Building a personal brand without a narrative is like building a brand without a strategy.Getty Images
Ask Women and Work
Question: I’m trying to build and develop my personal brand to raise my profile and gain more opportunities. I’m not getting a lot of uptake – what am I doing wrong?
We asked Irene Mukasa, brand consultant and director, research communications at Autodesk, to tackle this one:
One of the things I’ve learned, having worked with corporate brands and personal brands over the course of my career, is that we can take a lot of the same brand-building strategies that corporations use and integrate them into our personal brands. So, these three ‘don’ts’ actually come from how we build corporate brands and what makes those brands successful.
1. Don’t build a personal brand without a brand story. Our brand is way more than just our logos, our resumés, our skillsets – it’s the narrative of who we are and what we do. When we look at corporate brands such as Dove, Ben and Jerry’s and Nike – part of why we like those brands is that they’re able to tell a story that people connect to and understand, or that they have enjoyment in retelling. Take that idea of your personal brand and distill it into a story. What makes you interesting? What makes you you? Storytelling is such a powerful way for us to communicate who we are; it’s how generations have passed down literature, knowledge, skills. So, building a personal brand without a narrative is like building a brand without a strategy.
As an example, I call myself a ‘brand connoisseur,’ and I started using that terminology because when people hear the word connoisseur, they think of wine or art connoisseurs. Right away, I’m telling people my passion and my understanding for brand is as deep as someone who has spent many years learning about wine or art.
2. Don’t overcomplicate your brand. We’re in a world where people’s capacity to understand complex things is low. We love instant gratification. Everyone is fighting for people’s time. The simpler you are with a brand, the stronger it will be.
If you can’t sum up your brand – what you do, what you’re passionate about – in three words, it’s too complicated. Simplicity builds brand recognition and brand recall.
3. Don’t let your brand stagnate. For a long time, I feel like we were told to build a personal brand that never changes. But we are people – we grow, we expand and change. We’re evolving, so our personal brands need to evolve too.
Every year, take some time to evaluate your brand. Is this still the story I want to tell? Are these still the three words that describe who I am? Maybe you don’t want to be known in that way any more. Maybe you’re providing a different service. The changes don’t need to be dramatic. Little changes can keep our brand fresh and relevant.
Ask the people closest to you how they would describe you. If they’re all saying different things, that is a good sign that you might want to change your brand identity because there isn’t consistency. But if the same words and themes come up, that is good validation. The review doesn’t need to necessarily be about change. It could be validating you’re still on the right track.
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