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Taking control of Brand Me
We’re all familiar with the need for marketing, advertising, PR and promotion of the brand of our company and our services, but what about us as the people behind the brand?
In the highly competitive IFA business climate, your personal brand is paramount to your success. And now more so than ever in the current economic climate.
In the highly competitive IFA business climate, your personal brand is paramount to your success. And now more so than ever in the current economic climate.
With any company, ensuring that all staff, from the CEO to the Receptionist, reinforce and project the company brand consistently is essential if they are going to maximise the huge investment they make in their brand awareness every year. But when you are the business, your personal brand becomes even more important when it comes to projecting a consistent brand image. How focussed are you on this? All too often, how people project themselves is left to chance and this dilutes and weakens the significant investment of time and money you make in other areas of your brand awareness.
Consider for a moment, all the great words and content you might use on your website and brochures – do you and your staff really reinforce these? if not, you’re missing an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. We know people buy people – so with several other IFA and Financial Planners offering similar services and products, it is with your strong personal brand that you can stand out and differentiate yourself.
In today’s busy and time-limited world we often have to use intuition and gut-feel to make quick judgements, and the visual impression we give has a huge effect on the way others judge our inner values, such as professionalism, integrity, trust and credibility. In other words, our outer packaging gives others perceived clues as to our true character.
So let’s look at how you can discover and build your own brand for greater personal impact and visibility.
It’s about being yourself and individual, but having a strong personal brand is not just about what you wear – it’s about projecting a strong and consistent ‘personal brand’ image for yourself through the way you talk, the way you behave, your body talk and your sartorial and grooming skills, and then taking control of your visibility to manage your own PR You could call it projecting a Brand Me image.
So where do you start out on the road to developing a charismatic personal brand for yourself that is also essential for career progression, the success of your firm and attracting the right people into your organisation?
Personal branding is about being authentic and consistent, so that people will want to learn more about you and the work you do. In this fast-paced business world it’s vital that we make a powerful first impression and that our personal window display is kept updated.
At Walking TALL, we’ve developed the “7 Big Strides to Personal Branding”. These have been based on over 10 years of working on personal branding and image impact in the corporate sector.
Stride 1 – Who You Really Are
This is a vital starting point. Unless we project an authentic brand image then others won’t trust us. So think firstly about what you really want to be known for – what you should be ‘famous’ for. Get some clarity on your strengths, motivators and values before you go any further.
Consider how often you project these brand values – are there times when you are off-guard and a less than consistent image comes through?
Ask your clients to describe to you what it is you actually do for them. Even though you have an expertise in your profession, what specifically are you great at?
Get some specific feedback from colleagues and friends too – ask for 3 words that describe you. How close are they to the real you that you consider yourself to be?
You will have uncovered some gaps here – between the perception and your authentic Brand ME. Could this be due to some unconscious personal brand layers being added without you really being aware?
Stride 2 – The First 7 Seconds
We all know that the first impression is powerful but just how accurate is the impression you make instantly? Is it a projection of your true brand or does something else come across?
When we have a first impression of somebody, we first of all take in the non-verbal elements such as body indicators and dress and grooming. We then take in the quality of the voice rather than what they say, and then if we like what we see and how we hear it, we hook into the words more effectively. We then add sub-conscious layers to that first impression to support our initial reaction. So a first impression is perhaps more powerful than you think.
Stride 3 – Dress Like you Mean It
Others judge us on the way we’re dressed whether we like it or not, so you’d better make sure it’s appropriate for your Brand. Your clothes should be an extension of you and your personality. Fashion critic James Laver once said, “Clothing is the furniture of the mind made visible”. Those perceptions are reality in the eye of the beholder! Don’t do what you’ve always done necessarily – is your wardrobe still relevant for your personal brand today?
Stride 4 – Silent Indicators
Your silent messages speak volumes about you to others – or that is the perception. Do you have a frown on your face often and don’t know about it; do you lack a smile, do you have a weak handshake? Check these out – they could get in the way of your positive brand image.
Stride 5 – Speak Easy
Have you ever thought about your voice as being part of your brand? Get feedback on your voice as you’re not the best judge of it. Others judge you on it and it could be the first impression they have of you from a phone message or voicemail.
Stride 6 – Be Interested and Visible
Your social skills are always on show. How you build rapport is often not a conscious thing so get some feedback on how you come across to others from a social prospective. Simply being interested in others makes you a more interesting person – people love you to be interested in them, never forget that.
What can you do to be more visible in a conscious and positive way? Have a visibility plan to reach your target market in a way that reinforces who you really are rather than leaving your visibility and the level of its positivity to chance. Do your target market really know who you are, what you do and what you’re great at?
Stride 7 – Each Time, All the Time
This is the crucial one. Unless you take control of the perceptions that others have of you, your brand will be inconsistent and you wi
Author: Philip Calvert
Posted: Sunday, November 09, 2008 | 2:40:29 PM
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