Are you clearly communicating who you are?

Having a strong communications plan built on a well thought out strategy with very clear objectives is critical for every brand, this plan drives the narrative of your brand and gives your clients, stakeholders and industry a clear understanding of what your brand is about and what it is doing. This same thinking should be applied to your personal brand and you should be able to answer - what is your narrative and what are your goals and objectives?

This is all easier said than done!

Personal branding should be looked at as a priceless commodity that helps to establish your credibility and plays a vital role in creating your identity within your industry. Just like a commercial brand, it is important to have an overarching objective backed up with a plan to achieve your goals. This plan does not need to be ‘War and Peace’, but it needs to give you a clear guide, milestones to look forward to and a form of measurement to determine the success of your plan.

When you are pulling your personal branding plan together there are a few questions you need to consider:

• Do you have personal elevator pitch? If not, what should it look like? – It is important to have a well thought out elevator pitch that sums up who you are and why the person you are speaking with should listen to you. Make your pitch very clear and make sure you do not ramble. The best way to perfect your pitch is to practice, practice, practice!
• How far should you plan in advance? – Your plan should cover at least the coming six months and allow you to be able to make changes as things come up. Throughout your plan, it is important to have set milestones to measure your current activity to determine if you need to make any changes to what you’re doing.
• Are the messages you’re putting out on social media a clear reflection of who you are and do they sit within your plan? – This is an important question to get right! The old adage of ‘perception is reality’ has gained a lot of strength thanks to social media. It is important to take the time to critically review your social media content before posting to ensure what you post is a clear reflection of who you are.
• Are you using the right social media platforms? – This sounds like a bit of an odd question, but far too often I see people using various social media platforms incorrectly. Every platform should be viewed as a tool, and like any tool it has a specific job to do.

Clearly communicating who you are is important to ensure your personal branding stays on-point! Taking the time to think about how you want to be seen within your industry will allow you to pull together a plan that will help drive your narrative and reach your goals and objectives. If you need help defining who you or your brand is, give Elevate a call on 07 3180 3666 and see how we can shape your business in 2018!