The Individual is More Relatable Than the Institution
I have learned more about personal branding in the last twenty months than the rest of my life. It’s important moving forward. But, it troubles me.
I am not one to self-promote (even though I started both paragraphs I have typed so far with “I”) but there’s a special need for promotion these days. It doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur, and “intrapreneur” (a great term for an entrepreneurial minded employee), an employee, or an impactmaker.
The Internet and social media has allowed us to find information on most people, any topic, and any business. This means your profile (not just your IG page) is available for anyone. If you are an employer, potential employees can look you up. If you are an interviewee, the business can see you online. If you are a prospect, the business can look up information about you. If you are a business, you can research prospects.
How much time do you spend on the Internet?
Whether you know it or not, you have a brand. I’ve even seen some babies and animals that have brands! See @stuffonmyrabbit for proof that this existed a decade ago.
The Default Brand
The overwhelming majority of people in the world are on the internet. Data Reportal says that almost five billion people use it daily. That tells us that it’s normal and expected for people to interact digitally. Your default brand is what your browsing habits, social media profiles, and interactions on all digital platforms say about you. There is nothing wrong with this - unless of course you don’t like what they are saying. In which case, you need to move past your default.
The default brand is the “choice” for most people. Many have busy schedules and building out a brand doesn’t fit into their life. They don’t need to build one. The default is sufficient, not a deterrent, or wholly irrelevant.
The Tweaked Brand
Let’s say the default is not good enough. This already puts you in the minority. Congratulations! This makes you unique.
I don’t have scientific evidence but I would venture a guess that less than a quarter of that five billion people on the Internet need to tweak their brand (I think this will rise as time passes). Here are a few reasons why you might want to tweak your brand:
You just signed up for a dating app.
You are looking for a job.
You just started a business.
You started a new career.
This is not an exhaustive list. There are plenty of reasons to make small, short-term adjustments to your brand.
This is a finite effort. The idea is to accomplish a specific goal and once you have, your effort is over. You may decide to maintain what you’ve done.
The Consistent Brand
If you’ve decided to maintain your tweaked brand or identify that you want to develop your brand around something, you will need consistency. Your brand will need commitment.
The consistent brand is an intentional effort to portray yourself in a specific manner. It sounds great, right? It can be, but I find that this is where things can go very wrong for people.
The tweaked brand can be understood as an attempt to put one’s best foot forward. Obviously, you don’t want to lie but you can be very detailed in your approach over a short period of time. The problem comes with the consistent brand because you will not have the time and energy to be overly detailed. There’s a pull to choose a lazy solution for consistency.
The lazy approach leads to false representations. You find shortcuts and “hacks” for growth or building a following. Before you know it, social media has become easier but your brand is not actually you. It may not even be accomplishing what you want it to.
The consistent brand comes with some hurdles just like anything that you put a lot of effort into. I always say that failures are hurdles of success. Acknowledge that you will have some. You are inviting them with “signing up” for the consistent brand. It’s good. Trust me.
The Business Brand
Now we’re getting serious!
In the words of the immortal philosopher, Shawn Corey Carter, “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man!”
Jay-Z has had some great lines, but this is my favorite. It was a forward thinking line and there is proof as personal branding continues to gain market share.
You might think that as you climb the “branding ladder” there is less need for individual branding. I mentioned earlier that the job market relies on personal brands. Higher responsibility and high paying positions raise the stakes.
If you own a company, that is the most important position (especially, in the beginning). This means that your brand is of utmost importance.
I have learned over the past year that my personal brand is extremely important to Initiate Impact. It’s not the same, but it’s directly related. My business partner, Stacee, and I started the company for very specific reasons. Those reasons are alive in us every day.
Sadly, when we started the company, I thought that the business brand was some beautiful creation that we would present to the world. In a strange way, I almost had a sinister feel with a noble purpose. We were going to shock everyone (which I think we did) and people would buy into our purpose.
I realized not so quickly that our company’s message was strong but people wanted to hear from us. Most of the questions I got when we left our former employer were around us. People asked things like, “What are you doing to do?”, “ Why did you do this?”. “Are you going to be okay?” and “Did you not like your job?”. These were easy questions to answer. I made sure that I was able to.
There were some naysayers in the process and they motivated us to work hard. I now know that they were more than just fuel for the fire. They were also pointing us in the right direction.
None of the haters criticized our business, what we stood for, or the mission statement I shared with them. Honestly, they didn’t care about the business. It was about the individuals.
Impactmakers, your impact project or company depends on your personal brand. You are sharing something and the default brand is not good enough. Your brand is part of your business.
The business brand includes your personal “why” story. Listen to Quinn Tempest, a very well branded social entrepreneur, on Speaking of Impact episode 22. She told us over a year ago that your “what” comes from your “why”. Include your story in your company’s branding and it you’ll know what to do.
How to Get Started
The first step to organizing your personal digital brand is to take it offline. Wait, what!? Yes, I want you to put down the cellular device or tablet (after you finish reading this of course) and think about what it is that you stand.
It doesn’t have to be very deep. What do you care about? Anything goes. Write down as many things as you can. You’ve moved past your default brand.
Once you have a list of things that you are interested in, pick those that are directly related to your impact project or business and those that you enjoy doing the most.
The things that are directly related will be an easy add to the brand. The others may take some work (some may just not fit) but can be your most powerful branding piece.
Pair down the list as much as you can. Ideally, you’ll have no more than five items. Extras may be useful in the future.
Someday, we may all have cameras that follow us around all day and broadcast our lives. I’m not sure if I like that thought as much as I appreciate the Internet as a tool. Could you imagine everyone’s YouTube channel just being a live stream of their life? Until then, we’ll have a limited amount of things we can share. It’s not nearly as limited as it used to be, but it’s still far from comprehensive.
You have to keep that list as limited as possible because you want to share the most relevant parts of your brand. I don’t care about the method or digital platform. It could be Twitter, Meta, IG, Linked In, My Space (can you still share on that?), or Vine (this is closed for sure). It’s about the subject matter, not the platform.
Focus your time and energy on the important parts of your personal brand and story so that everyone knows your “why”. It’s a natural progression to your company’s products and services if people know why you do what you do.
It’s important to have the proper digital channels set up so that people can transition from your personal pages and profiles to your business. However, there is no hack for displaying your story.
Going All In
Once you understand, you can display your “why”. You have to commit to being consistent, which separates your brand from the tweaked version. Consistency displays a commitment to something. You wouldn’t start an impact project or a company if you weren’t committed.
What takes you beyond the consistent brand to the business brand is not just having a business. It’s acknowledging that the business is part of you. It’s going all in on your story. Your brand is more than a resume, it’s a mission statement.
The Creator’s Brand
Check Jesse out on Twitter @jessievbreugel
There are numerous branding experts in the digital world these days. There are huge companies and individual coaches. One person that I really respect is Jessie Breugel. He runs cohorts of early-stage digital creators to help them flesh out their brand and build a business. Here’s The Creator Academy’s service list.
People who understand the importance of their brand will be successful in their efforts moving forward. It’s just as important to have a brand as it is to have a business.
The good news is that you have a brand. But, what are you going to do with it?