Personal Branding: Beyond Aesthetics
Personal branding is a crucial part of the modern career. It is a strategy, a plan, and a promise to your stakeholders; a presentation of the unique way you do business. The ever-changing and increasingly competitive job market presents challenges that can be overcome by learning how to present yourself in a way that sets you apart from the crowd. Uniqueness and recognizability are key in our information-overloaded world. Hence, the importance of an effective personal brand that can be used to amplify your voice and be heard through the noise.
From your knowledge, expertise, and accomplishments, to volunteer work, endorsements and presence on LinkedIn, your personal brand is your entire image as it stands and can make or break opportunities in your career.
On that note, I have the pleasure of announcing a rebranding of Diary of a San Francisco Recruiter. To appeal to a wider audience, I have decided to rename this biweekly newsletter to Lit Career Tips. Expect more effective job search tips with added insights on career readiness. Thank you all for continuing to join me as we illuminate career readiness, job searching, and beyond.
Now, what do you need to keep in mind when building an effective personal brand? Here are a few things to consider.
Branding Beyond Aesthetics
Personal branding is not just for CEOs and Fortune 500 executives. It is a powerful tool for anyone who wants to make an impact on the world. It does not matter whether you are applying for a new job or trying to get people to buy something or even recruiting top talent to your company— personal branding can help you achieve your goals.
While it is easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of your personal brand, it is important to know effective personal branding goes beyond aesthetics; it is more than just a logo or Pantone’s latest color of the season — although these are considerations to make. So, before you start thinking about how to present yourself, what colors to use and what font looks best, it is important to first think about why you are doing this.
Define Your Strategy Mindfully
Know yourself. What do you want to be known for? What do you want your brand to express? What do you want it to say about your value as a professional? What are your intentions for the brand? Answering these questions is the first step to developing your brand strategy. Your answers should be based on who you really are as a person (and not what others tell you), where you see yourself in 5 years’ time and how these align with your career goals. This will help to shape the brand story of who you are, what you do and why people should care to network with you.
Then, take all those ideas and organize them into themes that make sense for your branding strategy, using the information to craft a brand promise. For example, if a primary intention on my list is “to be a conduit for my network,” and my mission statement is “to provide exceptional client experiences”, I might represent that as part of my brand promise by saying something like “I’m passionate about connecting people with career opportunities and providing exceptional client experiences.” That way when someone asks me what I do they will immediately understand what that means without having to clarify.
Next up, identify your audience; the people you want your message to reach. Find out who wants what you have to offer. What do they care about? This is information that would become apparent when researching your target industry. Once you know who your audience is, you can tailor your brand message. Here are articles on How to Job Search Effectively and how to Grow Your Network Thoughtfully.
Showcase Your Competitive Advantage
Isolate what you want to be known for — a skill, a talent, a unique perspective — and use social media like LinkedIn as a platform for sharing your knowledge or special qualities with the world. When people see your posts or interact with you on social media, they should be left with an impression of what kind of person you are and what you have to offer. What is your competitive advantage?
Be mindful, like the Golden Gate Bridge took years to build, so too does building a brand. Built over time with consistency, commitment to brand experience, and a few setbacks to learn from. Keep building.
I present my personal value proposition as a Technical Recruiter and Talent Acquisition Specialist in my work and on social media, blogs, and newsletters by:
- providing exceptional customer experiences;
- demonstrating my expertise;
- sharing knowledge;
- generally being jovial :)
Visually, I represent myself by using:
- bold colors;
- crisp typography;
- vibrant optimistic imagery;
- a dash of my own writing flair.
What best represents your brand?
Be Authentic and Transparent
A personal brand is not just a facade on social media; it is an authentic representation of who you are and what makes you unique — both professionally and personally.
Every person has a story, but not everyone knows how to tell it well. Work on developing your personal story with accounts of relevant experiences, incorporating lessons you have learnt along the way. Your story should be unique, interesting, and relevant to your experience and the people you are trying to reach.
Be authentic and transparent. People can smell fakeness a mile away, so be honest and genuine in all your interactions with people both inside and outside of work. Feel confident to let your sparkling personality shine through in everything you do. Share your story in posts on your social media, blogs, and newsletters. This helps people get to know you a little better.
Consistency is Fundamental to Brand Trust
Going beyond aesthetics means offering a consistent experience — from how you interact with stakeholders to how you share your story. As such, your brand needs to be consistent across all facets of your personal value proposition so that it feels like one cohesive experience. Consistency is fundamental for building trust.
Applied consistently, branding is a skill that will propel your career forward; growing your reputation, building trust, driving sales, attracting talent, and finding new opportunities. Robust branding can even lead to becoming the President.
Be Memorable and Have Fun
People with a well-defined personal brand are memorable. They stand out amongst their peers, and this type of recognition can really work to your advantage in terms of career development if leveraged well. Creating your personal brand is a long-term effort. But starting early on and being mindful of your personal value proposition will help to develop the best version of your brand.
Ultimately, your personal brand is about getting noticed and communicating your personal value proposition. Make the most of your opportunities so you can take the next step in your career. And if that means being bolder and more daring than you have ever been before to get where you want to be, then it may be time to start investing in an effective personal brand strategy.
Remember to have fun along the way, this is a chance to show off your personality and define who you are. No longer do you need to rely on just your job title to let people know who you are. The message is clear: own your personal brand; make it yours; make it memorable; look at your brand through the eyes of others, and ask, “Would I hire me?”
Want More Lit Career Tips?
Subscribe to the Lit Career Tips newsletter on LinkedIn for more recruiter insights on career readiness and effective job searching. Feel free to send topics on the areas of career readiness and job searching you would like to hear about.
Lit Career Tips, illuminating career readiness, job searching, and beyond. Recruiter insights on career readiness and effective job searching from a San Francisco recruiter.
Thank you for your readership!
About the Author
Scott Swan is a Technical Recruiting Specialist based in San Francisco with expertise in talent acquisition, sales, marketing, and leadership, as well as a wealth of experience from working in the Technology, Education, Healthcare, Media, Logistics, and Space sectors. He is passionate about connecting people with career opportunities and providing exceptional client experiences.
Scott has fulfilled contracts for Amazon, Deutsche Post DHL, Meta, Microsoft, NASA, Naspers Limited and startups in the Bay Area, Beijing, and South Africa. He is the author of Lit Career Tips, a biweekly LinkedIn newsletter illuminating job searching, an advocate for hybrid work, and a cat dad to an American Longhair rescue named Tokyo.
