What is a Personal Brand?
Branding and marketing are very complex tasks that can be even more difficult when it is yourself that you are marketing. However, creating a personal brand is essential to perfecting not only the image other people have of you but the image you have of yourself. I like to say that a personal brand forms when the person people see you as, the person you see yourself as, and the person you want to be seen align. A personal brand tells people who you are and what you are good at, which is important for both personal and professional relations. I had a really cool professor, Morgan Miles, who assigned a personal branding project in which I had to reconcile my outward and inner personality traits and translate those into a personal branding statement, personal branding tagline, and personal branding logo. I found this process very helpful so I thought I would share a bit about what these different things are and give you my own examples.
Personal Branding Statement
A personal branding statement consists of around 2-3 sentences in which you establish who you are, what your skill sets are, and what makes you unique. Prior to sitting down and trying to come up with one, it can be helpful to write down a list of skills and personality traits you believe yourself to have, as well as ask around to get others opinions. Compare others views align with your own and see if you can narrow down a few things that stand out as complementary. Then sit down to write your personal branding statements. Remember to make clear what makes you unique and try to include an outcome based conclusion to the statement.
Example of a Personal Branding Statement
My name is Abbey Markham. I am a Marketing and English student at San Diego University who has an entire world of ideas in my mind. I approach marketing solutions with intuitive communication and compassion which allows me to make lasting connection with clients.
Personal Branding Tagline
A tagline is a short phrase that can have many different purposes. A tagline can be made to inspire, give information, or even just be catchy and memorable.
Example of a Personal Branding Tagline
I think. I do. I am.
Personal Branding Logo
A personal branding logo is just like a logo for a company. It should be relatively simple but aesthetically pleasing, and capture the personal branding message which you are trying to convey. Colors, shapes, and images all have a huge amount of power so make sure every aspect is representative of how you want to be perceived. Check out the example of a personal branding logo that I included in a business card featured above.
You’ll notice how my business card includes both my tagline and my logo, as well as the fact that my tagline is a play off of my initials, AM. This creates cohesion and synergy between all the aspects of how I brand myself, which communicates professionalism and skill. Hopefully, this helps you gain a greater understanding of personal branding and gives you the stepping stones to create one for yourself.
