How to Understand and Embrace Your Personal Brand

You have a personal brand. Regardless of whether your business is a "Your Name Dot Com" kind of business (for example someone like me). I have been talking "personal branding" since 2014 and I'm always amazed at how many people don't think they have a personal brand. 

We all have personal brands. In this episode, I share why I am so passionate about helping people understand more tangibly what makes up their personal brand. In a nutshell, it all comes down to living your life authentically in order to have the right relationships (both personal and professional). I know a lot of people struggle with "defining" their personal brand. So, I break it all down into the four dimensions that make up our personal brands. 

• Our Roles
• Our Style
• Our Values
• Our Standards

This episode is really "off the cuff" and I did it without any notes. I just hit record and talked from my heart. So often I hear people say they don't like social media for the fear of being judged.

Good news and bad news....you're being judged regardless of whether you're putting yourself out there or not. So, why not get clear on your personal brand and let it shine? Creating content is a lot easier when we are being our true authentic selves. I promise. Listen and let me know what you think.

Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Why You Need People in Your Content Strategy
DIY Marketing With Melanie Facebook Community

Transcript

speaker 0:   0:00
Hey, this is the D I Y. Marketing school podcast. I am your host and your marketing coach, Melanie Diane, How? And today we're gonna talk about the four dimensions of your personal brand. What is going on, my friends? Oh, today we're gonna talk about personal branding. And before you go any further in this episode, I want you to understand, Or at least I guess I need to say something really important. Everyone has a personal brand, regardless of the type of business you own or whether you what your job is. We all have a personal brand. And even if you aren't a business owner or an influencer thought leader, you know Ah, whatever your name is dot com kind of person, you still have a personal brand. So even if you work for a company or inside of a company, you still have a personal brand. I say this because a few months ago I was preparing for a personal branding workshop, um, that I was teaching to some local interns, and I kind of went on my Facebook page and I was like, Hey, you know what is what does it mean to you when I say personal brand and I got this array of responses, and it was really interesting to see what people's interpretation of what a personal brand is. Some people, you know, definitely focused on their style. You know how they dress and stuff like that. Ah, lot of people also focused on, you know, they said, Well, I don't really have a personal brand and they were kind of talking about their business and, you know, it was just really interesting the different responses I got. So I just always want to make sure that before I start talking about understanding your personal brand and kind of how to tangibly think about it, it's important for me to make sure that we're all levels set here, that you have a personal brand, regardless of the business, whether you own a business or not, or your role in a business or the kind of business that you either own or work for. So, you know, obviously I'm really passionate about the whole people buy from people aspect of things. Ah, this is definitely an area that I think that we all need to make sure that we embrace, you know it's a human to human marketing world. Now, you know, I used to always be the beaded B B to C. That's how we always classified it. But I am just really passionate that we all have to understand that it's a human to human world. People buy from people we don't even really buy from logos, and I have an episode all about that, and I will make sure I linked to that in the show notes. And it's essentially titled You know why people need to be in your content strategy. And so be sure to check that out if this concept of human to human marketing or people buy from people is kind of new to you or if you just want a little refresher, right. But the point of this is that we have Teoh in order for us to truly make really enriched connections online and offline. We have to be authentic, and I know that you know, authenticity. We hear about authenticity all the time, and I think that people are craving authenticity, even mawr with, you know, social media and people being out there so much, I think that we are more sensitive, Teoh inauthenticity. Ah, and and we're so we're cautious and regarded or we, you know, roller eyes. Or we get annoyed when we see somebody being a certain way. And, you know, we also know that a lot of people what we see on social media is not the reality. Right. Social media is kind of like the, you know, happy go lucky version of your life that people display. But there's a lot of other stuff behind the scenes that people don't put out there on social media, and that's fine. So I think that that's part of the reason why authenticity has become. I don't know more of a discussed topic, I guess, is what I'll say. But I have been talking about personal branding for years now. I've done multiple seminars and presentations around personal branding, and it's