‘Personal Brand’ doesn’t always mean that you, a person, are your brand – but it can. Many celebrities are a brand, and that brand is the primary source of value they provide. When Tom Cruise is hired for a movie, the producers understand that he will do a workmanlike, professional job on set (I understand that those are key assets to the “Tom Cruise brand”), but those aren’t the brand attributes they are employing. If a “brand” represents expectations that people bring to bear on that brand (and that is a textbook definition of what “brand” means in a modern sense), then the movie producers hire Tom Cruise because they understand which assets he brings to the film after it’s all done. People generally know what to expect from a Tom Cruise film – they have a set of expectations that they trust will be met by the film’s star. Those attributes reflect onto the film content too, because their expectations are high that Tom Cruise will only star in a movie that is made with a certain level of quality – he must choose associations with care that will further support and enhance his brand.
So, you’re not Tom Cruise. How does this apply to you?
You have a personal brand, right now. It may not be broadly understood by thousands – it may only be known by dozens – but there are at least a dozen people out there with clear expectations of what you can (and can’t) provide. They have a sense of the assets you bring with you – your experiences, your education, your personality, goals, and your values. There exists a sense of trust that is already established – even if their trust is in fact distrust. Either way, they have a preconceived sense of your value and ability. This is, in its essence, your personal brand – it’s how your unique collection of assets is understood and perceived by others, and how that understanding affects and motivates their expectations of you is what you need to grasp. It will affect the choices you make, and it will influence the success you have in achieving your chosen goals.
A personal brand can be influenced much like you’d influence a conventional brand. You can advertise, you can seed key messages, you can engage public relations outreach, you can carefully craft your social media messaging, and you can even hire a sales team to champion your virtues. The challenge arises when active marketing runs against the grain of who you really are. In other words, if you are a thoughtful introvert, and your personality works beneficially with your career goals (let’s say you are a children’s writer), then gregarious advertisements and cheesy marketing statements will ring false. If your audience doesn’t like what they are seeing, and if it doesn’t resonate with them as being authentic, then overt “marketing” probably won’t work. With personal branding, being true to yourself is everything – because if you’re selling something other than yourself, you’re going to hate the results.
They key element with personal branding is fundamental to understanding any brand – you have to understand who your target audience is first. If you think your target audience is “everyone” then you are wrong. Even religion doesn’t target everyone – some people simply aren’t going to buy what you’re selling. You need to consider geographical boundaries (if you aren’t planning to ever visit Arizona, don’t target an audience there). You need to consider demographics. Psychographics. Lots of graphics. And it’s not difficult to do – if you can’t choose who to target, at least make a long list of who you’re not targeting – like Arizona, for example.
The point is – if your personality is big enough to reach effortlessly around the world, then world domination is a goal worth pursuing, and the goods that you are marketing (yourself) may be up for the task – but you still have to be true to yourself. If your personality is less enormous, but your goals are also more measured, then understanding your best self is your best advantage. If you are reaching for a targeted audience, then the world (if not your home town) is a big place – and with your best-self presented well, you will find your target. They are out there, and without knowing it, they already looking for you.
Understand how to communicate the best “you” that you possibly can, and then do it.
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