How Do You Quantify the Success of Your Personal Brand?
One of my favorite things about working with expert authors is our discussion on building an intentional personal brand. They know themselves as the person everyone expects them to be in the corporate workplace. However, in most circumstances, they started their own coaching, consulting, or speaking business because who they were at work was not in alignment with how they truly wanted to express themselves. Writing a book is often the beginning of creating an intentional personal brand that feels natural for the first time.
The great thing about a personal brand is that it can be whatever you design it to be. There really are no rules as to what is good for you and what is not. It takes a period of deep introspection to figure out who you are, what you were brought here on earth to express, and the best way to follow through with your expression. And since your personal brand is up to you to create, the success markers are also yours to define. Here are a few success markers I find that many of my expert authors are interested in achieving.
#1 Does your brand allow you to be yourself as you define it?
There’s nothing worse than creating a personal brand that doesn’t fit. You end up doing the wrong work for the wrong people. However, when everything is in alignment, you should feel good about doing your work with clients who need what you have to offer.
Let’s frame this around an example that is more understandable. Do you feel free to speak as an expert, or are you still hiding behind what you think the world wants you to say? Are you putting together solutions for an audience you are excited about working with? Or are you repeating solutions created by others that don’t really fit who you are and how you’d like to show up in the world?
This is more of a qualitative measure than quantitative. Nonetheless, how you feel about the value your brand is bringing to others is an important measure to keep track of.
#2 Are you growing your network?
A personal brand isn’t valuable until other people have benefited from it. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to how you are growing your network. Connect with people who can benefit from who you are and what you have to offer.
The good news about growing your network is that you don’t have to go far. Start with the people you already know and grow from there. Make introductions for people who are looking to connect with resources. Be willing to do favors for people who can potentially help your business. The key here is to learn how to be helpful. The point isn’t for you to receive immediately, but rather to build a network of people who know and trust you. Eventually, all the connecting and doing favors for people will come back to you just when you need it.
#3 Are you appearing in spaces that add to your credibility?
One of the pieces I work on with expert authors is building an author platform. An author platform is a piece of the personal branding puzzle that allows you an opportunity to build an audience. Every business or personality needs a group of people who are rooting for them. The best way to do that is to utilize media to build a following.
Take the time to do a Google search to see what you find about yourself. One of the first links you should find is your own website, preferably with a written or video blog that people can use to connect with you. Pay attention to your social media numbers. Is your email list growing? Are people subscribing to your video content? Do you have a growing and active Facebook group? How many people are reading, commenting and sharing your written blog posts?
Next, take the time to see where you are appearing outside of your own spaces. Are you writing guest blog posts? Do you do podcast guest appearances? Do you do speaking engagements? Do you offer expert advice to the media? How are these appearances helping you to grow your personal brand?
Final Thoughts
Quantifying the success of your personal brand doesn’t have to be complicated. How you quantify your success depends on what you want out of your own career or business. I advise taking the time to work with someone who understands your vision for what you want to achieve. Why? Because you are so close to your vision that designing a plan to get to where you want to go can lead to lots of procrastination and second-guessing yourself. The most important takeaway here is that you get to define what your personal brand should look like and how you want it to benefit yourself and others.
