KEY TIPS FOR PERSONAL BRANDING
Personal branding is another opportunity to communicate what you’re about and what you stand for. Here are some practical tips and things to think about.
__
A number of years ago when I first heard about personal branding, I’m afraid to say that my understanding of it was rather limited, but definitely not neutral. I had a rather negative perception and I’m not entirely sure why.
Any marketers out there, please know that I am now a reformed character.
I have since come to realise that personal branding is essentially about communication, and more specifically, how we communicate what matters to us and what we stand for.
Thinking of it like that, it turns out that we all have a personal brand because we are all communicating about things that are important to us all the time, from what we talk about, where we spend our time, through to what we post on social media. It all communicates something about us and what is important to us.
As a clergyman in the Church of England, I am in the communication business, which meant I was excited to learn that this represented another opportunity to communicate something about the bigger story. God’s story. The idea that how I communicate and what I communicate might both point in some way, to Jesus.
“As a clergyman in the Church of England, I’m in the communication business...”
For others it may not be about overt gospel communication (though as a Christian, how you communicate will be influenced by the gospel), but it might simply be a chance to reinforce the things that you stand for, and the things that you’re about.
That’s why we wanted to make some space about it at the recent Stronger 2022 conference because there are people out there for whom this is an important area to be thinking about. Perhaps you have a particular skill or a particular resource or beginning to run with a business idea – being aware of your personal brand could help you spend more of your time connecting with your audience.
We couldn’t think of anyone better to help us think about the subject, than Josie Gamble.
Josie is a creative entrepreneur, business owner and founder of Christian Creative Directory and Christian Creative Network which is a national network made up of local branches which champion creativity in the church through connecting like-minded creatives. She then went on to launch Christian Creative Directory, April 2021, which simply connects Christian creatives with those who need their services.
We’ll share all 40 minutes of Josie’s talk in due course, but for now I wanted to pull out a few of the points she makes.
BRANDING IS COMMUNICATION
Josie kicked off her session looking a bit more in detail about branding and how it can help you get your message out. This is what she said:
“Branding is about communicating with people, and to teach them how to talk about your business when you’re not there.”
‘…your brand, is how people talk about your business when you are not there. So if you were to ask ten different people who know you and you ask them, ‘what does Josie do?’, and if ten different people gave the same answer then I would have a strong brand, they know what I do. If those ten people gave ten different answer, then my brand is very weak, because it's obviously confusing, then don't know exactly what to do.’
She also said this:
‘Branding is about communicating, it's communicating with people, and to teach them how to talk about your business when you're not there.’
So that’s really simple and clear isn’t it? … no pun intended.
Actually, the simpler and clearer your branding is, the better, because it’s about reducing the friction between your message and those with whom you’re trying to connect and communicate with. The idea is to reduce noise and confusion so that people know immediately what it is you stand for and what it is you’re about.
I was reading a book by John Purkiss & David Royston-Lee called Brand You. In it they shared a list (not exhaustive) of famous people and what they are known for. See if you agree:
Acting: Jackie Chan, George Clooney
Chefs: Nigella lawson; Gordon Ramsay
Entrepreneurship: Richard Branson; Steve Jobs
Fashion: Giorgio Armani; Vivienne Westwood
Fiction: Paulo Coehlo; Salman Rushdie
Film-Making: Steven Spielberg
Finance: Warren Buffet
Motor Racing: Michael Schumacher; Lewis Hamilton
Painting: David Hockney; Lucian Freud
Politics: Angela Merkel; Margaret Thatcher
Pop Music: Michael Jackson; Paul McCartney
Royalty: The Queen
Sculpture: Damien Hirst
Sport: David Beckham; Serena Williams
They go on to make the point, that ‘most of us don't need to be household names’, we simply need to be known what we stand for amongst our potential customers or clients or target audience.
Another expert in this area, Jenna Kutcher said that personal brand ‘Is like your ‘digital handshake’ saying hello, this is me, nice to meet you’.
So personal branding is about communication. Does your personal brand line up with what you want to communicate?
6 KEY ELEMENTS OF BRANDING
Branding and personal branding are quite broad terms so it’s important to dig deeper and discover the elements that make up a brand. This is exactly what Josie did so skilfully in her session. This is what she said:
‘There are six elements that make up a brand: Identity; Voice; Promise; Values; targeting; positioning’
She then proceeded to unpack each element and I’m including a summary here:
1. Identity: ‘…the collection of visible elements that make you unique and different’
2. Voice: ‘Your personal brand voice, the way you talk to your audience…’
3. Promise: ‘this is the essence of what you have to offer..’
4. Values: ‘…your values are the beliefs you as an individual stand for…’
5. Targeting: ‘…you have to define your audience…’
6. Position: ‘…how you would like your brand to be perceived by customers…’
As you read that list, are there particular elements that stand out to you? Where would you say you need to spend a bit of time doing some work? As you do a bit of refining work it will help you become more effective in your communication.
USING PERSONAL BRAND TO POINT TO SOMETHING
I suppose some of the negativity I felt around the idea of personal branding was about where it was all pointing. When done badly it can be a way to massage ego, you know, ‘look at me, look at what I do’.
The brilliant thing is that as a Christian, you have an opportunity to point to the things that God has impressed on your heart.
The business, the project, the idea, the new initiative. If the driver behind that is something Holy Spirit inspired, then this another great tool to shout about it. Let it shine.
Let people see it because as they look at you, they are ultimately seeing something of God’s work in you and through you, which is a sign of God’s Kingdom drawing near.
