Originally published in 2008. Updated in 2025 as part of the Personal Branding Blog relaunch under Brown Brothers Media.
Your Personal Marketing Plan Post Series
Section 1: Situational Analysis – A detailed description of exactly where you are in your life, as well as your mission, vision and life cycle.
Section 2: Audience Analysis – Researching what the market is for your brand, with both primary and secondary research and quantitative and qualitative measurements.
Section 3: Competitive Analysis – If your branded properly competition is irrelevant. If you’re still discovering and developing your brand, then you can only estimate who your competitors are by past data (Colleges) and from the strength of the brand you’re applying to (GE, Reebok, etc).
Now for the most comprehensive piece of your personal marketing plan: your marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy is composed of the personal marketing mix (4 P’s), along with your target audience, positioning statement, objectives/goals and integrated marketing communications plan.
The 4 P’s of Personal Branding
- Person – you
- Place – your desired workplace
- Price – your brand value
- Promotion – selling yourself
Person (formerly product) is as simple as YOU and as complex as your strengths, personality, appearance and competencies.
Place is the location where the person is applying for a job or seeks employment.
Price is the total perceived value of the person or candidate, and promotion are the strategies that the individual must implement in order to gain visibility for his or her brand.
Target Audience
Once you research your audience (as I spoke about in part 2), you need to segment it to find your niche. Businesses locate their target market. Product managers must hone down on a single market per each product. Your personal brand cannot please nor is relevant to everyone walking this earth. There are some people that will cling to it, while others will be repelled and attracted to other brands that have more in common with them.
There are four main areas of segmentation that I will go over.
- Geographics – regions, countries, city/town size and climate
- Psychographics – people’s lifestyles and behaviors
- Demographics – age, income, education, status, type of occupation, region of country, or household size
- Behavioralistic – benefits sought, purchase occasion, user status, loyalty status, usage rate
Here is an example: You want to target professionals living in Singapore or the Asia-Pacific region who work remotely at least 3 days per week, have a household income of SGD 120,000+, between the ages of 30 and 45, and value continuous learning and networking.
You don’t have to be that descriptive. You could say “young professionals living in the Southeast Asia region who actively use LinkedIn and attend virtual industry events.”
The idea here is to think about exactly who you want in your audience and who you don’t. 60-year-olds aren’t going to want to read a blog about early-career digital nomads, and a Fortune 500 company isn’t going to hire someone with no experience.
From both the corporate and individual level, one thing remains consistent: you need to research, observe and direct your marketing messages at a specific target.
Positioning Statement
In the personal branding industry, this is commonly known as a “personal brand statement.”
Basically, you want to match your brand to the audience in a single sentence. For example: “I enable emerging tech professionals in Southeast Asia to build global careers from anywhere.”
Here is how I break down my personal niche:
Business > Marketing > Branding > Personal Branding > Personal Branding for Tech & Remote Workers
Since I’m only 24, I know I can’t cater to C-suite executives, but I know I can speak to early-career professionals and digital nomads about personal branding. This works because I’ve been in their shoes and not that of an executive, therefore I can connect on a closer level.
Also, people usually work with others that are more successful than themselves. It would be impossible for me to teach an executive that makes over US$500K, has won industry awards and shows up in the media every day.
People want something that can provide them what they can’t already get themselves. Your positioning statement is who you are and what audience you serve.
Goals / Objectives
How are you going to measure your outcome? How do you define success?
When writing down your goals and objectives think short-term and long-term and make sure they align properly.
“I want to be a millionaire” is not detailed enough. You really want to think about what measurable goals you can have, such that they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely).
Integrated Marketing Communications Plan
When I did these plans for businesses, it was a blast. You get a budget and then divide it up amongst delivery channels for your brand, devising a strategy that you can execute.
Businesses can spend thousands of dollars on their communication budget (Coca-Cola spends millions). If you’re a premature brand, then you need to budget more wisely.
My tripod approach to personal communication is: awareness, adoption and retention.
Awareness is when people know you’re alive and what you can do for them.
Adoption is when they take the first level of investment in your brand, meaning they could subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on a platform, or accept a consulting offer.
Retention is an ongoing relationship between you or your clients or the community you serve (lifetime value of a customer).
Here are some of the strategies you can use:
- Social Media – Platforms like LinkedIn, X, Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube provide visibility and authority.
- Content Marketing – Publishing a newsletter on Substack or Medium, launching a podcast or live-streaming on YouTube/LinkedIn Live.
- Public Relations / Thought Leadership – Being featured in trade-publications, industry podcasts, guest posts on top blogs or appearing on webinars.
Conclusion
Today’s strategy must account for a fast-moving digital ecosystem. Your marketing mix should adapt the “4 P’s” into a personal context where you’re the product, your reach is global, your value is shaped by your digital footprint and your promotion happens via content, community and collaboration.
By defining your audience, positioning effectively, setting measurable objectives and communicating consistently through modern channels, you build a personal brand that not only reaches people — it engages them.
This article is part of Personal Branding Blog’s Legacy Series — highlighting timeless insights from our archive. Learn more about our story here.
