8 Steps To Create Your Personal Brand
HOW TO CREATE A PERSONAL BRAND THAT STANDS OUT
In case you need a refresh, personal branding is the strategic practice of working out what you want people to think about you, your knowledge, and your business followed by building and executing a plan to achieve that goal. Defining your personal brand shows audiences that you’re authentic, trustworthy, and credible. It also boosts your brand recognition and sets you apart from the competition. If you’re looking to grow your network, monetize your social media presence, or take your career to the next level, you probably want to start focusing on defining your personal brand.
It’s important to note that like everything, it depends. This is the strategy I recommend from my experience helping others with their professional brand and building my own personal brand. But fuck me. The most important part of building a personal brand is authenticity, so if it doesn’t feel authentic to you don’t do it. Ignore the norms and do things the way that you want. I’m here to provide suggestions so take what you want from the remainder of this blog.
STEP 1: DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE
You want to be super fucking clear on what you want to be known for. Everything you do should come back to this purpose so you need to have it clearly defined and you should probably keep it simple. If I asked “What’s your purpose?” and you stumble over your words or take more than 20 seconds to answer my question, your purpose isn’t clearly defined. Think of this like your elevator pitch. You only have a couple of seconds to pitch your brand so make it count. If you’re not sure where to start, here’s a simple way to break down your purpose:
[ who you are ]
[ what you do ]
[ who you do it for ]
[ why you do it/how it helps them ]
I’m a physical therapist turned graphic designer helping other health and performance specialists boost their career through branding.
STEP 2: GET TO KNOW YOURSELF
If you want to build a brand that accurately reflects your identity, you need to make sure you know who you are. Personal branding isn’t about creating a new identity; it’s about finding your strengths and highlighting what makes you unique. Start with a self assessment. What are you passionate about? What are your strengths? What are you shit at? Where can you offer a unique insight? If you’re not comfortable with self reflection, ask your closest friends, family, coworkers, or even your audience to write up what they think of you. Choose whoever will be honest with you and give you an accurate description of how you portray yourself.
STEP 3: CONSTRUCT YOUR STORY
Large companies invest a lot of time and money to come up with their brand story. You’ve actually got a leg up here because your story should be pretty organic and not require a ton of effort. There’s plenty of evidence out there that the human brain responds best to a story so it can benefit you to actually write yours out. People gravitate to real people so creating a story that’s authentic, relatable, and aligned with your business goals can create a meaningful relationship with your audience. My brand story, for example, is about how I used to be a PT and turned that into a whole new career that helps other PTs. It’s important because it provides me with a bit of authority in the field, allows my audience to get to know me, and it also showcases my understanding of what you need most.
Some advice? The “I suffered an injury” story is tired. That’s not to say you can’t use it but find a way to 1) make it yours and 2) tie it back to your audience instead of making it all about you.
STEP 4: FIND YOUR WEIRD
Weird may seem like an odd word to choose but it was actually quite intentional. Merriam says it’s “of strange or extraordinary character” and that’s exactly how I mean it. The internet is full of noise. You will not be the first person to make their online presence about treating ACL injuries. So what about you will make you louder than the noise? Chances are it’s what makes you unique. When you stumble across someone who is loudly themself on social media you’re almost immediately drawn to it because so many people present the boring, “socially acceptable” version of themselves. Be flawed, loud, dramatic, sarcastic, inappropriate, or competitive. The goal of a personal brand is to stand out. It can be terrifying to go against the grain but if you want to optimize your brand you need to lean into your weird.
STEP 5: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
You know what else is terrifying? Choosing a niche. Most people fear that creating too narrow of an audience will limit them, when the opposite tends to be true. Fully understanding your audience gives you the ability to speak directly to them. This will help you in creating content that they actually give a shit about and create a bond that you wouldn’t be able to if you kept it broad. Identify the basics (age, gender, location) of your audience but then start treating them more as a person than a demographic. What do they care about? What are their values? What sort of a problem are they dealing with? How can you help? Not only will this help you create content that actually resonates with your audience but it will help you connect with them on a less superficial level.
STEP 6: CREATE YOUR VISUALS
Finally the part I love. Now this could include a ton of things. If you’re committed to your personal brand, you might have a logo or a brand mark. Is it essential? No. But if you see yourself monetizing your personal brand, having a professional identifier may be a solid investment. It should definitely include a color palette and some font pairings. This one is non-negotiable; you need to identify them and never stray from them. Stop downloading Canva templates and just changing out the content. Make sure you know your hex codes and font names so everything is on brand. It may also be worth investing in professional photos. Having consistent imagery and a professional couple of photos can make a huge impact in how professional your brand looks.
STEP 7: WRITE IT ALL DOWN
I’m sure you have a mental image of all of these things in your head and I’m here to tell you that’s not enough. For starters, it’s easy to wander. You want it written down so you can continue coming back to it and ensuring that every step you take in your personal brand is consistent. But more than that, writing it down will challenge you. Having to physically write or type it out will force you to think more deeply on how you want to word your purpose and exactly what your personality or tone of voice is. If you want a little more guidance on exactly what you should be writing down, I’ve created a personal branding template you can purchase below for only $25 (quite frankly a tiny investment if we’re talking about your career).
STEP 8: BUILD YOUR STRATEGY
More often than not, this is a social media content strategy. What type of posts are you going to put out? I like to create content buckets so it’s easy to generate ideas and make sure you’re addressing all aspects of your brand. Honestly I’m not going to help much here because your content buckets should reflect you and your audience. Plus your strategy might extend far beyond a social media presence. Maybe you’re focused on building your career as a podcast guest. Or maybe your goal is to start speaking more at conferences or schools. Write a book. Create a course. Do what’s right for you and your brand.
Next you need to go out and implement. Periodically I would take inventory of your personal brand and make adjustments as needed. Have you evolved? Has your audience changed? Have you been drawn in a different direction? Update your personal brand as you need to but never forget what’s most important: remain authentic. Authenticity is arguably the only thing that matters when building a personal brand. Be yourself and never think twice about that. If you download my personal branding template, every answer needs to feel genuine so you can find your corner of the world where your personality shines.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
ERIN KELLY-SULLIVAN
When you bring someone in to help with your business you really want them to understand your needs. My time as a PT gives me that background to truly understand your business, your target audience, and the field. If you want to work with someone who gets you, my specialty is helping fellow physical therapists, strength coaches, and anyone in the health and performance field reach their branding goals.
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