My approach to building my personal brand

"Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room – remember that."– Chris Ducker

Personal branding has been a hot topic lately. In early 2016, I kicked off work on my personal brand. The need came from me living in a new country and having to re-introduce myself. I took a holistic approach to build my brand by covering my personal and professional brand as well. It included working on my online presence, offline activities, networking, joining groups and most importantly self-discovery.

Today, I'm writing from the perspective of someone who has tested a few personal branding strategies and is continuously learning. As a starting point, your journey will be different; these are some ideas that you could add to your list. In this blog post, I'll share top strategies I used and some tools I use to keep my brand fresh. Check out the "Great Resources" section at the end of the post for more tips to help you build your brand.

What is your personal brand/ personal branding?

• Personal brand is really just a synonym for your reputation. (Personal Branding Tips From Dorie Clark)
• Personal branding is the process of creating a recognizable professional name and reputation for yourself. (Source: Job Interview Site)
• Personal branding is the process of developing a "mark" that is created around your name or your career. You use this "mark" to express and communicate your skills, personality, and values. (Source: Tips on Creating and Growing Your Personal Brand)

Who needs to work on their personal brand?
You. Me. Everyone

Why you need a personal brand?

• Provides clarity on who you are and what you stand for.
• Gives you a great way to introduce yourself with some substance.
• Offers the ability to differentiate yourself from people who do similar work.
• Creates awareness of topics that are important to you and your work.
• Provides a way for the right kinds of people and professional opportunities to find you.

How to build your personal brand

Be clear on why you want to build your personal brand
As with everything we do and want to be successful at, we need to be clear on why we are working on it as well as the results we want. Building your brand takes work and requires a clear direction. When I started building my brand, my objective was to create a platform to build deeper connections, share my experiences and promote what I care about. Looking back over the three years that I've been developing my brand, I can confidently say that I have seen great results.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Write down why you want to build your personal brand and what you want to achieve.
• Write down three things you plan to work on.

Get to know yourself more
When I started writing this post, I reflected on the most valuable exercises I did with my life coach. Getting to know myself better was the first. Self-discovery has been a key pillar of my branding journey. For me, it all began with discovering my strengths through self-assessments. Being clear on what I'm good at, helped me frame my message when I talked about or presented myself. I also spent time getting clarity on what my values are and what I stand for. My journey to discovering myself has been very rewarding.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Take self-assessments to get to know yourself more. (My top 2: Strengthsfinder 2.0, Personality Types)
• Write down five things you are good at and share with your community.

Own your narrative and tell your story
One of the principles I heard that helped me understand the importance of my brand was "If you don't own your narrative and your story, others will own it for you." The realization that I am the best person to tell my story helped me take ownership and think about how I want to be seen or heard. Growing up in Nigeria, I was not taught the value of talking about yourself in a positive way when you present yourself to the world. After going through my learning journey, I can say that we all have unique experiences and a great story to tell.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Write down your story and some reflection points.
• Share your story with someone.

Share your knowledge and ideas that help you stand out
Your co-workers, potential teams or clients should know your expertise and what they can come to you for. Create content and showcase yourself as an expert in your field. It is very easy to start this. Be mindful of what you share as it represents you. One of the great benefits of having my blog is that I have a great way to introduce myself and what I care about. There are many ways to go about it; you can start with gathering insights on topics you care about and sharing on social media, supporting causes that you care about or sharing ideas with your community.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Find opportunities to speak, write and share your ideas.
• Turn your ideas and expertise to a source of income.

Have a consistent message across all online and offline platforms
Does your online presence tell the same story as the one you share when you are meeting people in person? Your social media and professional platforms like LinkedIn should represent you the way you have chosen to present yourself. What you post, like, share and subscribe to, is a clear indication of where your heart is. Be intentional about what you put your name on, especially online. Imagine the great opportunity you have to associate yourself with good causes and things that help you grow.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Update your LinkedIn profile and review it regularly
• Be more intentional on social media

Keep learning and developing your brand
As you progress on your personal branding journey, take the opportunity to tweak and improve your presentation. Track what's working and what's not working to help define your path forward. I want to emphasize this point as it allows you to start with something small and keep expanding as you progress on your journey. Your brand is built one step at a time. This is the same approach I've been taking for the past three years.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Make time to review your brand monthly
• Research and see what other successful people are doing

Build your community and join productive groups
Interestingly, it is in my nature to build a community and look for them. However, I never considered the importance of how my community influenced my brand and vice versa. Especially professionally and in my business, my affiliation with certain groups helped me build and grow my brand. While you search for communities, keep in mind that you want a community you can give to and gain knowledge from. Remember the people you surround yourself with are a reflection of who you are.

Tools for your Toolkit

• Build your support community
• Think about the type of people you want to be around more and find them

Final Thoughts

• Your brand is currency - invest and use it wisely.
• Guard your reputation and be more intentional about how you present yourself to the world.
• Now is the right time to start building your personal and professional brand - it's never too late or too early.
• Start building your brand today and reap the benefits.

Great Resources

• How Women Can Develop — and Promote — Their Personal Brand
• 4 Powerful Questions That Help Nail Your Personal Brand
• The First Step To Building Your Personal Brand
• 26 Different Ways to Build Your Personal Brand (Meaning You'll Like at Least One!)
• Build Your Personal Brand with These 5 Simple Tools
• Why You Need A Strong Personal Brand and How To Build One
• How to Define Your Personal Brand in 5 Simple Steps
• Personal Branding Tips From Dorie Clark
• How to Craft Your Personal Brand Statement
• Tips on Creating and Growing Your Personal Brand
• How to Write Your Personal Branding Statement
• 5 Must-Read Books to Build Your Personal Brand by Women Authors Who Know How to Get It Done
• How the story you tell about yourself affects your life