I get asked this question a lot. Where do you begin with a Personal Style Management and Brand Strategy? At the beginning of course, with a plan. Any good idea that is formed anywhere is written down and then worked on to create magic out of it, then action is taken to make the idea come to life, right?
It's no different with your Personal Brand either. And yes, your Personal Style does have a lot to do with it.
In my last post I talked a little bit about what a Personal Brand is and its important for you to know that you need to be in control of your brand, otherwise others' will take care of it for you. What do I mean by that? Your brand is what others are saying when you are not in the room. So, be mindful of the impressions you leave behind.
A good place to start is here. Make a plan around how your market would describe you when they are looking for someone like you. Eg you may be a Naturopath, so they may be looking for someone who can provide a healthy alternative or homeopathic medicine instead of western medicine. Then think about how they will want to use your product / service / offering. Eg it may be to relieve a pain which is of course a problem (generally, when we go out looking for something, we are looking for a solution to something).
Then it's ideal if you can get some feedback from your peers, Managers or old Boss, Clients and Friends. A good system which I use (and am currently becoming certified in) is a free tool (which is also upgradable) called 360 Reach . Here you can do a self-survey and then send out this survey to people who know you well enough and this will provide you with a good basis to create a Personal Brand strategy.
You will be glad you did it. The idea is to align how you perceive yourself in the same way as others perceive you – this is a very strong and Powerful Personal Brand.
If you have not considered this as yet, it is time you did. Particularly if you have online profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can pretty much guarantee that you are being viewed – just make sure you are not being misconstrued in anyway!
So start your strategy and plan with some feedback. Next week, I'll let you into some ideas around how you become CLEAR about what you want to do in this world and WHY!
Have a happy week.
Love Susan xx
