The Power of Your Personal Brand

Ever since I left the corporate world two months ago to (finally, FINALLY) work 100% on my own ventures, my Mom constantly inquires, “Annie, what am I supposed to tell people you do again?  I mean, I can’t really say, ‘Well, she’s building her personal brand’ as no one gets it. You know?”

Ugh, she asks this all the time!  But I guess I can’t blame her.  It is, in a sense, what I’m doing.

What Is Branding?

Brands surround us everywhere we go.  What immediately comes to mind when you hear the words Pepsi Cola?  What about Banana Republic?  Or General Motors (GM)?  Or iPod?  What do you picture in your mind when you hear those names?  How do their names make you feel?  Each probably brings up specific thoughts, colors, feelings, or memories, some very simple, others quite detailed.  Am I right?  Pepsi Cola, Banana Republic, GM, and iPod are all brands with a specific definition and feeling.  They all happen to be BIG brands, but the concept applies to brands of all kinds, large and small, corporate and personal.

We, as users of social media tools and as bloggers and entrepreneurs and content-creators, can hop online and chit-chat about our favorite topics until our hearts are content.  But we must have a definition of what, exactly, we’re representing.  We must define our brand.  Our PERSONAL brand.  If we don’t define our brand, it’s kind of like running on a treadmill.  We might be moving, but we’re not going to get anywhere.

Personal Branding Online

So what does it mean, this personal brand?  It means, literally, you.  What YOU represent.  What emotions, adjectives, feelings, and images YOU evoke on your customers/audience/clients and anyone else that knows you.  Everyone has a personal brand, no matter if they’re directly building it or not.  If you’ve ever handed out a business card or friended someone on Facebook, you have a personal brand.  If you’ve ever posted a comment on a blog, if you have a Twitter account or a LinkedIn profile or a DailyBooth page, you have a personal brand.  Now, it might not be too large, but it’s there.

So what’s the point?

The opportunity (read: AMAZING opportunity) right now for anyone, no matter their experience, to build a following and an audience online is unbelievable.  It’s simple, actually – it’s so wide open that you can do it if you simply decide to.  He or she who works the hardest and connects the most, wins.  Barriers to entry are no more.  Because of the current landscape in the Web 2.0 world, ANYone can build an effective, powerful brand online.

So, listen up: Your personal brand is the accumulation of everything you do online and it is what will determine your opportunities and in turn, your success in business.

For example, let’s say John Smith is the Founder of Company X.  If everything he does online revolves around Company X and he never shares or discusses or engages in conversations about any other topic, what will people think when his name pops into their head?  Founder of Company X – and that’s probably about it.  That’s the mental bucket John will be relegated to.  But what if, while building Company X, John also routinely discussed his favorite hobbies using social media tools, ran a personal blog, engaged in conversations about the industry he was in, and commented on blogs with his expertise?  Things would be quite different.  Instead of putting John in the “Founder of Company X” bucket, his audience would see John as a whole, as a brand on its own.  He might meet people who are interested in working with him on a webinar series about social media and his industry.  He might get offered book deals about his personal experience or be invited to guest blog for other entrepreneurs or book speaking gigs on building your start-up audience using social media.  Yes, John jumped online to further build his business, Company X, however he also focused on defining who he was as an individual.  In the minds of his audience he separated the brand images and feelings and expectations of Company X from that of John Smith, and because he did that he, himself, will have opportunities he never would have had otherwise.

See how powerful that is?

My Story

Using online tools, I have been building my personal brand for about a year.  AnnieSorensen.com is the home-base of that brand, and the jumping off point from which all of the projects and ventures and personality that encompass my brand begin.  Doing this has brought me more business opportunities and projects and offers than I could have ever imagined.  A very simple example?  Being asked by Rod to write a post for this blog and having the opportunity to get to know all of you, his readers!  If I was known only as Annie the social media consultant or Annie the Verve distributor or Annie the book-lover, Rod would have never thought of me when looking for guest contributors.  He would have never placed me in the mental bucket of possible bloggers or motivators without my efforts to distinguish my personal brand from that of my separate ventures.

Your Action

Your personal brand is powerful.  After all, there’s NO ONE out there exactly like you.  You’re guaranteed to be a unique brand!  Continue your current ventures but to really move your opportunities and success forward, increase your focus on you – as an entrepreneur, as an individual, as a sum of all your separate pieces.

What say you?  How are you networking and connecting online as you – instead of as your individual venture or business?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author
Annie Sorensen is a 20-something blogger, podcaster, networker, consultant, and book-geek who lives in the Midwest, loves learning new things, and is a self-proclaimed geek.  To learn more about Annie, click here.  Catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, or DailyBooth – she’d love to say hello.