Recently, I was told from a potential client that I have a strong personal brand. I was shocked that more than my company, he saw my personal brand. He said ‘wherever he is’, I tend to show up.  Yes, I did my happy dance!  So, I thought I would share some insight into how I developed my brand and what steps you can take to build a strong personal brand.

Be Positive and Passionate

With so much negativity around us, it is nice to have someone to look to as a voice of positivity.  I try to always post in a way that will empower and influence with a “positive voice”.

Helping Others

If we look to help people, this is where true relationships are made.  This is especially true in business.  I use the term “Connecting for Purpose”.  When you meet someone new, try to think about what reason you were brought together. Are you there to help them?  The best relationship I find are the ones where you are in it to help each other! Without a heart of service, you will look too soon at “what’s in it for me” and miss a long-term rewarding relationship.

Build a Network

I wrote ‘be passionate’ first because you must know what you are passionate about before you “find your tribe”.  Once you know what group of people you are looking for, start connecting! Don’t wait for them to send the invitation. You send it out with a one sentence purpose of the connection. Do this daily! The larger your network, the larger your scope of influence, and the more help you can give to others. I am not an expert on technical topics, but I have many experts in my network that I can turn to which allows me to help our industry.

Get to Know Your Audience

Over the past 15 years, I have been building my personal brand and my audience.  If you are willing to listen, I am willing to share! The other is true as well, if you are willing to share, I am willing to listen! I LOVE to hear my followers’ stories.  Each time I am lucky enough to meet one, I am asking questions to learn more about their daily lives, how they got into the field, and what drives them or keeps them up at night.  Asking these questions helps me understand their day-to-day lives and allows me to develop more powerful and helpful content. The only way to get to know your audience is to engage with them… so get personal and connect!

Have Goals Written Down

Written Goals are a must for any growth initiative! Create a goal for yourself and watch it grow! For me, I measure myself with a thought leadership score.  How do you know if you are a thought leader?  I read (somewhere) that you should count the number of shares, the number of submitted articles to other platforms, the number of comments, the number of back links, and the number of people calling you. For me personally, I measure the personal engagement level with our audience! For my company, I count the number of people calling asking my team to help!

If you need help building your personal brand, give me a call. I’d be happy to help and to connect you with my network of branding pros!