Build Your Brand: Brick by Brick
Introduction
Human beings have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years and have endured many revolutions that have shaped our society and the world we know today. From the agricultural revolution to the industrial revolution, we now find ourselves today in what many call the 4th revolution: the digital revolution. This cataclysmic shift of rapidly adopting technology has advanced our society quicker than ever before because of its ability to connect people, places and things from all over the world. It disrupted almost every industry through companies like Slack who has revolutionized the way in which we communicate, it has changed the way we do business through advancements like trackable digital marketing, and it has created platforms like LinkedIn to connect recruiters to the right people faster, but how has it disrupted our lives as people?
Because of these reasons and more, I want to paint a picture of why our digital presence and digital brand is now more important more than ever before. Over the course of this blog, I will use the analogy of a house to represent how and why you should define and sculpt “Your Brand” in the middle of this digital revolution.
Your House
Think of your online identity — your brand — like a house. A house is representative of your current lifestyle. You fill it with great memories of your past, the things you need for your present, and all the unnecessary, extravagant things representative of who you want to become in the future. As you grow, it grows whether in size, character, or family members. Now, if I were to ask you: What is your dream home? You probably think of something extravagant or quaint, modern or outdoorsy, sleek or rustic. Regardless of the personalized style, we all have a dream home that is comprised of a foundation, a layout with the bells and whistles, and a curbside appeal. These three components of a house can be translated into three elements of your brand: your personal, professional and digital brand. Let’s do a deep dive into each of these and ensure you’re making the right investments to build your dream home — Your Dream Brand!
Personal brand
Your personal brand is your foundation. When you build a home, you need a stable foundation, so all other parts of the house do not collapse in on each other. The foundation is the first step in your branding process because you need to know who and what you stand for at the very start. You need to choose what you want the world to know about your story, life accomplishments, and your purpose-driven mission. Your personal brand should speak to what you love to do and profile some of the obstacles and successes you may have overcome throughout your life. It is necessary to be able to communicate your personal brand first so people who have only met you once or just through a screen can walk away with a sense of who you indeed are and find a reason to connect with you by your uniqueness. I have been told many times before: “Never forget where you come from, because your experience is unique, and you should always share those experiences with the world.”
My personal foundation and experiences are comprised of being born and raised in one the most violent cities per capita in the USA, Wilmington, DE. In reality, many kids raised like me never make it to college, work for a big technology company, or pursue a Master’s degree. However, I was fortunate to have a mother and a father who empowered me to make decisions and provided me opportunities based on the person I aspired to become, and not based on the low statistical success of youth in my town. I decided to attend a private middle school for low-income families when I could’ve gone to a public middle school. I decided to play basketball and video games for the camaraderie and competition instead of getting into trouble. And, I chose to be a loving and caring person, even if the environment around me was not always that way. This is the foundational brand that I’ve built for myself that has carried me a long way, but everyone has their version of the story, and I ask you what is yours?
Professional Brand
Your professional brand is the layout and bells and whistles of your house. As a kid, we often grow up wanting to be a doctor, a professional entertainer of some sort, a coding genius, or even an ambitious entrepreneur. We build our professional brand based on the exciting things we have accomplished in the companies we’ve touched and to show intent on what we hope to achieve in the future. An excellent example of someone who started building his professional life at a young age is Lebron James, a high school basketball phenom who created a global brand for himself before he even turned 18. It all started with his love for basketball but expanded into the workings of a robust professional brand. He’s now a future first-ballot basketball hall of famer, a bonafide businessman, and a relentless philanthropist for the youth. Lebron has become an architect in the design of his career and the inner workings of his house — his brand.
As we build around our professional brand, we must become the architect and designer of our careers. How I decided to architect my life was once I graduated high school, I attended Delaware State University and pursued a bachelor of science in Management Information Systems. I had a vision that business and technology was a perfect fit in the floor plans of my home. This decision in my professional career opened opportunities for me to work at SAP — I attended their annual conference and used the sticking power of my brand to convince them that I was their guy. I now attend ISDI Digital University pursuing a Masters in Internet Business. Why? Well, just like you would make small investments in your home to ensure it is well kept, you should do the same for your professional brand. ISDI has filled many gaps in my personal and professional career, and I am happy I invested in more bells and whistles for my brand — my evolving home.
Digital Brand
Last but not least is your digital brand. Your digital brand is the curbside appeal of your home. Your digital brand is everything you put online, from your social media profiles to your domain. Your brand online is one of the most influential elements of your home because it can be your first and last impression. If you have never met someone but intend to through a job interview or are merely connected to someone through a mutual connection, they will likely search your name on Google, LinkedIn or Facebook because they want to get a glimpse of who you are. Your curbside appeal can make or break you. You can have the most excellent foundation in the world with a great floor plan and layout of the home, but if your curbside appeal is lackluster — everything inside your house can quickly go to waste. This is typically the last thing people think to invest in but can be the difference between your next big career hop or new business opportunity, so, I would recommend spending the $10 on NameCheap.com or a Content Management System like Squarespace to buy a domain name and create your site. These kinds of services are designed for people without no technical background, have a shallow learning curve, tons of free support services, and have had such positive ROI for myself and all those who I’ve known have invested the time — stand out and show your creativity!
Social media is the hottest thing since sliced bread and experiencing it during my teenage and college years taught me how significant our digital presence is to our brand. What we do, say and share with the world online can be retrieved and used for or against us. My advice is to invest time and effort in building out your digital brand. Your digital brand is the first entry point for people experiencing who you are and the person you have become. So, get out there into the interwebs and share your accomplishments, write a blog about the things you enjoy, connect with your favorite influencers who’ve had an impact in your life, and most importantly keep it authentic.
Summary
Your foundation, the layout, and the curbside appeal all work in unison to create your home — your brand. Let’s leave off with a real-world scenario. You are finishing up a Master’s degree at a school, and you are seeking a new job or career, so you apply to a few places that might interest you. In other words, you want to put your home on the market, so you put some notices out online to let others know it’s available. People who are looking to invest in that kind of house will first test the curbside appeal. If they like what they see, then their interest deepens to examining the layout and floor plan of the home. If the layout is to their liking, they must make the last pivotal examination of the foundation to ensure everything will not collapse over time. Aka, is the whole package of your personal, professional, and digital brand aligned? Is your house the kind of brand people want to invest in? It’s one in the same as a recruiter seeing an application with your branding on it, researching it, and deciding if they’re going to invest in you.
Never forget that your brand is like a home and you control the experience you want people to see.
