What is Your Personal Brand?

You Have a Personal Brand. Is it Good or Bad?

What do you think when you hear the names of McDonald’s, Toyota and Apple? What do you think when you hear the name of Martha Stewart? Okay, let me change it up. What do other people think when they hear your name? Do they think, “I’ve never heard of that person” or “Oh yeah, they’re top notch! Couldn’t recommend anyone better!” Maybe you don’t know what people think of who you are, but you should definitely care. Ignoring how people perceive you may not be the smartest thing to do. Your personal brand can severely impact your future job opportunities, the effectiveness of your networking, the number of passive leads you acquire, your recognition within the industry, your credibility and much more. Do you care about any of that? If so, keep reading and we’ll take a closer look at your personal brand.

Discover the Identity of Your Personal Brand

I care about marketing. I’m constantly learning how to become a better marketer and provide the best possible marketing services to my clients. When someone discovers me, I want them to say “man, he knows what he’s talking about. If I need help, I’m going to contact this guy!” That’s who I am, but what about you? How do you wish to be perceived by others? Are you the top restaurant real estate broker around? Do you offer incredible buyer representation services? Do you make unbelievably awesome ice cream? Who are you and how do you want people to perceive you? Here’s a blank, so you can fill in the answer to that question. “I am _______________________. That’s how people should perceive me.” Did you answer that question? Stop reading this blog post and fill in the blank. I’m not kidding!

Great! Now that you’ve answered that question, it’s time to do a Google search. Google your name and see what shows up. Do you see exactly what you want to see? If so, that’s awesome! Keep up the great work! If not, then we need to get it fixed. And of course, if you don’t show up at all, then we definitely need to work on that.

What’s the Point?

Now you know what your personal brand should be. I’m glad you figured it out. But what’s the point in identifying what your personal brand should be if you’re not going to do anything about it? It doesn’t exactly scream “this is an important person” when someone searches your name and can’t find you. You have the power to impact what people think of you. Doesn’t that matter to you? Would a better brand image of yourself result in higher credibility, leads, job offers, networking, etc.? Sure it will! But nothing’s going to happen if you don’t do something about it. If you want to make changes for the better that will lead to greater opportunities for you, then keep reading! If not, the rest of this blog post might be pointless, so you should probably stop reading and go do something else.

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Get Seen!

Yay! You’re still reading! Okay, so here’s the deal… what people think of you is based on what you put out for them to see. If you put nothing out, then they think you’re a nothing (a nobody). That’s what most people have to start with. Now, what do you want people to think of you? You need to start putting out content that will craft the way people perceive you. Here is some Josh trivia for you: Joshua Lyons has been dancing west coast swing for over three years, he juggles fire [literally], enjoys cooking, wants a golden retriever and recently got engaged. Although that’s all important to me, those facts have nothing to do with the personal brand I want you to see. If they did, this would be a blog about Josh and not a blog about marketing. When you find me online, I want you to know that I can help you with your internet marketing. Are you sick of not getting found online? Let me help you. That’s my message. So, everything I put out on the internet is based around that message. But if I’m not sharing relevant marketing related content, then I’m not shaping my personal brand. The exact same thing is true for you. What message are you sharing through the content you put on the internet? Is it based around your personal brand? If not, you need to change your messaging. And if you aren’t putting anything out at all, you are completely giving up. That’s not good. So, start putting out content that will shape what people think when they hear your name.

Now What?

I explained that you need to get seen, but I didn’t elaborate on how to do that. Don’t worry, I’ll give you some more information about building your personal brand in a future post. I know you’re eager to start making a difference about the way people perceive you, so I’ll give you some homework. Between now and the next blog post I publish, I want you to complete the following tasks:

• Do you remember that blank in the second paragraph, when I asked you about your personal brand? Make sure you fill it out.
• Find out what people see when they search for you on Google, social media and anywhere else people are likely to search for you. If it’s easy to find you and people are seeing what you want them to see, then great! If not, decide whether or not you want to change your brand image for the better.
• If you’re going to take your personal brand image seriously, then decide on the type of content you need to share. Find your role models and competitors. Make a note of the type of content they’re putting out. Is it good? How could it be better? How you can follow their example, but be even better?

I really hope this blog post has resonated with you. So many people aren’t taking their personal brand seriously enough and are limiting their potential. Please don’t be one of those people.

If this post was interesting enough to keep you reading all the way to the end, please do me a big favor and share it via social media. That would be a huge help to me. And if you have any feedback, please let me know what you think in the comments section below!