interesting because I'd really don't even love the term personal branding. Um, I think it's first people off, and so I guess until I come up with a better way to describe it, hang in here with me, But we're going to talk about what I how I believe we all have a personal brand and why it's important for us to understand it in order to be authentic. So first of all, we have to be authentic because when were not authentic, we actually attract the wrong types of people to our lives into our businesses. You know, what I mean by this is you know, if you go out there and you put yourself out there and you portray yourself in one way because it's what you think people want or you know, you, you know, are trying, Teoh just have a particular image. If it's not the reality of who you are and what's going on and all that, then there's going to be people that are going Teoh. You know, they're gonna be, like, drawn to that, and then you're gonna build this relationship with them, and then the next thing you know, you're gonna be like, I'm not even being myself or that person your ago then gonna show your you know, your true self, and they're not gonna be there gonna be like, this isn't who I thought you were. Let me give you an example. So when I started my marketing business in 2000 and 14 you know I became self employed independent and I work from home and very quickly realized that was not my favorite thing in the world. Meaning I loved the freedom, of course, but I hated being away from people. I'm a very much an extrovert. Dry get energy from being around people. I need to be around stuff in just things that are going on. And what I started doing was I started going to our local coffee shop. It's called the Caffeine Reince. It's an amazing local, just ItT's. Ah, I love it. I love the caffeine Reitz in downtown Muncie and I would walk in there and I would sit and I'd work for a couple hours while drinks and coffee and stuff, and it's a very busy coffee shop. It was also fairly new at the time, and pretty much if you are having any kind of networking or meetings or anything and you wanted to do off site, if you will, you are pretty much saying, Hey, let's meet at the caffeine ary and it still is that very much that place in our local community. But it was kind of the place where you go in there, you know, you're probably going to run into someone, you know. And so what I found myself doing was, you know, I would I would get up. And I didn't want him to go the coffee shop. And I'd make sure I was like, OK, well, I might run into a potential client or I want to make sure that I'm going to see these people that are just, you know, you know, the people of our community and I need to make sure I look the right part, like, I don't want to just go in there after I work out, like where my workout clothes. And I mean, I might meet a new client so I would make sure that I was dressed appropriately, Kind of like, you know, my business attire and my business attire was not like a suit entire anything. But I was, you know, trying to make sure I look put together. And I did this, you know, for a few weeks. And then the more I got into my business and the more I really just started embracing Hey, I own my own business. I can create whatever kind of business I want and I can choose the clients that I work with, and I want people to choose me for the right reasons. And so I will tell you, if someone looks at me and thinks that I'm dressed the right way to be a marketing professional, then that's probably not the kind of person that I actually truly want to work with, right, Like I'm I'm a I'm a big you know. I'm an athletic girl of an outdoorsy girl. I love being comfortable. I love to dress up, but I also love my V neck T shirts and you know, my little comfy shoes. So I really started embracing this concept of What are you doing? Because here's what's gonna happen if I sit there and I'm dressed up at the coffee shop and somebody, you know, start chatting up with somebody and they're like, Hey, let's have let's talk. I need some marketing help, you know, Let's have a meeting. Well, then guess what need to happen. Every time I meet with that client, I'm gonna have to make sure that I'm I feel like I'm dressed the right way, you know, it's kind of like I have created my my business uniform And so I kind of got to partners like, Screw that. I'm done with that because my clients, you know, I mean, the people who are gonna who I want to work with, need to be okay with, Like, I might drink a beer on my Facebook live video, for example. Some people might say, Well, that's really unprofessional, which is completely fine. Don't get me wrong, That's fine. Everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions. But if someone's gonna like judge me and feel negative about that, then they're probably not the kind of client I really would be a good fit for, because sometimes I might want to go and have, you know, lunch and a beer in the afternoon while I work on some marketing content. And that's okay too. So for me, it iss so the same thing goes with my clothes. I was like, You know, I'm not gonna worry about it if somebody sees me in my workout clothes after I just went for a run in the morning and I'm doing a little work in the coffee shop and they're gonna look at that and think that that's unprofessional or that that's not, you know, like, what