The Power Of Personal Brand… Are You Strutting Your Stuff Effectively?
What’s all this stuff about ‘personal brand’?
It’s like one of those buzz phrases, isn’t it? Surely it will go away soon?
Wrong!
Fact is, personal brand has always been important… it’s just that people weren’t obviously talking about it in real terms or separating it from ‘business brand’ (which is more to do with your colours, logo, font, company ethos, old-style vision statements and the like).
As the new era of entrepreneurship has grown, though, and as more individuals have been making an impact and stepping into the spotlight, the power of personal brand in its own right has become more and more of a focus.
I’ve been teaching people about personal brand since about 2010; even in the old days, when I was teaching people about developing their brand on social media with Turquoise Tiger, it was personal brand that Asha Clearwater and I were big on promoting as a tool to gain traction and visibility through those online channels.
Nowadays, I go deeper than that and help people to develop their personal brand, stand out, shine and attract emotional connection, bond and magnetic advocacy through one-to-one coaching, my #BrandMastery Programme and my workshops.
Personal brand is YOU.
It’s who you are. It’s what you stand for. It’s your purpose, your story, your vision, your intention, your big picture end goal. Get it right, and people will be saying things about you that align with your brand when you’re not in the room.
Get it wrong and the results can be disastrous.
For your personal brand to hold true, you need to walk your talk. You need to believe in your message, live it, breathe it and show it off to the world.
Make no mistake, your actions and words will be adopted as part of your personal brand by your audience, regardless of whether you want them to be.
If you’re always breaking promises, talking about people behind their backs, seeming to be out of integrity, undervaluing yourself, dropping the ball or being less than reliable, these ‘assets’ will become seen part of your personal brand – whether you want them to or not.
For your personal brand to really shine, you need to really BE it. And the best way to do that? Keep it real, stay on message and always strive to be the best version of you. Don’t try to be someone else – keep your personal brand aligned with your own dreams, personality and values. As Tolly Burkan might say, let it be easy!
If there’s something you’d hate to have being said about you, don’t do that thing. Ever.
The reverse is also true… what do you *want* people to be saying about you? What do you want to be remembered for? Get out there and show that to the world!
#UnleashYourAwesome
Taz
Taz Thornton is the author of Awesome Sauce — a free, weekly positive life and business round-up, with good news stories, positivity tips and visibility hacks for your brand. In a few minutes each week, you get a dose of optimism and some awesome advice to get seen and stay happy.
Taz is a best-selling author, inspirational business speaker and multiple TEDx speaker, consultant on confidence, personal brand and visibility, and an award-winning coach (UK’s Best Female Coach 2018 — Best Business Woman Awards). She is also the creator of the #UnleashYourAwesome and #BrandMastery personal and business development programmes, as well as #UNLEASHED — an affordable confidence, content and cashflow building programme for coaches, healers and therapists, and #LIFEFORCE — an affordable online spiritual empowerment and coaching programme for people wanting to bring more optimism into their lives.
Taz has been featured on BBC, ITV, in HuffPost, Diva, The Daily Mail and countless other newspapers, magazines and podcasts. Taz is also a regular columnist for the America Out Loud talkshow network. In 2019, she was named as one of the most inspirational businesswomen in the UK and, in 2020, she was named as one of the world’s top 50 women in marketing to follow.
Find her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Insta, Ko-Fi and TazThornton.com.
