photo credit: Steenbergs
One year, I got in a car accident just after New Year’s Day.
I was turning left on a yellow light, and an oncoming vehicle clipped the passenger side of my new Honda Accord.
Needless to say, I was sick when I saw the huge dent and realized the person who hit me had no intention of stopping.
I called new auto insurance company to place a claim.
The next day, a gentleman called me to say he’d be over immediately.
He came when he said he would, he took a couple of pictures, and he told me that I had $20 per day on my insurance plan.
He would call the rental car company and make sure they had a car ready to meet me at the auto body shop.
After two previous bad experiences with auto insurance companies, I was amazed at how quickly, efficiently, and politely this auto insurance representative took care of me!
You can bet this auto insurance company’s brand stands out in my mind. In fact, we had such a positive experience with them that my wife has referred several people to them.
What Is Individual Branding?
According to Wikipedia, a personal brand is a “creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual; this includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable”.
You can’t escape your personal brand. You are the CEO of your company.
We live in a time when each of us is a personal agent competing representing ourselves.
Your personal brand is the way you treat each customer.
- It’s the way you carry yourself at work.
- It’s how early you come in, and how late you stay.
- It’s the quality of work you do for your customers and employers.
- It’s your personal code of ethics reflected in every decision you make.
If you’d like applause for providing top notch service to your employer and/or customers, here is a questions guide to revolutionize your individual branding.
Simple Questions To Set Your Individual Branding On Fire
*What is it my product or service does that makes it different?
*What qualities or characteristic make me distinctive from my competitors or my colleagues?
*What features or benefits do my skills, my websites, my podcasts offer that make me stand out to my clients?
*What can I do that adds remarkable, measurable, and distinctive value?
*What do I do in my job, on my blog, or in my life that I am most proud of?
*What values do I want to live by?
*Do I realize that everything I say, everything I wear, every attitude I adopt, and how I perform at my job or business service continuously defines my brand?
*What do I want to be famous for? [Yes, it's okay to wish for fame in the way you provide fantastic value to others!]
Simple Steps To Market Your Individual Branding
Use LinkedIn
Have you set up your LinkedIn Profile?
If not, you’re missing out!
Recruiters are using LinkedIn together with your résumé when they’re making decisions about who to hire. So are your customers!
Social Media Examiner shows you how to set up your profile effectively.
Once you’ve set your profile up, pay attention to two key areas:
Projects are initiatives you design in your industry to highlight your skills. Think about your particular business or job.
How can you add value this year? And in the process of adding value, what new skills may you need to develop?
In case you’re struggling with how to add value, here’s a graphic that will help:
What is one project you can start this year, in your department, in your business, or in your industry?
Once you’ve started the project, enter it into your LinkedIn profile.
Publications. Per Social Media Examiner, if you’ve written any type of book, whether it is formally published an in print, Kindle or eBook only, you can share it under in this section and link to it on Amazon, your own website or elsewhere online.
Consider submitting an article for your local newspaper, or even for a newsletter within your company or within your industry.
Think about volunteer opportunities to put your brand on display. Is there a presentation or talk you can give to a church, organization, or community group?
Once you’ve organized your presentation, record it on your LinkedIn profile.
Go Out There and Go Get ‘Em
There’s an old Gospel song whose lyrics start out with, “It only takes a spark, to get a fire going.”
It only takes a decision to act, and the smallest next action to get the fire of your individual branding going.
- Answer all the questions above
- Decide on which strengths you want to build on.
- Design a project that will add value to your company and your customers.
- Write a publication for your local paper or an industry newsletter.
- Compile a talk or presentation for a community or volunteer group.
- Record it all on your LinkedIn Profile
Before you know it, your fire will be providing warmth to a world of customers looking for the heat of excellence.
I got a lot of the ideas for this article from Tom Peter’s classic article, The Brand Call You.
Here’s a free resource for designing your own project.
What are your individual branding plans for this year and beyond? I look forward to your responses!