is she doing? Oh my God, I can't believe she's working in that outfit. Well, then again, they're not the right person for me. And so when this is, ah, a simple example. But it's it matters because think about dating. It's the same thing when you go out on a date and you portray yourself in one way. But it's not the reality of who you are every day. Well, then that person's, that's what they're gonna expect. And if you like them and then you continue to go on additional dates with them, you have to maintain that image. You have to maintain whatever it is that you've created. And if you're not being authentic than what you're doing is you're maintaining inauthenticity. And that is why this topic is important both in business and in our personal lives. So the whole point of the story is that we have to be our true Selves because if we're not, then we may potentially be attracting the wrong clients or the wrong people in our life. So you just got to be you always be you and you will attract the correct people and you'll repel people that aren't the right people for you. So you know, when I give this presentation, I always talk about my hair. So I have got this kind of, you know, different haircut. It's kind of like a boyish looking haircut. It's short and its spiky, and it is what it is. And in a weird way, it's kind of become part of my brand. And I'll talk about this in a second. I'm going to share with you the four dimensions of your personal brand and my hair. There are some people that are put off by my hair style. They very much are. In fact, there are people that talk about my hairstyle. I mean, I think those people probably need to find something else to do with their lives. But that's OK, right? That's what they're going to dio. And then there's other people that are like your hair so awesome. Oh, yeah, so you know, it's so badass. I love it. Those air probably people that are going to be more drawn to my style and my style of work, who are probably a better fit to be, you know. Ah, a student in one of my courses or in one of my programs or even a coaching client, because they are attracted to something that is very much me, and it is part of who I am. It's just it's part of its one of the dimensions, and again, I'm gonna go through those dimensions in a moment. And so by doing that, and by keeping and maintaining that, whatever look I want, then I am going to. It's a polarizing effect that's created, and that's essentially what living out your brand is going to Dio is again. It's gonna do that attracting and repelling. And what we have to recognize is that we are being judged no matter what. So you might as well just be judged for who you really are and the people they're going to judge you in a negative way. They aren't your people and the people that are going Teoh. I admire you for what it is you are than those your people. And when we're not ourselves, we don't allow that. Correct that, You know, that kind of self correcting, polarizing effect toe happen, and so that's really the a little bit of the back story about why I believe this is so important and it is important. And I will be honest with you. I've been thinking about recording this episode for a while, but I've kind of been holding it off. But today just decided You know what I just need? It needs that I want to start talking about this more and more. It's so important. Um, it is definitely probably if you were to ask me what my most passionate topic is. It is absolutely this it very much is. And when I'm on stage talking about it, I think people, anyone who has seen me talk about this, they know it. This is just a bit. This is a big deal for May. So I won't go Teoh end any more back story or stories about, you know, discovering my own personal brands. What Not what I would today is. I want to spend, you know, the next time on this episode, and I want you to start thinking about your personal brand when in, and that is in your on various aspects of your life. And I want you to break it down into these four dimensions. Okay, so so there are four dimensions to your brand. And the first dimension is the first mention is your your rules. Okay, So your rules with others, your roles. And so I think of it this way. Are you a leader? Are you kind of like the Duer? Are you the inspirational person? Are you the motivator? You know? Are you the coach? What is your role? And obviously we have different roles in our life. Do you have a role at home? And then you probably have. Maybe your role is a little different at work. That's OK. OK, so I want you to think about what your role is. My role is definitely like an encourager. I'm an encourager. I'm a Nen er, Jet IQ entertainer. So I I'm I meant to tell stories, right? So my role, many times, is to be that kind of encouraging motivational voice for people and that that is my role there. Now my role at home as a mom Is that among a bunch of other things too? So sometimes we've got to decide. OK, what? What aspect? What area of my business or what area of my life am I at right now in what is my role, and I just kind of understanding this about yourself is really helpful because the more you understand it, like when you kind of write it down in the words you, you're more likely to lean into it. And I will tell you if you're not really sure about what your role is. And a lot of people do struggle with this, they're