Your brand is the translation of what you recognise as the real you, into an engaging message about the contribution you make, for a specific audience. Given the obvious benefits of having a clear and memorable marketing message that speaks to the needs of our audience, why are we so reluctant to take the necessary steps to identify and leverage our personal brand?
I believe, this is because, many of us harbour a discomfort about trading on who we are and the difference we make, up front. To consciously access who we know ourselves to be, can feel a little bit like taking your clothes off in public! And yet, if you cannot be comfortable with, even celebrate that person, why would anyone else?
Separating personal introspection from brand presentation
To cover our embarrassment we are inclined to fudge the required personal introspection and pass quickly to the second stage of brand building, which is what we think our audience wants to hear. The moment we do this we lose the energy produced by the conscious emotional connection and ownership that carries our deep conviction and intention. The message is driven by what our audience might want rather than a marriage of what we can't help doing with what they can't help wanting.
There are many approaches to connecting with your personal brand, many of them unnecessarily complicated in my view. We already know who we are, all we need is a simple way of accessing this self knowledge that is easy and makes sense to us.
Personal brand made simple in two easy steps
There are many approaches to connecting with your personal brand, many of them unnecessarily complicated in my view. We already know who we are, all we need is a simple way of accessing this self knowledge that is easy and makes sense to us.
After many iterations I have developed a fast and efficient way of doing just this, it consists of two steps. The first uses a bespoke set of images to help you connect emotionally with who you know yourself to be and accept the inevitability of the difference that makes in the world. This is your Intuitive personal brand it is indeed personal and for your eyes only but it is the juice that drives your contribution.
The second step is separate and distinct. The difference between the freedom of brainstorming and the discipline of choosing options. When you have taken on board the enormity of your genius, you are ready to consider at a more intellectual level, how this passion can be communicated in terms that make sense to your target audience. This is your Focused personal brand
An example
To illustrate how this works in practice I will talk you through the intuitive and focused personal brands of a client who works with executives on their colour and styling. She was struggling to communicate her brand effectively when talking to potential clients, which was impacting on her marketing and sales. In a couple of sessions she was able to take ownership of her unique talent in this field, and communicate her inevitable excitement in a way that connected instantly with her audience. A strangely familiar yet enlightening experience.
You can see on the mind map above, her intuitive personal brand is: Encouraging self expression and individuality by drawing on the colour and magic in nature. Her passion for this contribution immediately became apparent as she explained what she actually does and it enabled her to brain storm from a resourceful place giving engaging responses to the key questions we needed to ask to enable potential clients to 'get' her contribution and the difference it could make to them.
Her focused personal brand was: A colour evangelist and what she contributed was Helping people get noticed naturally. As you can see from the mind map, her story about how all this came about provided a context so her audience can gauge the authenticity of her contribution at a human level.
The results
She was delighted! It all slotted into place and my client felt confirmed in what she can't help being - a colour evangelist! Since then she has experienced a greater ease in her conversations with potential clients and more important, seen a significant increase in bookings amongst her target client group.
Becoming consciously aware of and being able to articulate, both your intuitive and focused personal brands allows you to instantly describe what you can contribute and what difference it makes in any situation. If we can overcome our reluctance we can connect with the genius in every last one of us, that allows us to create and contribute our unique gifts in a way no one else can. No one can be you as well as you can! Why wouldn't you want that?