1. Discover
To build your brand you must first explore your current skills, values, and knowledge. Whether you have worked to build your brand in the past or not, you have a brand already, we all do. Explore your current brand to determine whether it aligns with where you would like to move or cultivate your brand.
Skills
What are your skills? How can you utilize your skills to enhance your brand? Determine how you have leveraged your skills in the past to build your brand. Determine what skills you have that you have not yet used to build your brand.
Values
What are your values? What are the things that drive you and make you the person that you are? Align your brand with your values. Does your current brand align with your values? What can you do to move your brand to more closely mirror your value set?
Knowledge
What are your primary domains of knowledge? What do you know and how can you display your knowledge to enhance your brand? What are the areas of knowledge that you have not yet utilized to build your brand?
2. Position
All successful personal branding efforts begin with personal positioning. How do you want to display your brand to the world? The difference between “Marketing Expert” and “Marketing Automation and Inbound Lead Generation Specialist” is huge. Ensure that you are properly positioning your brand to the world.
3. Application
You must consistently apply your brand every day. Most of the time, we in the chatter class are focused on building your brand through social channels, but your brand should exist well beyond the confines of your social networking. Your brand should be built in your day to day work with colleagues and clients. Your brand should be built in deciding which events to attend and during your attendance. Your brand should be built in everything that you do and in every interaction that you have. Your brand is YOU and it needs to be a reflection of you in all that you do.
