What do you stand for?

So far in the last two dispatches, I shared:

  • The distinction between brand and branding
  • The first step in your branding

In this email, I attempt to help you answer the question I raised in the last dispatch. My question was this:What do you stand for?

In fact, in most cases, we cannot start the branding process without having the answer to that profound question.

The problem is that it’s not a simple question to answer. So how does one go about finding an answer? This is where the word Personal really comes into personal branding, in my opinion.

That’s because this is where it really starts to get personal. There’s no right or wrong answer to the question of what you stand for. It’s based on our personal beliefs around how and why we do what we do.

We could go so deep with this, but today I want to simply share a trick you could use to find out your own answer to the question of what you stand for.

The first thing you need to do is to look around in your areas of expertise and see what others are talking about. What are they focusing on mainly?

As you pay attention and notice what the main themes are, you’ll hopefully notice a pattern that you don’t agree with.

It’s even better if what you see literally bugs you. That is what you’re looking for.

Let me give you an example to illustrate this point. I coach people who are in leadership roles. And some of them are coaches for those leaders.

Now when one of my clients looked around for what others are doing around leadership development, she was quite annoyed after seeing so many leadership coaches emphasising the importance of strategic skills of this or that. That’s because deep down she believed team members’ engagement is far more important than individual leaders’ strategic ability in any area.

In other words, leaders can’t be effective in leading if they don’t know how to engage others. So the engagement is what she stands for. It’s powerful because it’s very specific.

It’s now your turn.

Look around you. Pay attention and observe a pattern in your area of expertise. Is there any area where you see things a little differently?

Articulate it. That’s what you stand for. And then you start talking about it and writing about it.

Essentially, that’s what branding is.

In the next dispatch, I’ll talk about the audience in the branding process.

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Hello!

Hi, my name is Songy, your Personal Brand Coach & Photographer. I help you create a brand that represents who you are and what you do so that you can grow your business. I’ve moved well away from thoughts of having the ‘wrong’ personality or being an introvert, and now I’m helping everyone who is not comfortable being visible to become visible and flourish in the marketplace. My clients love my direct, no-nonsense approach, my off-beat sense of humour and my caring nature. Connect with me by signing up to receive my weekly marketing insights and personal branding secrets.

Your face. Your story. Your brand.

A personal brand playbook for professionals

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