About Stephen Borgman
Stephen,
Your timing is perfect! My wife is in the process of defining her new business and this article is going to help immensely. She’s developing her VA business but she is so much more than a VA. She’s a consultant, an adviser, an accountability manager and asking these questions will definitely help to put the right moniker at the top of the page. We know she’s the one you want to call when the overwhelm finally gets to you. She wants to work with heart-centered entrepreneurs. We just have to translate it such that people will “get it.”
Thanks for the help!
RICK
Rick Lelchuk recently posted…Extraordinary Living Through Discipline
Rick, I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I’ve put my own tips into action for my own work and community life. So far I’ve volunteered for a committee, and two presentations! To write and research, is to learn. I’m glad that you’re wife may get some tips to show how much value she brings to entrepreneurs: I’m sure there are thousands just waiting to hear from her!
Steve Borgman recently posted…It Pays To Read These Top Ranked Books
Stephen,
Your posts are so comprehensive and valuable. This one certainly nails it about branding. We ARE our brand. I have been involved in many projects, such as creating Kindle Books and writing my novel. Now that my novel is published, I have decided to create Relationship Healing Masterminds. I started by setting up a Google Plus Community and then I have had two hangouts. Please come to my next hangout if you can. For me it is a way to practice this technology and bring my online friends together to chat about our relationships – not being recorded for that reason. My next project is that I am attending 2 separate Author weekends, the first with Ryan Deiss and Perry Belcher in a few weeks. The second, with Tom Antion and Rick Frishman I was the winner of a free ticket – so I will be going to their event.
There are lots of choices of what we can do, what projects to create and all the many ways to brand ourselves. I just finished taking a course called BrandOmnipresence.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
r
Dr. Erica Goodstone recently posted…Love in the Blizzard of Life – Day 14 – SENSUALITY
Dr. Erica, you continue to astound me with your creative leadership and energy! I’m so busy right now that I have no room for more commitments, but I certainly appreciate your invitation. I hope you continue to succeed in 2013!
Stephen your post is very timely, so many people kick off the new year by setting up a new business, especially those who work as a consultant or solopreneur. I’m sure your tips will be useful to many people. There is a danger these days I think to spread ourselves too thinly online and that can often achieve nothing of benefit to a business – it can in fact waste time.
Your post will get people thinking about what is important! Happily sharing
Sadie-Michaela Harris recently posted…Will The UK Embrace Making Payments Mobile Phone in 2013?
Sadie-Michaela, you said it so well! I recently purchased a step by step manual taking me through the most important business tasks for online presence and conversion of leads. I’ll feel great when I’m concentrating on the few most important tasks.
So much has been written about branding that I have been totally confused about what it really is and how to go about it.
Thanks you, Stephen, for clearing the fog for me and explaining it in way that creates a path to follow. The single biggest takeaway for me is that everything I do is branding!
Alan
Alan Jenkin recently posted…New Year, New Vision.
Alan, I appreciate the flood of information you face. I hope these simple tips make your individual branding process a bit easier.
Hi Stephen,
I loved your story with the insurance company. It set the tone of your article and gave a great summary of the impact of personal branding. You’ve set up a great plan to forge ahead this year. If someone did not understand personal branding before reading your post, they certainly do now!
Your taking action list will move a business in the right direction if we start a spark. I like the six step by step guide to accomplish the task, then ending with posting the results to your LinkedIn account. I have a LinkedIn Profile and this is a valuable guide to adding accomplishments which will improve my personal branding. Well done!
Raena Lynn
Raena Lynn recently posted…What Does Hell’s Kitchen and Internet Marketing Have in Common?
Raena Lynn, you can certainly add some of your free tutorials as examples of your great work as a teacher online. Thanks for your kind words
Stephen,
There are a lot of people who preach “branding”, but very few who actually give ideas on how to do it effectively. You did that here, great job!!
Clint Butler recently posted…Viral Content Is A Marketers Pipe Dream
Thank you, Clint! That means a lot to me. I wish you the best in your endeavors this year! Thanks for modeling the code of ethics on your site!
