I’m almost done wrapping up my personal brand and I wanted to share with you the overall process it took me to get to this point:
Let’s take a quick look back at 2013, “I need a website” of course, as the owner of a digital marketing agency, thats the first thing that I’m going to do. I researched a number of personal branded websites and made a list of things I liked and things I didnt like for my designer. Spoke with a photographer and had her take tons of pictures of me and ultimately, I was not happy with what the end result was. This was not my designer or my photographers fault – they both produced amazing work. This was 100% my fault. The reason is because I did not really figure out what my purpose, my mission, and my WHY.
Late 2015 to Early 2016:
As a member of numerous networking groups and coaching/advisory board groups, I reached out and picked the brain of professionals I trusted and asked for guidance in my brand or tagline. Lots of good ideas came into play, but I was not truly in LOVE with any of them. Here is a small sampling of the taglines that were tossed my way:
- Digital Diva
- Marketing Mistress
- Connecting the Dots
- Inspiring Momentum
- Builder | Connector
- Marketing Magician
- Social Marketing Queen
You can see how I was getting a little flustered with the process. As much as I appreciated the support and guidance from my colleagues, it still wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
April 2016:
While on a 6 hour solo drive back from a business trip, I was listening to a podcast called “Start With Why.” There were only a handful of episodes, but I did fall in love with the messaging and overall concept of the WHY statement. So, next, I purchased the audio book “Start With Why” from Simon Sinek and ultimately purchased his online tutorial to help find my why statement.
I went through the exercises, inquired with two colleagues whom I trust and respect to help me and have since come very close to my personal why statement. Here are a few of the renditions that I came up with while working alongside my trusted confidants (you know who you are)!
[IMG]In addition to the self-guided tutorial, I have also hired a consultant who met with me for a few hours, asked me tons of questions and put together a very detailed outline of who she thought I was. This was a good exercise to go through, but I realized that within only a few hours of meeting her, she would not be able to accurately pinpoint my brand. The information that she compiled and put together for me was helpful as it was the stepping stool that I needed to get me that much closer to finalizing my brand.
Ultimately, I determined that it is me who knows who I am best (does that even make sense??)
September 2016:
So, I’m in the final stages of hashing out my own personal brand and am very close to showing it off! Now, we are working on redoing my website, I am creating lots of awesome and valuable pieces of information to share with the world, finishing up my consultation with my photographer to redo my headshots, and ultimately LIVING and believing in my brand.
Have you gone through a similar process? It would be great to hear your story about your personal branding journey.