Having a personal brand is a differentiator for your career.
Why? You are part of a dynamic and mobile work culture. Your career isn’t defined by how much time you spend “in the office.” It’s defined by your unique contributions.
To demonstrate your value and engagement with the industry, your personal brand becomes highly valuable and highly visible. It shows what you care about and how you care about it.
Most importantly, your personal brand is based to a great extent on how others perceive your value to the industry. To communicate your personal brand clearly and avoid misperceptions, actively create and share your personal brand story.
What Is Your Brand Story?
Your brand story shares the traits, skills, and beliefs that you bring to the marketplace. For example, if you care about the environment, your personal brand may align with activities in your work that contribute to a cleaner environment.
If you want to improve access to housing, your personal brand may align with activities that reduce the costs to create sustainable housing.
If you love to inform and mentor others, then your personal brand may align with serving on your firm’s training committee or speaking at conferences.
Answer these questions:
- What three words best describe me?
- What do people say I’m known for?
- What do I naturally defend or want to protect in the world?
- How do these skills or passions align with my daily work right now, or how could they align?
- If I could describe that alignment in one word, what would it be?
In essence, step one with your personal branding is to think deeply about what you stand for, what people count on you for, or the skills you have that few people do. Use these notes to summarize your personal brand in a few words. For example:
- My personal brand story is the diplomat — I am best at helping people sort out conflicts and find solutions.
- My personal brand story is the educator — I love training others, and I’m best engaged with ongoing learning.
- My personal brand story is the analyst — I thrive on the technical aspects of improving processes.
Create Your Brand Messaging
Step two is your brand messaging. Brand messaging or brand value statements are internal and external. You want your colleagues to affirm and express your personal brand in their own words. Externally, you want to communicate your difference across all channels consistently.
This can include your proposal bio, your email signature, social posts, your presentation style…you get the picture. Everywhere.
You don’t have to use every personal branding message on every channel. Choose one or two messages that resonate with the audience you’re trying to reach.
Start here: Update your LinkedIn profile with personal branding messages, and then update your website bio and/or proposal bio. These professional channels are often the most visible and frequently used aspects of your personal branding. They can also accelerate brand visibility, especially if you have a large following on social media. Plus, you can encourage colleagues to write recommendations for you on LinkedIn that reinforce your personal brand.
Once your personal brand is clear and consistent on these channels, then think about how you introduce yourself at networking events or how you dress in a way that reflects your brand. For example, don’t introduce yourself with your title. Introduce yourself by how you bring value to the marketplace through your brand.
Dress in a way that makes you feel confident about delivering that value. If you are most often in the field to accomplish your work, your style can be more business casual, even at professional functions. You could also adopt a certain color that you always wear at professional events, preferably one that complements your firm’s colors!
Step three is your personal brand rollout. That’s when the power of personal branding shows up. Keep your personal brand in front of busy clients and colleagues in authentic ways. Share stories that highlight what you care about most…and its positive impact on others and the world. Notice the change in your relationships and work engagement.
The best part about personal branding? It gives you a greater sense of purpose at work and supports your career longevity in the engineering profession.
About the Author:
Dawn Wagenaar is a brand strategist and the principal of Ingenuity Marketing Group. She and her team support personal branding and public relations plans for A/E/C niche leaders as well as whole firm branding and A/E/C marketing. [email protected]
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