I am a sucker for definitions, yet most times I find that they can be incredibly restrictive at times – welcome to a good old rambling semantics, you all.
I won’t lie, this may be an abrupt way to meet me, if it’s the first time you meander in my writing musings. Yet, as a literature and language graduate, a writer, published author and columnist (among a few other things), I have a passion for words and their meanings.
If we go for the Cambridge’s dictionary definition, branding can be summarised as
the act of giving a company a particular design or symbol in order to advertise its products and services
How does this work when you are your own brand? Defining your personal brand is a process that is carried out through strategy and planning.
In this case, my favourite ever definition comes from the ominous website PersonalBrand.com:
A personal brand is a widely-recognised and largely-uniform perception or impression of an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large.
Branding is a perception that your public and the wider audience have of you, and it can be shaped by using content, contribution, partnerships, services and intention.
Not everyone should be necessarily worried about crafting a personal brand. However, if you are the founder of a company or startup, a writer, author, influencer, creative, or (ahem) a public figure then you are your brand.
As such, personal branding is applicable to you.
When do we need a personal brand?
By me being a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I embody a few categories of individuals who would be looking into developing a personal brand – all in one neat tiny package.
Fab the writer, author and columnist for a starter, wants her content and values to be clear in her writing as much as the value and advice she shares online.
Fab the CEO, consultant and founder of Creative Impact wants her customers, her members and the 80k+ audience of her own company to have a clear picture in their hand of how the company values align with her personal story and identity.
As the same time, the brands we partner with as a company have to fit within the values we have as a brand.
Fab the creative also wants her content on Instagram, her podcast and video series to be a reflection of her personality.
So if you can relate with any of these, then you want to make sure you take the time to create a series of values that can be showcased throughout your online interactions and partnerships.
By knowing what you stand by, it will be easier to say yes or no to opportunities coming your way.
In order to create a set of values, you need to clearly understand your niche. Carve a niche, and then carve a niche within your niche. The best personal brands are very specific.
Let me use our company as an example.
Our niche for Creative Impact are conscious creatives wanting to make a positive impact on other people and the planet. We could just have picked creatives, but no, we dug deeper and truly came together as a company to understand the needs, struggles and desires of these people.
As both members of the team are also conscious creatives (myself included) our own values are what makes the company values.
The best way to come up with values for your personal brand is working on your origin story.
Why are you looking to grow your personal brand in the first place? Which service/product/company/content are you sharing with the world to make it a better place?
Practical tip: write down your WHY, your origin story in a journal. Let the ideas flow, make the piece of paper come to life for you. After you have written down your origin story, it’ll be easier to outline the values you stand by in your brand, as you’ll just need to look at the rules you have set in your own life to be happy and fulfilled.
As an example, here are some of our company values (which are well plastered on our website by the way)
- Refuse the hustle culture: we believe in the idea of what we should be working smarter, not harder. From years of working endless hours, weekends and evenings, we decided to re-write the rule book. We knew we could achieve success and reclaim our day off at the same time
- Make a bigger impact: making a positive impact goes beyond your neighbour. It’s time we come together to support the planet we live in and love.
- Collaboration over competition: we believe there is enough space for everyone – so we truly believe that everyone should be celebrated. Accountability, support, and collaboration are what make us different from all other communities out there.
- Mindset first: being in business and creating a business (may it be full time or side hustle) is 80% mindset, that’s why we strongly believe in facilitating discussions and conversations about mental health, personal development and happiness overall.
One of the aspects of my personal brand is being the founder of Creative Impact. Whenever I am talking, interacting and sharing content as the founder of Creative Impact I make sure I come back to our values as a company, so the our content can reflect that.
As I mentioned, this is just the first step to creating and nurturing a successful personal brand, and we could summarise it in three key points
- Carve a niche
- Get clear on your story and your WHY
- Carve 4/6 values that stand by the story
Next, we need to outline how to make sure your personal brand is rooted in the minds of people you interact with.
For that, we need to explore the process of personal branding and the effort to communicate and present your value to the world and how branding guidelines can do that for you.
Want to evolve your personal brand? Learn the Dos and Don’ts of rebranding.