As I have prepared myself for the end of my current employment I have begun to learn about personal branding. branding is a part of creating your public identity. A person who has created a personal brand has their résumé, business cards, logo, website/blog, and social media all showing a cohesive picture of who you are. With all of that said where do we start? According to Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand there are specific steps which we can take to create a brand. The steps are to discover and create your brand.
Discovering Your Brand
Discovering your brand is looking inside yourself. What are your values, important relationships, what you like to do. Much of this has to do with discovering and becoming comfortable with yourself. My posts on creating mission and vision statements will help you start on this path. According to Personal Branding 101 you have found your brand when your self impression is equal to the impression others have about you.
Creating Your Brand
Creating a brand revolves around creating the uniform appearance for all the tools available to you. The tools at your disposal to use in creating your brand are:
- Business Card
- Resume
- Cover Letter
- References Document
- Portfolio
- Website / Blog
- LinkedIn Profile
- Facebook Profile
- Twitter Profile
- Video Resume
- Wardrobe
- Email Address
- Logo
- QR Code(s)
Take the time to tailor each of these items, if your industry uses them to be inline with your personal brand. Even if your industry does not generally use certain pieces of your branding kit having them ready to go will help you look sharp. It can be that bit of extra polish.
A personal brand is just like the branding done for products. Companies work hard to tell you messages. Make for yourself a set of messages you want to tell the world