How to Brand Yourself
Understanding how to brand yourself begins with uncovering your personal brand. It’s the combination of your interests, beliefs, talents and skills, as well as a number of other characteristics. The biggest part of branding yourself well is making your brand visually appealing. Here are some ways to help craft your personal brand:
Ways to Brand Yourself:
1. Discover your Personal Brand
The qualities and characteristics that comprise your personal brand are unique and exclusive. Think about yourself and how others would describe you. To discover your personal brand there are a few questions you may want to consider:
- What are my biggest strengths?
- What are my passions?
- What makes me unique?
- What types of comments/feedback have you received from clients, family, and acquaintances?What words do they use to describe you.
Your personal brand should result from how you see yourself and how others perceive you. Next step is to identify brand colors and style.
2. Make Your Brand Personalized and Unique
Having a visually appealing brand is what catches the reader’s eye. Brighter colors can be more eye-catching and convey a more creative tone. Make sure you research what color to pick beforehand because some are more attention-grabbing than others. Also choosing the right font can help your brand image, it has a feeling—you want to convey the right feeling for your brand.
Create/Design a logo for yourself
- Have set design plan for your brand and across all platforms
- Make your pieces stand out amongst the rest
- Be consistent, make sure everything matches to one another
If you are not sure where to start there are plenty of resources online that are helpful for design ideas, templates, and branding advice. After designing your logo and making it yours, decide which target market you want to go after.
3. Make your Personal Brand Targeted
Once you’ve determined your personal brand, the next step is identifying your target market. By pinpointing your target market, you will be able to position your talents and skills in the best way possible. Determine your target by asking, who needs to know about your practices or services and which type of people would be interested? Understanding your competition is key to positioning you characteristics and skills to fit your audience’s needs.
Be consistent and make sure everything “relates” to each other. Make your resume and business cards STAND OUT. Every aspect of your brand should consistently reinforce the message you want to convey. Create a personal website, blog and portfolio, along with social-media profiles, to accentuate your brand and to better market yourself. After choosing your ideal target markets, promote your brand.
4. Promote on Your Networks
Consistently engaging with your audience via social media can provide content for your audience that highlights your expertise. Building a platform such as a blog is a great way to fuel your personal brand.
Hopefully these tips on ways to brand yourself have been helpful. Your personal brand should be ready to go and visually pleasing.
Think of yourself as a BRAND and BRAND yourself well.
Katie Vanderlinde, Account Executive | Katie is a senior at Grand Valley State University, majoring in Advertising and Public Relations with an emphasis in Advertising. She is also minoring in Hospitality Tourism Management. She has a passion to be successful and is always looking to learn. Her attention to detail and ability to listen are what make her unique. She has a creative edge that allows her to integrate fresh ideas. In her spare time she enjoys being outdoors, especially along the West Michigan lakeshore, cooking, and exploring her creativity through crafts.