How to Create a Personal Brand: The Basics

In thinking about what to post this week, I thought about what it meant to find your own “brand.” As an opera singer, I think about this quite often; how to make myself stand out among so many other singers, how to showcase what makes me unique, etc.

Even in the corporate world, we’re being encouraged to apply personal branding techniques. This is because when you create your unique brand, you will seem more knowledgeable in your field. Potential clients will trust your expertise. People will know who you are, what you stand for, and what you offer.

There are many ways to create a one-of-a-kind personal brand. I’ve condensed it down to three main steps:

  • Know what you want your brand to be.
  • Use all the tools at your disposal to create that brand.
  • Keep refining your brand as you grow in your career journey.

  • In the next few months, I’ll dive into these topics more in-depth, but let’s outline them concisely today.

    Know what you want your brand to be.

    Before you can build a personal brand, you need to know how you want to present yourself. Some questions to ask yourself might be, What do you value? Whose brand do you admire (this could be anyone from a celebrity to an expert in your field)? 

    A helpful exercise could be to go through the steps to find your core needs (described more in detail in the blog I’ve linked). This will help you determine what you value and, ergo, how you may want to brand yourself. Keep in mind that your brand should be true to your authentic self.

    Use all the tools at your disposal.

    Once you know what your brand is, it’s time to build your public presence around it. Update your LinkedIn and other social media profiles. Redo your resume. Craft an elevator pitch. Fine-tune your interviewing skills. Espouse your personal brand everywhere you go.

    Keep refining your brand as you grow in your career journey.

    Just as you’ll learn and gain more experience as you expand into your career, so should your brand. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to massively overhaul your brand all the time, it just means you’ll need to tweak it to fit who you are in the future. 

    Above all, stay true to yourself. Finding a personal brand should be a journey of self-discovery and should leave you feeling more certain of who you are and what you stand for. 

    See you next time.

    Sydney