Hi Stephen,
I really appreciated your tips on branding especially in regards to LinkedIn. I think that LinkedIn is a wonderful tool to use to leverage your brand. I have made some fantastic connections there that have helped my brand tremendously. Thanks for pointing out the importance of making your brand unique.
Shelley Alexander recently posted…10 Healing Affirmations for Vibrant Health and Wellness
Stephen,
What a helpful article for me! I’m creating a new webinar series with my husband and have a membership site being set up. We are on the verge of a new becoming together. I love the chart you have inserted.
I loved it so much, I took a snap shot of it and put it on a note for reference.
There are so many platforms to be on. I take care of the social media, while David is doing the technical part – this is a project that we wanted to roll out this year and it is all coming together.
Thanks for the timely information,
Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted…Balancing Act Of An Online Entrepreneur
Stephen, your article on branding is so amazing… I have been listening to a lot of people and reading a lot as well.. I wanted to “Understand” what branding is… perhaps I was asking teh wrongway and to the wrong people… because I never got it clear enough for me to “see and feel it” as I need to before truly understand it and able to apply. WELL my friend… you done a great job here… so much info and so detailed… and as it was already said.. your not only touched on… but you detailed in a such a way no one can have any misunderstanding.
Thanks so much… finally I have something I can go back to and BRAND my self properly and as it should
nickc
nick catricala recently posted…Lost Direction 2
Hello Stephen,
that is a great post to remind us that it’s ok to brand ourselves.
To many it is perceived as if branding ourselves is ” too much” ” too selfish” or ” too egocentric”
Knowing how to use our painful experiences that have taught us a lot about life, using what has grown us into special persons and having the courage to explain, express genuinely who we are and what life has taught to us is branding.
Your graph is a great blueprint for those who do not know where to start.
My brand to me is my zone of genius, I had trouble to see until it just made sense after looking at what people are looking for and why they work with me.
Touching the Divine with my intuition and speaking heart to heart in a healing way is what I do naturally and easily.
Thanks for this great post and great value you provide for all of us!
Terrific article Steve. I’ve been doing a lot of work on branding with authors and this looks like an area I’ll be growing into more as the the progresses. Great tip on adding “projects” to our LinkedIn profile, I’ve seen that come up and completely glossed over it, but now that I read your suggestions I can think of quite a few things to add!
marquita herald recently posted…Two Simple Ways to be Happier
Some people try hard to “build” their brand, Steve.
Others don’t think it’s important so they don’t give it a second thought.
The fact is, that both are defined by their personal brand, whether or not they work at it, whether or not they give it any thought, whether or not they even care.
So, you are either saddled with a personal brand that develops despite yourself, or you can get involved in the process of presenting yourself to the world in the way that you decide is most optimal.
I’m always in favor of taking control of your life, rather than sitting in the bleachers and wondering if you’ll catch any foul balls.
David Merrill 101 recently posted…Keeping Pace With Online Communications
A great set of questions to ask ourselves. With branding, you always have to be on….
Branding is about be unique, to differentiate yourself from the crowd and provide an experience so people keep coming back. It’s not easy by any means.
Ok, quick question. Is it Steve or Stephen?
Being a fellow Steve, I had to ask 
Steven Hughes recently posted…Facebook Graph Search – A first Glance
Steven, thanks for asking: I usually go by Steve, but the full name is Stephen
Hi Stephen,
this is one of the best descriptions of branding and how to do it that I have come across!
Thank you for all the great tips and the chart and the designing your own project PDF.
Much appreciated!
Cheers,
Yorinda
Yorinda recently posted…Imagine if we would choose to Believe
Good ole Linked In. I am constantly undervaluing that particular network. My business constantly preaches branding you but on three main social networks that are the most used. My brand is still a work in progress but I guess that is the point. You have to constantly come up with creative ways to make it stand out. Sometimes the creative juices aren’t always there though. Thanks for all the great information Stephen.
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