Recently, I presented at a Finance Leadership Summit, my perspective on creating and enhancing your personal brand. What I found interesting is the number of people who never think about their personal brand unless they’re job hunting – that’s the time that they update their CV and online profile platforms and consider the job done. But your personal brand is much more than that. Your brand is formed from your family values, influences, skills and experiences, and it’s on show every day, with every interaction you have, be it face to face or online. It’s the story of you. It’s the way people perceive you. And it’s much more than an online profile.
I started to become aware of my personal brand about 15 years ago. Over time I’ve learned more about it. I developed a 5 step process for helping me get clear on how to create the personal brand I want and how to keep it evolving and relevant all the time (not just when I’m looking to change jobs). I’d like to share it with you.
You start by defining your strategy, by thinking about what you want your brand to achieve for you. Then spend some time assessing your current brand profile against the strategy you’ve just defined, and make the changes you need to close that gap. Promoting your brand is fundamental to achieving your plan. Consider the channels, both face to face and online that you would use to promote yourself. Finally, take the time to regularly evaluate the results to make sure it’s aligning back to the strategy.
Want to know more, or need some help to make your personal brand stand out? Contact me at sue@uniqueprofile.co.nz and we can have a chat.