5 Steps to Jump Start Your Personal Brand

These days understanding and communicating our personal value is more important than ever.

Job stability is a thing of the past for knowledge workers.

We might be laid off in a downturn.

Not considered for a promotion because of a lack of awareness of our unique difference.

Being passed over for speaking engagements because our online profile doesn’t stand out.

Creating a personal brand does not mean becoming an influencer doing dance moves on TikTok.

It could, if that’s for you, but simple personal branding is much more subtle than that.

My Perspective

When we think about creating a personal brand, it seems daunting.

What do I do?

Where do I even start?

Followed by…. I don’t have time for deep thinking and doing the “right” thing, right now.

So, we do nothing.

I’ve been thinking about what we could do – quickly – to start the personal brand journey.

Jump start progress and set us on the path to our MeEO brand.

Remember the only “company” you will work for over your lifetime is you – be the MeEO.

Below are 5 steps to an initial launch of your personal brand.

As you build your brand, elements will change and morph, but you must start somewhere.

Audit Your Online Presence. Google yourself and evaluate your current online presence. Think about the current message you are sending – what you want to keep and what you want to change.
Identify Your Audience. You likely don’t have a specific target market in mind yet – that’s OK. Think about who you want to connect with—whether it’s a professional community, clients, or influencers in your industry.
Content Plan. Consider what you want to be known for and what your audience is interested in. Outline ideas of what you could post. Are there articles you could share and include some of your thoughts? Could you write blog posts? What types of content do you want to repost to your network?
Choose a Brand Color. This might surprise you as a jump start. However, subtle use of color can enable followers to begin to recognize your posts when they show up in your feed. Ideally, you would choose a color that would remain with your personal brand. Don’t let the fear of the “right” color hold you back – better to start and evolve later vs. do nothing.
Update LinkedIn. Use the insights from the three steps above and update your LinkedIn page to reflect where you want to take your brand. Create a new banner that leverages your color palette and highlights the qualities you want your audience to know about you. Update your photo to compliment the banner. Refine your headline and about sections to reflect who you are.

Have you taken steps to create your personal brand?

Which of the five steps above have you not yet completed?

Do these steps seem doable inside your busy schedule?