like, I'm not really sure what my role is. Then I would encourage you to go online and check out some of the free personality assessments. There's this so many, really. There's a lot of really, really good ones. Their strength finder. There's the India Graham. Am I saying that? I hope I'm saying that correctly. And then there's another one I just called. It's like 16 personalities dot com. I actually really, really like that one, because it when it breaks everything down, it actually does break it down, kind of like into roles, and so just go start their If you're feeling a little lost in this and go find any of these free personality assessments and just take him and just start to read about yourself. Um, and knowing that when you answer the questions and those assessments as honestly as possible, then you obviously are going to get a much more accurate results. So the other dimension that we have is our style, and I think that when we I think that when people think about branding or even personal branding, they naturally think about style. So when I was talking about my hair, for example, and even my outfit, that's part of my style. Your style also includes your tone of voice, you know, Do you use a lot of humor? Do you use a lot of sarcasm? Are you kind of Ah, you know, one of those sarcastic people the time Do you have a witty humor about you? Are Do you have dark humor? You know, that's part of your style. Ah, so not only is it how you dress and how you kind of portray yourself, but it's all those other things, too. Your style can include your clothes. You know how much you know makeup you wear. How much you know how, actually, how fashionable you are in regards to do you change? Do you have lots of different outfits or do you kind of keep it pretty simple. You know, things like that. So the styles a pretty easy one, but I don't want you to forget that. It also includes your tone of voice and the words you use. You know, whether you cussed or not, things like that, that's part your style. And then your style is also a lot of times kind of like I always call it kind of your energy factor, you know? Are you high energy? Are you kind of quiet? You know, Are you the one who's talking all the time? Are you more of the wallflower? That's also part of your style to so kind of just like your personality and how it kind of comes out is part of that as well. So the next dimension. So when you're thinking about your style, I want you to be thinking about what you know. What exactly is your style? What is your method like? How do you portray yourself? And then the next dimension that I always say is included in a personal brand is are your values and this one is really, really important. Your values are what's important to you and So this is where you know I always use There's a lot of sensitive topics out there, and I always just say, for the most part, by default, maybe avoid talking about sensitive topics. But depending on how deep your values go in an area that made need to be something you talk about. So, for example, Christianity is definitely one of those. You know, any kind of religion is always a sensitive topic. But if you are, you know, if you're a pastor, for example, most likely you're going to talk about, you know, your Christianity, and that's okay because that obviously, if you're a pastor, then you have some super deep, strong Christian values, right? So that is kind of an example. That's always just a super easy one. But there's other things. You know, Um, one of my values is in power. I really am all about empowering women because I absolutely think that women need Teoh step up, step in and really get more confident and more courageous. And I would like to see more women you know, putting being put into leadership roles and being paid correctly and all those things. And you know why that's important to me because of my background. So a lot of times our values, our stemmed from our background. And so you know what's important to us now is a lot of times a result of, you know, things that happened in our past, whether it be our childhood. So someone who has strong Christian values, they maybe it's possible that they were raised that way, and that's why they have strong Christian values. I have strong values around empowering women because you know of my background in my childhood of, you know, feeling like one of the things always tell the story used to just piss me off is how a teacher you know is like the last week of school and you're cleaning up your classroom and the teacher always be like, I need two strong boys to carry all these books and he's just hiss me off. I was like I could freaking carry the books and I was that, you know, a tomboy. It was very athletic, pretty much for the most part, who many times would kick the boys butts in gym class at various sports, and yet the teachers like I need two strong boys that carry these books. I just with it Just use him, make me so mad. So that's just a little example of where this comes from for me. But anyway, so think about what's important to you. Like, deeply rooted. What's important, Teoh. Right? And so this is also something that you'll find this will. This is a lot of times our values are a big piece of that attracting and repelling aspect. So, you know, I think that, for example, if somebody does not feel the way that I feel about female