The Top Three Strategies for Designing your Personal Brand
Written on the 17 April 2011 by Rachel Quilty, Personal Brand Strategist, Author and Speaker
We asked Rachel Quilty, Personal Branding Strategist and CEO of Jump the Q what the three most important strategies were for designing your Personal Brand.
Rachel provided the following advice on her top three strategies for defining, building and positioning your personal brand for success.
Ensure you determine and define:
- Your Brand Purpose
- Your Brand Position, and
- Your Brand Preparation
1. Your Brand Purpose
To build a strong brand requires a clear understanding of who you are. Your personal brand is shaped by your core values, attributes, qualities, your unique and signature talents, accomplishments and your goals.
I believe everyone has a purpose and God given assignment as such. Personal branding provides the opportunity to discover that purpose and to determine your unique path. This is the surprising aspect about personal branding, that most people don’t appreciate until they start the journey.
One of the most significant traps in personal branding is not being intentional with your brand purpose. Determining who you are and what you want to achieve is foundational to building a personal brand. Coco Chanel once said, ”How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.” How true! Personal brand momentum accelerates when you know who you are and where you’re going.
Often, we do not know our life purpose immediately. More often, walking through the personal branding actions steps facilitates a deeper understanding of your life purpose as we start to focus on defining your personal brand.
The leaders with the most influential personal brands have always decided for themselves what they want their personal brand to be. They are also very intentional and passionate about promoting their personal brand with their target audience.
Madonna, was asked, “What next?” after her Number One album, ‘Like a Virgin’ was released. Madonna replied, “I want to rule the world.”
Oprah is often quoted as saying, “I want to be loved by everyone.”
And Warren Buffett, in one interview when questioned about his amazing wealth said, “I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.”
Personal branding enables you to define and communicate your area of expertise.
Who is more persuasive someone who may be knowledgeable on a topic or someone one is on purpose, passionate and has a life mission to educate in their field of expertise?
2. Your Brand Position
An important distinction to successful branding is to design your Personal Brand very intentionally positioning your brand. Our goal is to brand our clients as the Authority in their field or industry. So we start with the end in mind.
When we develop our Brand Yourself Action Plan through this filter or with this distinction in mind, it can promote subtle adjustments that will distinguish and differentiate your brand.
You need to understand your brand in terms of differentiation. In other words, standing out from the crowd and marketability, that is, providing other people what they want or need. Why should someone choose your brand?
As tangible differences in actual services and products diminish, the client’s perception of your brand has now become the key market place differentiator. This is particularly the case in direct sales where products maybe identical.
By creating a game plan that builds visibility, credibility and positions you as the authority you tell colleagues, prospects, and customers you are the “only choice” brand. You position yourself so there is no alternative.
By branding yourself the authority opportunities come to you.
3. Your Brand Preparation
Some many people are provided opportunities which they don’t take advantage of. I see it in simple matters, such as returning a phone call, creating an article when requested, providing a gift voucher or responding promptly to emails.
When you prepared opportunities are easy to take advantage of. If you have put in place the right preparation, can respond quickly and professionally you further enhance your brand.
For example, when you first started developing your brand you may never have considered that you would have a public speaking role.
As an industry expert or the authority in your field ... however, you may be called on to give an interview to a journalist or speak at your industry’s annual conference. Preparation includes taking a strategic and systematic approach to building your brand expertise.
For example to prepare you for the opportunity to speak, for example, have you a bio, head shot photo, overview of presentation, speaker introduction, presentation, presentation handouts or free report, offering, follow up offer, template thank you email and request for feedback and testimonials email.
Later as your exposure increases and you are afforded different and usually more profitable opportunities. Again ask yourself what do you now feel you could achieve as the authority in your field? It could be conducting training or keynote presentations around the globe. Maybe your media training and insight now reveals that your own lifestyle TV program is a distinct possibility.
In an interview with Julia Roberts of ‘ Pretty Women’ fame, Julia said she lucky. Oprah responded that ‘ Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.’
How true!
How do your rate your
- Brand Purpose
- Brand Position, and
- Brand Preparation?
About the Author: Rachel Quilty, Personal Brand Strategist, known as ‘the Authority’ on personal branding and author of must- have book ‘Brand Yourself’ now available at http://www.brandyourselfbook.com . Rachel regularly speaks at seminars, conferences and workshops on personal branding, professional image and developing your signature brand.
Rachel has also been featured in Australia on the Today show as well various national radio programs. She has also been featured in national press including the Sun Herald and the Weekend Australian and popular magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Cleo and Marie Claire.
Rachel encourages Jump the Q clients to strategically and systematically leverage your professional profile and build your personal brand to become the authority in your industry.
We assist you to develop your Personal Brand Strategy by:
- Discovering your purpose.
- Designing your best personal brand.
- Devising a personal marketing plan.
- Developing your Signature Brand.
Brand Yourself! and Jump the Q! http://www.JumptheQ.com.au FREE strategic style tips to build your Personal Brand and Develop your Signature Style www.brandyourselfblueprint.com. Your brand should reflect your abilities and potential. With our Personal Branding Action Plan and Strategic Style sessions -brand yourself for success. Get your FREE Strategic Q Style Tips today!Get your free personal branding tactics http://www.brandyourselfblueprint.com
Improving your brand is an investment in building your personal profile, reputation and the results you will achieve.
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