Brand You

Brands are everywhere. You eat them, wear them, drink them and watch them. You wash with them, drive around town in them, use them to clean the house and relax with them at the end of the day (possibly whilst wearing branded pyjamas). But have you ever thought of yourself as a brand?

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Being a brand needn’t involve summoning a cabal of pony-tailed marketing consultants for a whiteboard session and a recommendation you turn yourself into an animated meerkat. Nor does it mean you have to register yourself as a trademark; neither does it necessitate comissioning a funky logo and a range of must-have merchandise.

No: it simply involves you being You.

Who are You?

Think about it. Maybe you have a great sense of humour, your every utterance dripping with Noel Coward-like wit. Perhaps you’re the life and soul, able to light up a room with your sparkling personality. Or maybe you’re a genuinely nice person: caring, reliable and honest.

Find out what makes you tick (hint: ask your friends, they’ll give you an honest answer), then focus on it. Make it your unique selling point. Everything you do in a professional capacity – written, spoken, social media – should reflect it.

Now you have the single most important thing about Brand You – your tone of voice.

The Name Game

Spot the odd one out: Stephen King, Steve Ballmer, Stephen Fry, Steven Seagal.

Steve Ballmer. Who? Exactly. (He’s the CEO of Microsoft and therefore unlikely to be too upset at being singled out in this context.) On the other hand, Messrs King, Fry and Seagal are all classic examples of people who have become their own brands.

Their names are synonymous with what they do. You know what their ‘product’ will be before you read / buy / watch it. They have reputations that march before them, holding aloft banners emblazoned with their names – and that’s priceless.

But this stream of Steves didn’t get to that position overnight. They worked hard to get there, honing their craft, refining their thoughts and defining their tone of voice.

They did, however, all start somewhere…

Consistency is Key

Today, your voice is heard on a number of channels. Your blog, your tweets, your website copy, your Facebook updates, your emails, your real live voice itself at networking events or speaking gigs.

Unless you decide your brand really would benefit from having some schizophrenic aspect to it, use the same tone of voice across them all. And don’t deviate from that, no matter how tempting it may be.

If humour’s your thing, don’t use Twitter for your political rantings. If you pride yourself on approachable & friendly customer service, don’t post pictures of yourself sticking up your fingers on Facebook. And if lucid & insightful thought leadership’s your bag, don’t drone on and on against the backdrop of never-ending powerpoint bullet lists…

Be You everywhere and at every opportunity. If you simply must vent your spleen somewhere, do it under a secret pseudonym, muck about on 4Chan or buy a V for Vendetta mask and go nuts. But remember to protect the brand.

Before long, friends, colleagues, clients and contacts will recognise you and what you represent. They’ll have an expectation about you; they’ll look forward to your updates. Heck, they may even trust you so much that they end up buying something from you…

So, be yourself – become Brand You.

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This post was written by Keith D, freelance web designer & photographer. Find out more here.