To build a powerful personal brand we must consider three different levels of communication and ensure we are communicating consistently across all three.
The three include:
- Self-communication
- Public communication
- Private, 1:1 communication
This week I’m going to focus on self-communication because it is the foundation of everything else.
Self-Communication
The most important of all levels is “self-communication.” Reason being is that we are the only person with whom we communicate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, every year of our life.
How well we communicate with ourselves drives our ability to effectively communicate at the other two levels in a way that builds our brand with the people with whom we most need to build it.
What is your self-talk like? What do you notice to be the most consistent internal dialogue statements that either propel you to step up to a powerful personal brand, or hold you back from putting yourself out there?
Is it, “I can do this!” or is it, “I’m not ready yet!”
Confidence and belief in the brand comes directly from our internal dialogue and what our consistent message is to ourselves about it.
For me, I came face-to-face with a self-communication barrier in building my personal brand when I launched a newly branded website with the help my marketing coach in April, 2011.
The brand we decided on was what I go with today, The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert.
As we were developing it I distinctly remember it felt right, it sounded right. It also reinforced the type of results I was getting with my clients through my work and in my speaking engagements connected best with my audiences.
All was good, until…
I saw my new website right before it launched to the public. The very large banner featured my picture, my name in a customized proprietary font, and the title across the top.
When I saw the banner for the first time online my heart skipped a beat and I literally stopped breathing for a minute. I felt I was going to have a panic attack.
My internal dialogue went something like this:
- “I’m not ready for this!”
- “What if I can’t live up to this?”
- “Do I really want to put myself out there like this?”
- “I can’t say this, what will people think?”
Maybe some of those internal dialogue and self-talk statements are familiar to you.
I knew I had to get a handle on my own internal dialogue and I remember it took me a couple of weeks before I really felt comfortable with it.
I had to at first suppress that internal dialogue and replace it with more powerful statements. I told myself things like:
- “It’s going to be just fine!”
- “You deserve this brand and you have the goods to back it up!”
- “Get out there and prove to everyone you are the brand on the website!”
It drove me incessantly to create content and programs to prove to myself, my clients and prospects that I deserved that brand.
How could you define yourself in a way that stretches your comfort zone in such a way that will drive you to live up to it?
Then, create the internal dialogue that will overtake all the self-doubting self-talk that has held you back in the past and support you in becoming that person.
