I saw a short course yesterday on LinkedIn Learning about learning personal branding: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-personal-branding-2/your-most-powerful-marketing-tool

Thanks Katrina. It really does. I have been all over the place. The advice and suggestions I have received so far have been clarifying.

Hello Carmelita, I believe it has to be very visual such as bright, bold and colorful. The wording has to be catchy or grasp your attention. Then you have to figure out what your target market is such as women, children, men or a diverse group of people. I hope this helps. Sincerely, Katrina

Thank you for sharing! I’ve always struggled with knowing when to “stay in my lane” in my career with personal branding. I love the advice here!

I think Linked in has some great examples of this. Tone is what really resonates. Once you have the basics down, like summarizing your expertise and niche, tone especially considering the pandemic is important. A simple "wishing you and your family the best" is a nice touch at the end of emails. And especially starting meetings with, how are you doing, and responding appropriately, "I hope your day gets better" etc is important.

Building a personal brand is a notion that many I work with - predominantly Brits and South Africans - find very uncomfortable. To them it often, incorrectly, smacks of boastfulness and bigheadedness. Because of this, I merely ask them to think about where they stand out above others as a professional and whether they have any particular skills that another employer would find attractive. Typically they name two or three aspects of their job that they are best at first, and then they mention one or two of their behaviours that give them a sense of satisfaction or pride. As they grow, they also get a sense of what they most enjoy. I find this is a better way to guide them towards a personal brand and onwards in their career, rather than asking them to envisage where they will be in 5 years time, and it helps me and my colleagues to determine a professional development programme with which they engage fully. By the time they have 5-6 years of work experience under their belt, they are automatically able to single out their individual offering to us and to the wider job market, and they have a very solid appreciation of their personal brand, without sacrificing the effort needed by them to make them successful all round performers too.

I love the idea of personal branding! For myself, I think of my personal brand as the way others perceive me, so mostly intangible items? I want my coworkers to perceive me and be able to rely on me for things. I am a part of a larger organization that has its own logo and mission statement, I get to be absorbed into my Org's logo/mission statement. Because I dont have to represent myself, I need to be proud of the work that my Org does because not only do they represent me but I also represent them.

For branding I always first consider what new or fresh approach someone can bring to the space they are entering: leadership, small business, industry, etc. And then go from there. As well what should inform each of these from the logo to voice, tone, and style, to culture(MSV) is that every element is indeed personal to you. You should know why that font, those colors, that quote, this value were all used and selected. For me the most important parts of the list: Logo/Color Scheme/Fonts Voice, Tone, and Style/Naming/Mission, purpose, and values Personality/Culture/Consistency I think, personally, by focusing on these elements one would have a great foundation on starting their personal brand. The rest comes along naturally in the process :) Great question! Amy