Yesterdays post focused on why your personal brand is of value to you.  In brief, your brand is carries your reputation and everyone associated with you and therefore your brand is a potential ambassador for you or a detraction.

People you know well and those you don’t (acquaintances) can carry your brand.  Social media is another great way to promote your brand.  Networking sites like linkedin, or namez.com.

Where to Start

The first step is determining what you want your reputation to be.  To develop the profile you want should not be rushed.  Take your time recording the attributes and qualities you want to be known for.

Review the list several times over a couple of weeks to be sure it is natural and intuitive to you.  The reputation you create for yourself needs to fit you like a glove

While some detail is needed, at a top level your personal brand can be things like a charismatic  and empathtic leader.  Or perhaps you want your reputation to be more like a superman – just give me the task or problem and rest assurred it will be done.

Creating an implementation and Communication Strategy

Whether print focused (resume’s, comendation letters) or social media or digital (websites) or word of mouth network or even all of them, a plan is needed to succeed (which appraoch, when and how).

The plan should inlude not only your strategy for spreading your reputation (personal brand) but of developing it based on the profile definition step.

Is it worth the effort?  Hopefully it is intuitive that a consciously planned  approach is far more likely to create the personal brand you desire, than a happy accident.