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 itโs 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.
Thatโs because this is where it really starts to get personal. Thereโs no right or wrong answer to the question of what you stand for. Itโs 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, youโll hopefully notice a pattern that you donโt agree with.
Itโs even better if what you see literally bugs you. That is what youโre 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. Thatโs because deep down she believed team members’ engagement is far more important than individual leadersโ strategic ability in any area.
In other words, leaders canโt be effective in leading if they donโt know how to engage others. So the engagement is what she stands for. Itโs powerful because itโs very specific.
Itโs 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. Thatโs what you stand for. And then you start talking about it and writing about it.
Essentially, thatโs what branding is.
In the next dispatch, Iโll talk about the audience in the branding process.
