Create Your Own Brand: Personal Branding

Whether you’re starting your own business or looking to move up in your current role, creating your own strong personal brand is essential for successful career growth. With digital footprints shaping real-life identities, it’s no longer a question of if you have a brand, but whether you choose to work on assessing and polishing it.

Just like branding for organizations and companies, building your personal brand in the workplace and beyond requires a clear tone, unique voice, and authentic actions. In her “Becoming the Boss” book, millennial workplace expert Lindsey Pollack says, “You want to know what your current reputation is so you can continue to reinforce what you are doing well and build your reputation in new areas you want to be known for.”

Below, we take a look at how to measure your existing personal brand, so you can begin taking the steps to improve and elevate it.

Identifying Your Personal Brand

Self-employed woman working with sewing machine in studio by Diego Cervo

1. Conduct a Personal SWOT

Any good business model starts with a well-thought-out SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. But this type of analysis isn’t specific only to businesses. Spend some time thoroughly thinking through your personal and professional strengths and weaknesses. Write down words that you associate with each set; circle the traits you want to elevate and underline the words you want to eliminate.

When considering opportunities, think through projects that will let you implement new characteristics of your personal brand. Then, when considering threats, refer back to your weaknesses. Is lack of patience a weakness? Identify upcoming projects or presentations that could test this attribute.

2. Request Feedback from Colleagues

It’s important to get feedback and constructive criticism from current and former colleagues, mentors, supervisors, family, and friends when evaluating your personal branding strategy. Take time to sit down for coffee or even connect over LinkedIn and find out which areas you excel at, where you could improve, and what adjectives they would use to describe you. Push them to truly be open and honest so that you can grow as a professional.

3. Audit Your Digital Footprint

The easiest way to learn about your personal brand is to Google yourself. Understand the trajectory of your digital footprint. Which websites is your name associated with? What images are showing up as the first results? Which social platforms are included in the search results? As a rule of thumb, always un-tag or delete anything you wouldn’t want your mother (or boss) to see.

Enhancing Your Personal Brand

Pensive businessman sitting in front of laptop in office by Pressmaster

1. Develop Your Personal Mission Statement

If you had to summarize what you stand for as a professional in 140 characters or less, what would it be? Identify two or three key adjectives and action items and develop the mission statement of you. Not only will this statement serve as the compass to your professional development, but it can also act as the opening of your elevator speech.

2. Register Your Online Identity

Claiming your domain name is easy with free tools like Instant Domain Search. Even if you have no plans to create a personal website or blog, claiming your name as a registered domain is a smart move and can prevent future claims to your personal brand. Also claim your unique IDs on personal and professional social sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Having a consistent ID across your profiles will give them a more professional look, plus it makes it easy to share your information with colleagues, acquaintances, and potential clients.

3. Network, Network, Network

There’s no better way to practice your updated brand than in conversations with new people. Look for industry luncheons and happy hours or company training sessions and all-staff meetings to put your new personal brand standards to the test. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback as people become closer confidants, and never pass up an opportunity to network.

A good personal brand will lay the foundation for professional success. Once you establish the groundwork, make time on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis to check in with yourself. Re-evaluate your SWOT, spend some time with your digital self, and request feedback from colleagues. And remember: your personal brand is an evolving process, not something to set and forget.

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