Creating Clarity With Your Personal Brand

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The concept of creating a company brand has been around since the first cavemen fought over whose wheels where best. One cave offered the smoothest ride, while the grotto next door promised lifetime warrantees. Okay, maybe not, but branding has been a part of our culture for as long as any of us can remember.

The last few years have seen a growth in a new phenomenon: personal branding, separate from a company or corporate brand. Some of this stems from economic realities: as professionals began realizing that no one company would have their back forever, it became important to distinguish themselves in the marketplace. Social media solidified this need; your online professional reputation is increasingly more important as the economy continues to shift and remake itself. Article marketing and blogging has given anyone the ability to create their own brand online and distribute their content to the masses.

This leaves us with what may be an uncomfortable dilemma.

You can study and learn any number of ways to market your personal brand; article marketing, blogging, social media interactions, newsletters, webinars. Before you do any of these, it makes sense to spend a little time clarifying your personal brand. Who ARE you? What do you want to say and what impact do you hope to have?

I recently went through a brand development process with a good friend and professional associate. She works with clients and nonprofit agencies to help them refine their brand, so they can effectively market themselves. She agreed to let me share her "five question process" with you, to help you define your own personal brand.

Before you submit your next article or publish your next blog, ask yourself:
1. What is your brand's personality? If you had to describe your brand as a person, what would they be like? How would they converse, and what kind of things would they enjoy and engage in?

2. What impact do you hope your brand will have? How do you want to change yourself, your business, your industry, your community or your world?

3. Who is your audience? Who is most likely to want or need what your brand offers? Where are those people? What obstacles do you face in trying to reach them?

4. If you could speak directly with each person who sees your message online, what would you want them to know? What one thing would you want them to learn from their interaction with you? What is your overarching message to the world?

5. If you have existing branded elements, (like a website, a logo, a blog, a business card) what do you love? What makes you cringe? What needs to be updated or changed to truly reflect your brand as it is today?

Write down your answers and begin to live them in each article you write or distribute, and your article marketing efforts and blogging will have a great impact. Here's to Brand You!

About the Author:
Taylor Vogt heads up operations at Content Crooner, where authors, experts and business owners can build their brand by publishing their own articles for syndication. Sign up to distribute your articles and start building Brand You.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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