, which are about introversion and being oneself. From there, I used the Pantone Connect app to extract colors from a screenshot of that same board. I also took a picture of myself at home, just to see if I could find similar colors from that extraction. The answer is yes. My brand colors reflect my everyday lifestyle, formal and informal. I am wearing a baggy grey shirt, grey sweatpants, and grey and black striped socks with brown and white mushrooms on it. You will find those colors in the Pantone palette below. Do you see similar colors across my website? You know you do. Performance I like my data. Performance reviews, recommendations, and feedback are not necessarily scientific, but there's a good chance you have a lot of this kind of information. This makes your sample size pretty large, and statistically significant. Where do you get the highest scores? What do people always say they admire about you? Ignore what you mother might have said, because bias is a real thing. How does this overlap with your personality profile results and pet projects list? You will find a pattern within the information. My most frequent feedback: creative thinker, imaginative, artistic, dependable, good listener/explainer, patient, voice-of-reason, go-to team player, understands gray area concepts vs. black or white, trustworthy, unconventional, vocal, and nonconformist. You can see how those last three may not necessarily be seen as positive, but they are my truth. Playlist This one is a little unexpected, but hear me out. What does your playlist tell you? What kinds of music, podcasts, and radio shows do you follow? Do you have certain go-to theme songs or playlists for different moods? What's the story behind the connection? For example, apps like Spotify and Pandora® can really tell you a lot about your listening patterns. As you can see with my latest Spotify history, it's quite eclectic. Electronic, throwback Latin dance hits, and indie rock. Pulling it all together
And there you have it, a fairly deep dive into what makes you tick. You may not realize it, but we have gone through what appeals to all five senses. It will be a lot of information, some of it will be random and peripheral. What do I want you to do with all this information? You will need to distill it down to the most compelling and consistent behaviors across all categories. Once you declutter in each category, you will be left with a concise set of brand values and aesthetics. Effective personal branding consistently tells the story of your distinctive personality, your truths, your essence. As we discussed at the beginning of the process, branding is the practice of building connections through your storytelling. Keep things really real: this is about showcasing your best self. Your natural talents. Avoid going down the path of an "I should be/do/try" brand profile. Think about all those times you think, "this is so me!" and when people tell you, "wow, that really suits you." My sister's best friend observed how I like to get up and into certain topics and it was such an epiphany. It's true - and branding is one of those topics. It's those authentic personality bits that we are drawing out in this process...so that we are making meaningful connections. What bits did I retain? I find a pattern of creativity (often improvisational), contrast, simplicity, eclecticism (I am a minimalist, yet I like to mix unusual things together), experimental risks, trust, introversion, perfectionism, and curiosity (despite my unrealistic expectations, I keep learning and trying new things). Even though I'm not a meticulous mathematician, I have made wonderful friends with impeccable architects and engineers, and they think my freeform insanity is possibly magical. Personal branding helps us tap into our intuition. Trust your intuition, build your brand with it. Brands build trust. Share your discoveries with a good listener, and see what they might have to add. We can take this list and take it one step further. In my next post, I will talk about how we can package these results into an actionable plan. Comments are closed.
|
AboutA curated discussion of marketing trends. ArchivesCategories |