The Act of Personal Branding. Part 2: How it works

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Veronica Mesuraca, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

In ´The Act of Personal Branding. Part 1: What It means and Why it´s Important´ I explained the meaning of Personal Branding and highlighted its benefits. It’s now time to discuss how a Personal Branding process works.

At Step Up with V, a Personal Branding process is composed of 3 phases: Define. Communicate. Develop.

Personal Branding Process. DEFINE

Let’s start with phase 1, Define.

Define is the foundation of a Personal Branding process. People often tend to start with communication. They ask how, where and when they can communicate but they don’t spend enough time defining the what, why and to whom they want to communicate. The reality is that without defining your Personal Brand, your communication efforts might come across as unclear, inconsistent and directed to an unspecified audience. Not to mention the time, energy and money spent without achieving the desired outcome.

Engaging in the defining phase means:
Developing a stronger sense of identity and purpose
Getting a clear picture of where you are and where you want to be
Knowing your unique value proposition (what makes you different and stand out from the crowd)
Developing a good understanding of who your audience / niche is
Identifying what needs to be improved, enhanced or changed

Personal Branding Process. COMMUNICATE

Once your Personal Brand is well defined, you can move onto the second phase, Communicate.

This phase focuses on how you communicate your Personal Brand. As I previously mentioned, Personal Branding is not about creating a version of you that sells and it doesn’t need to please everyone. It’s about making the most of your authentic and unique self, to connect with your audience, deliver value and get where you want to be. The communication of your Personal Brand should reflect that.

This phase helps you to assess:
Your verbal and written communication style
Your body language and behaviour
Your personal image
What communication channels make sense for your Personal Brand
It´s important to underline that communication styles and channels are not the same for everyone. What might work and make sense for one person might not for someone else.

Personal Branding Process. DEVELOP

Last but not least, after defining your Personal Brand and how to communicate it authentically and effectively to your audience, the third phase is Develop.

Develop is about execution, in other words putting it all together and into action. This phase should also answer the questions when and how often to communicate your Personal Brand.

Execution happens through your offline as well as your online presence. For some people it might be all about social media and very little about events and networking offline, for others it might be a 50-50 formula or a completely different approach.

This is also the time to refine all those details that contribute to making a Personal Brand a strong and memorable one. Everything you do and that surrounds you should speak of your Personal Brand. This includes your logo and website (if you have one), email signature, business cards, headshot, where you meet with a prospective client, what your office looks like and what type of phone or laptop you use for work.

Personal Branding is a dynamic process. As human beings, we grow and change and therefore our Personal Brand evolves with us. This means that no matter from what angle you look at it, it always starts with DEFINE. This is where the coaching methodology more than anything else helps my clients to discover themselves. No one can tell you what your values and goals are. In this phase, getting to your own answers is what truly empowers you to define your Personal Brand.

Ready to Step Up?