5 Qualities That Make the Best Personal Brand
There is no exhaustive, scientifically-proven list of THE qualities that make a great personal brand. In my own research of some really special brands, I have identified the ones that I think matter most.
Remember, a personal brand is the word or phrase people think of when they think of you.
The best personal brands have…
Authenticity
Be you. You is good enough.
Our brands must be a true reflection of the real us. Living our brand must be effortless. It is a waste of time and energy trying to be something we are not.
I remember years ago taking an acting class and there was this guy who wanted to be a lead. The problem was he did not have lead looks or charisma. He was perfectly suited for character roles. He refused to accept this and as a result, his career went nowhere. The sad thing is he was talented.
Not everybody can be Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts or Beyoncé. Some of us must embrace our “Erkel.” That’s okay. Erkel had a hell of a career.
Consistency
Pick your lane and stay in it.
Once we select our brands we must live, protect and promote that brand with unwavering consistency. There is no room for mixed signals.
Day-in and day-out, we must send the same exact message over and over again. We cannot be trustworthy one day and a leader the next. If the brand you select for yourself is trustworthy then you must epitomize the definition of trustworthy in everything you do or don’t do.
There should be no mystery or confusion to our target audience about what our personal brand is and what we want to communicate through our brands.
Narrow/Specific
Trying to be all things to all people is a losing proposition.
Our brand message needs to be easy to understand and identify with. The more ambiguous our message is, the harder it is for people to “get it.”
Match the need of your audience
Personal branding has nothing to do with what we think about ourselves and everything to do with what our target audience feels about us.
A brand is a promise. We must make sure that what we are offering is what our audience is looking for. Otherwise, our message is likely to fall on deaf ears.
Ask yourself, “What would my audience love?” Isn’t that what Apple did?
Deep reservoir of personal brand equity
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone. Our ability to recover from those mistakes depends upon our reservoir of good will (aka personal brand equity).
Einstein once said, “If I were given 60 minutes to solve a problem, I would take 55 minutes to think about it and five minutes to solve it.” Building personal branding equity is exactly the opposite.
Picking your brand is the easy part. Building a personal brand irresistibility takes a lot of effort. I tell my clients, “If you want to build a great personal brand, do a lot of mitzphas for other people.”
If you want to learn more about how to position yourself as The Person to See with your target audience contact us at [email protected].
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