Creating A Personal Brand

Personal branding is nearly synonymous with your reputation. It is the appearance you display in your life towards the people in it, and the impact this has, both inside and outside your career.

No matter where you see yourself on the professional scale—a student, job candidate, employee, business owner or freelancer—personal branding is crucial. It includes your skills, job qualifications, personality, and everything else that makes you, you. Yes, it matters how you dress and speak, but in today’s world it’s equally important to pay attention to how you appear online.

– Understand what a brand and personal brand is
– Consider why personal branding is important
– Figure out and create your personal brand (including digital)

To fully understand personal branding, we must first get an idea of branding more broadly. In small groups, or individually, take a look at the images below, how do these brands make you feel? 

Think of key words and phrases that can be used to describe them, or other recognisable brands. 

Choose your best 3 for each company. Challenge each other to  identify the companies by using only your three words.

Now you know a little more about branding for businesses. Let’s take a look at your personal branding. As a class, in groups, or individually, consider what you think personal branding is and why you think it’s important. 

Can you think of anyone who stands out as having a strong personal brand? Why? 

Looking at the celebrities below, what do you think their personal branding says about them? 

You’ve discussed what personal branding is and why it’s important… but what does your personal branding say about you? 

You’ll now be identifying and refining your own personal brand. This is your chance to explore your personal values, what’s important to you and how you want to show this through your image and social media presence. 

Remember, a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a company. Branding is the activity that influences that feeling. What do you want people to say about you when you’re not in the room?

Create a word cloud, like the one for Kit Kat displayed, to answer the following:

1. Identify your personal values and why they matter to you.
2. How would you describe yourself? How would your friends describe you?
3. What are your hobbies and interests?

Use the Teams form for this tutorial session to answer the questions below:

– Why is personal/professional branding important
– What can you do to express your personal brand?
– How will you strengthen your personal brand after this session?