empowerment, they're probably not going to come hang out with me. Like, for example, if someone you know if there's a dude out there who believes that, you know, do men are better than women and that men belong in, you know, powerful roles and women don't. Then that guy and I have probably aren't gonna enjoy a cup of coffee together. We're sure still not gonna enjoy a beer together. So you know things like that. So you always want to remember, like your values, actually, one of the most polarizing aspects about you. Um though, think about those things and write those things down as well. And then the last thing that last dimension for your personal brand this is These are your it's your standards. So this is how you do things right? And so many times when we, you know, live our life or we help people in business or anything else, it's not always what we do for people that they remember is how we do it. And so your standards are very important. Um, really? You know, an example would be, you know, if you ah, woman works her way up through the ranks and a corporate environment, you know? How did she get there? Did she put other people down to get there? Did she make others look bad so that she would look better? Um, did she cheat the system? Or did she, you know, honorably worked her butt off and earn every step of the way. And it was a good leader and brought people along with her, right? So that's kind of unexamined all again, a really drastic example of standards, but your standards, this is essentially just wrapping everything together into the package and how you do stuff, you know, you maybe you're you're a leader. Your role? Is that your leader? Well, how are you a leader? Are you a servant leader, You know, like what? What kind of leader are you? So think about that, too. Like how are you actually doing things? Making a difference in How are you making an impact? What is your process, if you will? Ah, so think about that and all those things. Put them all together and again. The whole point of this is just to get you to start tangibly thinking about yourself and your personal brand. When we go through an exercise and we start to, like, just write some various notes down about these four dimensions again, they are your role, your roles with others, your style. How you portray yourself to others, your values. What's important, Teoh And your standards. Basically, how we do everything, Um, all of those. Those four dimensions if when you take, if you just get a piece of paper out and you just write those four things down and you just start to write all the things down, just anything that comes to your mind then what I want you to do is I want you to really think about How are you showing up? How are you showing up? You know, physically in person with people. And how are you showing up online? Are these things you know? Are these things being authentically portrayed? Right, Are you, you know, living all this out authentically and there's the one thing else I'll say this really important is that you own your own boundaries. So, for example, I'm a very transparent person. I am. Typically, I'm out there. I don't really have anything to hide. I mean, I'm like, I just portray stuff. I, um many of you know, the many of you listeners know, and some of you don't. But I went through breast cancer and had whole journey around breast cancer and had multiple surgeries ended up, you know, getting a double mastectomy and reconstruction. I was very public about this. In my social media. Not everyone is going to do that. And that's okay. Okay. I just don't have that boundary around things like that. Many other people do. And I know this for a fact, because I had many people reach out to me through private messages and they told me that they were going through the same thing or that their mother was going through it, and but they didn't. But their mother didn't want anyone to know. So they were asking me for advice on how to support their mother, for example. So I know for a fact there's a lot of people that are quietly and privately going through things, and that's okay, that's that. Those were their personal boundaries. So the other thing I would say that you should add is just make sure that you know that you can. You absolutely own your own boundaries. So just because you see somebody else doing something on social media, for example doesn't have to mean that you have to as well. Okay. And just because you see other people not doing anything on social media doesn't mean that you can't do those things. Okay, so go through the process right down these four dimensions, jot some notes down, and then give yourself a little bit of a check. Are you living this out? Are you living yourself out authentically and again? A lot of this is just because I want you to have the most enriched connections, both in business and your profession, but also in your personal life. And when we can understand who we are and the more we can embrace who we truly are inside, then the more we can be authentic. And I'll say this. You don't create your personal brand. Your personal brand is actually already inside of you. You just have to decide. Are you going to let it out authentically or in authentically? And that's what this is all about. It's not because so that you can go create your personal brand that is already inside of you. You just have to make the choice