The Root of It All - Your Brand Story
With a Personal Brand…
You are the Product.
Last week we launched a series on personal branding. My aim was to de-mystify what a PB is and what it isn’t while also providing enough evidence as to why you should begin building your own personal brand.
I told you that, from my perspective, there are literally only 3 components to focus on. No rocket science is involved here.
You
Your Audience
Your Means of Connecting with Them
Today, we’re unpacking the first element - YOU
More specifically… your story.
Your Campfire Story
One of the most important things for your brand is to have a story.
Don’t worry. It’s much more simple than you may think…
The story of your personal brand is really the story of how you became who you are today and what you are aiming to accomplish in the future.
Because this is a personal brand, this story includes events like career changes, perspective shifts, and emotional moments from your personal and professional life.
To build an audience (more on that next week), your brand story will detail…
⬅️ Where you have been
⬇️ What you’re up to these days
➡️ Where you are going
Including the ups, downs, and big aspirations that you’re working toward.
In all of this, it will help others not only understand who you are as a person and a brand but more importantly, why you are this way.
When you put all this together you end up with something that people can relate to in their own way, psychologically fostering the human-to-human connection, while setting the stage for everything the brand of YOU is doing.
To clarify, this isn’t necessarily a story you write up in paragraph format and deliver to people…
The story is never finished. Like the narrative of your life thus far, your brand story will continually be written over time. Think about it like chapters in a much larger book.
Be assured though, this does not need to be blown out of proportion and be made into this monstrous project that you have to tackle.
Your PB story is simply a vehicle for the most important ingredient of it all…
The Root of it All
Last week I used the example of Martin Luther King Jr. - (copied and pasted below)
He crafted a message to spread his belief.
He lived a story that backed his belief.
He shared that belief through (at the time) modern communication methods.
It wasn’t about him, he was just the vessel.
He was on a mission.
To solve an incredibly big problem.
Notice how MLK’s story is essential to achieving success in his pursuit.
The key though is that it went way beyond just sharing a story.
Your Brand Story is not only the vehicle for Your message to be shared… But Undersood and Impactful.
Brand Story = Message + Relevant Experiences
Brand Story x Audience = Impact
It’s in Our Veins
Maybe I should’ve led with this but we as humans are story-based creatures.
Since the caveman days, stories have been the backbone of passing along information from one person to the next, from one generation to the next. The most impactful stories had underlying messages within them that need to be passed along.
Once again, the story was the vessel for the message to be shared and received.
Promoting your message by putting your story out there, allows people to the chance to find meaning in your pursuit and become attached to the mission that your brand represents.
Now let’s rip the band-aid. Regardless of this…
Most people won’t care…
But the few who do will change your life.
You’ll continually share snippets of your story with the world while also adding to it as life unfolds. And those that align with and actively support your story may begin spreading the message as well.
It’s like an infection but in a good way. 🧟(have you seen Last of Us on HBO? Sooo good.)
Persona VS Reputation | Be Known for the Right Things
To conclude, let’s look at what happens as your story, more importantly, your message, as it begins to spread. I haven’t used this word yet, but what you’ve done at this point is create a brand persona. You, as the wearer of your brand persona like a superhero cape will inevitably begin to form a reputation.
Personal Brand Persona (PBP) - The identity that you carve out for yourself
Personal Brand Reputation (PBR) - The perception of what others see you to be
Persona is the character or personality that you create to represent yourself in the world. It is a way of packaging your skills, experience, and personality in a way that is appealing to your target audience. A reputation, on the other hand, is the perception that others have of you. It is based on your past actions and behaviors, as well as the way that you present yourself to the world.
A persona is something that you create, while a reputation is something that is created for you. You can control your persona to some extent, but you have little to no control over your reputation. Your reputation is based on the way that others perceive you, and it can be difficult to change once it is established.
A persona is more temporary than a reputation. You can change your persona at any time, but your reputation is more difficult to change. Once you have established a reputation, it will be difficult to change, even if you make changes to your persona.
If a personal brand is essentially just a public persona, then this means that your brand is known for something. And as we discussed a few weeks ago in the Solopreneur Wealth Pyramid, this all points back to the ‘attention’ pillar.
This is the most important first step to building an audience.
Stay true to who you are.
Stay true to your message.
Stay true to the people who support you.
You can’t put a price on trust.
Your story is the lantern in the dark for people searching for the same things as you.
Those people - your target audience - is the focus for next week.
Make it a great week.
Til Next Time ✌️🙂
Ev
