Do you know your brand?
I don’t mean your favorite brand of soda or running shoes. I mean your personal brand.
Say what?
Aren’t brands for companies with marketing departments and advertising budgets? Yes, but a brand is more than a logo and a clever jingle. A brand encompasses how a company (or an individual) is perceived by others.
Take three female musicians as an example: Beyoncé, Madonna, and Taylor Swift. If I asked you to describe each of them, you would come up with three different answers. Why? Because they each have a distinct personal brand. What’s more, they have been intentional about crafting and refining their brand.
You and I can do the same.
Why do normal people like me need a brand?
We all have a personal brand, whether we’re aware of it or not. Our brand is a combination of our abilities, achievements, and personality. Or, more accurately, our brand is how others perceive our abilities, achievements, and personality.
Unfortunately, we can’t control how others perceive us. But we can manage what they see. If we don’t pay attention to our brand, we allow others to develop wrong ideas about who we are, what we care about, and what we’re capable of achieving.
“The truth is, if you don’t brand yourself, someone else will, and it probably won’t be the brand you had in mind.”
Catherine Kaputa in You Are A Brand
If we desire to live a life of purpose and authenticity, we need to be intentional about managing our personal brand. When we take ownership of our brand, we can begin to make it work for us rather than against us. Here are three suggestions…
Become the storyteller of your own life and take ownership of your personal brand.
Be aware of your virtual brand
The actions we take on the internet may feel invisible, but they’re actually the primary way many people “see” us.
Is your internet persona a true reflection of who you are and what you stand for, or is it a mishmash of random and conflicting messages? Is it something you’re proud of? Would you behave the same way when interacting face-to-face?
If not, it may be time to rethink the image you present and the message you’re sending out into the world. Otherwise your brand may be “the crazy woman who rants about (your pet peeve here) and posts memes of dogs wearing stupid costumes.”
Remember WWJD? We can apply it here. Before posting on social media I can ask myself “WWLD—What Would Lisa Do?” Is the action I’m about to take consistent with my values and my brand? If not, maybe I should think twice.
Reject false branding.
A personal brand is like a nickname. We can be given one by others that we don’t deserve, don’t want, or have outgrown. Wouldn’t you rather have a nickname that fits you than one that makes you cringe every time you hear it?
The same goes for your personal brand. Sometimes we get a reputation for something and then feel like we need to live up to it. For example, I have been given a reputation for making fancy desserts—and for never making the same one twice. I could have allowed that reputation to guilt me into always making new and outrageous desserts, but instead I chose to reject it (and keep my baking sanity).
Sure, I got razzed a few times for falling off my dessert pedestal, but people were happy to eat my desserts, even when they’d tasted them before.
Redirecting a skewed brand image works best by positive reinforcement. Make a point of doing more of what you want people to associate with your brand, and less of what you don’t. If people have been ignoring your abilities you may have to toot your own horn a little more.
Don’t let past mistakes define your brand.
Sometimes a big mistake threatens to become all everyone knows about us. Don’t get stuck there. No matter what the mistake, you don’t have to adopt it as your brand.
Take inspiration from famous people who have made major blunders, yet have moved past them. A few famous examples include: Robert Downey, Jr. Drew Barrymore, Phil Vischer (of Bob and Larry fame) and Walt Disney, (who had an animation company go bankrupt before inventing Mickey Mouse and changing history).
Final Thoughts
How can the idea of a personal brand help you become the person you want to be? Are you satisfied with your brand message, or does it need to be tweaked?
