Your Personal Brand
What Does Your Brand Say About You?
What is a personal brand and why every nurse should have one?
For years I’ve been preaching the importance of portfolios. I’ve given talks about them, I use the in my own courses to help my students as they develop their own professional identity and process in compiling their accomplishments, and I have always had a portfolio in hand when I’ve walked into an interview. However, it wasn’t till a few years ago where I heard a talk about self-branding that I started to look at what I was doing, including portfolios, a bit differently. Up until that moment never thought of myself as a brand, but I was doing some of the things that was in line with the concept of branding myself.
So, when I thought of branding, I’ve always thought of brands of clothing, shoes, electronics, food, but hardly ever other people and definitely not myself. So, what is personal branding and how are we already establishing or have established our brand?
Personal branding is simply the “self”! It is you, what you do and who you are! You are the brand! But the concept of personal branding is more purposeful and may take some more effort. Prior to my conscious thought around personal branding, my branding included my personal history, my work, my resume, my portfolio, and my network of colleagues and friends. However, all of this was unintentional and what I was doing did not necessarily align with my “personal brand”. I had a resume because everyone needs one, and a portfolio because someone told me I should, my work was driven by who was paying me the most, and at the end of the day I felt my work lacked purposefulness!
What the personal brand provides for you is founded in your values and past experiences, however, the brand is built to highlight individual strengths, develop trust, and communicate your uniqueness in your industry and what sets you apart from others.
So here are a few things that the personal branding arena folks agree on that should be on your radar:
You need to figure out you.
Who are you and what is your “X” factor? What is it that you will be building your brand around?
This can be difficult if you’ve never thought about it before. Sometimes it helps to phone a friend, mentor, colleagues…
What is your brand going to sell (figuratively speaking)
When people see you or your brand, what are they associating it with and is that what you’re selling?
Who is your audience?
This can vary greatly based on your industry and specialty. As a professor at a university my audience can be my students, colleagues, professionals in my industry, the community…
Figure out who are the experts in your industry / specialty and follow their work.
This can be achieved through social media, journals, news, personal contacts…
Reach out.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to the industry experts for a quick conversation. Just be purposeful and have clear goals when contacting them.
These calls can lead to mentorship, sponsorship, or possibly new doors opening.
Prepare an elevator speech or pitch. Have it handy for when you only have a minute to talk or when someone tells you to email them. 30 - 60 seconds! That’s it! be purposeful and to the point.
If I’ve learned anything over the past decade is to NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! If you’ve never done it, start, if you’re an introvert like I am, It can be learned! These are where most opportunities to do more and grow professionally will come from.
Be present… Where you ask? You need to be present where your audience is. In the world of nursing for example conferences are one of the key areas, however, those opportunities are not a daily, weekly, or monthly opportunities for most of us. So, what do we do?
Build an online presence
social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram…) with links, bio, relevant content to your brand.
A website with your name or brand with up-to-date info on your product (you)!
Lastly, don’t forget, YOU ARE THE BRAND. When you change, evolve, grow, so should your brand and you should always reflect your brand!