of how you're gonna live it out and whether you're gonna live it out authentically or in authentically. So there it is. And I gotta just be again. I'm always really transparent. I'm gonna let you guys know that you know, I have again this this kind of process, if you will, is not brand new. This is something that I've been teaching and working with people for years on. And it's the I said earlier that it is my absolutely. It is the topic I'm the most passionate about. And so here we are, you know, 30 episodes into my podcasts and the first time I'm really talking about it. And and here's the thing I got to tell you, I have put it off because I feel like I wanted to just make it perfect. I wanted to package it up and make it amazing and perfect. I'm gonna be honest with you guys. I talk. I don't have any notes. There's no notes for this episode. And maybe you could tell. I don't know, but it's just I just decided. You know what? I don't want to hold this information back anymore. I'm gonna just get it out there, And it's probably not the last time I'm going to talk about it. So I will come on this podcast again and we will talk about these dimensions and there's so much more to it. You know, just how we get clear on our personal brands. Because I know a lot of you are not clear. You're really not sure you're like, I don't really feel that strongly about my personal brand. Well, that's okay. We're gonna work on that. But I'm just I decided, You know, I just want to get this out there when I put it on to the world. I want to be thinking about your brand in those four dimensions. And really just start Teoh. Just just have it in your in your mind, because again, I think what happens is if we don't focus on who we are, and we don't tangibly focus on it, then what happens is we kind of go on cruise control. And sometimes we accidentally find ourselves. We have fallen off the authenticity train, and it's really difficult to get back onto it because again, like I told you, when we're inauthentic, we we start living a life that's not really rial, you know, and we got to keep it up. It's kind of like living a living a lie. They always say, You know, what you tell one lie means you got to tell 20 more just to keep that lie going, and I know that's kind of a harsh way to describe it, but this is really important. And so, at a minimum, just started thinking about it. Just kind of put this into your notebook and just revisit it. You know every once in a while and just make sure you continue to do this self work of understanding your personal brand because again, in business it's gonna create better connections with clients, customers it's gonna make you and actually enjoy doing more social media for your business. And as you know, I believe very strongly that one of the best ways we can connect with people organically is with our social media content and you. If you don't like social media, it's probably for a few reasons. One you don't feel like you're content is good enough, and you're gonna have that perfectionism in you. A lot of the other reasons revolve around what are people going to think about this, and that kind of goes back to what I just said and that caring about what other people think a lot of times comes down to the whole their fear of being judged. But the more you can truly embrace your authenticity, the less you care about that, because again, if someone's going to judge you because there's a typo on something, they're going to judge you. But if you're like me and there's type of sometimes, then it is what ISS. But does that really affect how you can help them or change their life with your products and services, you know? But so I guess what I'm saying is, before I start going down a rabbit hole again, is that the more we actually embrace our authentic true Selves and we put it out there, it actually is easier to create content. It's actually easier to do things and to do it when we actually can embrace the authenticity factor and understanding the value of it, meaning the attracting in the repelling. When you actually start to experience that and the the you just start to have these more enriched connections than the more you actually enjoy putting yourself out there, I promise you, um, so, yeah, that's what I got for you guys today. Little personal branding kind of teaching on the four dimensions. And, um, I hope that was helpful again. Write it down revisited. Take this personality assessments and just start doing this work to really understand what that personal brand is. Um, and I will personally invite you as well to join us over in my Facebook community because it is a bunch of people that are personal brands. We are all personal brands But they are also trying to figure out how to use social media, how to put themselves out there. Ah, and to better connect with your audience. And I'll have a link to that Facebook group, of course, in the show notes. But just do a search and Facebook deal with marketing with Melanie. I'd love to see in there. And I'd love to know how we can help you unravel your personal brand and put yourself out there so that you can continue to share your gifts with the world. That's what got you guys today. I hope you haven't. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome day. And you know, go do something amazing. Be awesome in your own way, in your authentic you weigh.