How do you use your personal brand to show your value?

Personal branding isn't just a tagline or a static image; it's a living process. It's how you communicate and represent your brand vision and unique value proposition through actions. I see value proposition a combination of your experiences, values, skills, expertise, achievements, character strengths, network (your social capital), and future potential. From my perspective as a career coach, I see personal branding as an ongoing action, and the keys are authenticity and consistency.

Showcasing your expertise often lies in the subtle actions that reflect your skills, character, and contributions. Recognizing these can be a powerful tool to enhance your visibility. Here's some examples: 1) Show understanding and critical thinking by asking insightful questions. 2) Frame your achievements as learning experiences to inspire others without boasting. 3) Offer to mentor and train others, this highlights your expertise and your willingness to help others grow. 4) Give credit where it's due and subtly highlight your involvement and showcase yourself as a team player. 5) Utilize Project Management tools, document your contributions on team projects to create a record of your involvement.

A critical component of a powerful personal brand is visibility within the right network of people, those who are considered movers and shakers in the organisation and who have the ability to speak on your behalf when you are not in the room. Just like a business promoting a product, you have to be your own marketing team, advancing your own personal brand! Building and maintaining supportive relationships are an essential part of that. Every interaction is an opportunity to add to the “trust bank” and trust is an essential foundation of any relationship. View senior leaders as internal customers, identify their needs and serve them so that you can call on their support when you need it.

Personal branding is not about putting yourself in the best light, but authentically demonstrating through your actions that you are who you say you are and do what you said you'd do. People sense disgenuity quickly and if you are not following through on your promises, your brand will quickly be tarnished. E.g. if you say you are committed to helping others learn and grow, but never mentor or support others, your brand is not delivering on its promise. A few more examples of that and people stop buying into it. Congruence is key. You’ve got to be the same person in the spotlight as you are when no one is watching. Bridge the gap between what you think about yourself, and what others think about you.

Building and reinventing your personal brand is a continuous process. Before you go out there building relationships and promoting your brand, you have to be clear on: 1/ Who you are: Identify what you care about, and what qualities you are tapping into when you are at your best. These are the things you want others to know about you. 2/ What you want: Clear goals will help you position yourself in a way that will help you move in the right direction, enlist the right support, and prioritise. 3/ Who your audience is: Make sure the right people know your brand. Talking about your ambitions to your best friend might be validating, but it will not necessarily get you noticed at work. 4/ What you offer: Articulate your value proposition!