Your personal brand could use some work.
Hey, it’s just a fact. Don’t take it the wrong way. Even (especially!) A-list influencers work tirelessly to improve their public image.
Okay, but where to start? With a compelling value statement, then five additional tasks to improve your personal brand. Let’s get started.
- Create a Value Statement for Your Professional Self
Why should anyone hire you? Do business with you? Block 20 minutes out of their schedule for a meeting with you?
You should know the answers to these questions, but unless you have a fantastic, compelling value statement on your LinkedIn profile and anywhere else potential professional contacts could find you, you can’t expect others to know them. This is order-of-business number one for your personal branding campaign.
- Add Your Bio to Overlooked, High-Traffic Websites and Directories
It’s a sure thing that you already have an active presence on LinkedIn, although we’ll see in a moment that “active presence” means different things to different professionals when it comes to LinkedIn.
But what about lesser-known websites and directories that could prove just as useful for your personal brand and professional profile? You can’t neglect those.
Your best-fit websites and directories will vary based on what you do for a living and other important factors outside our scope here. As an example, financial professionals and some others absolutely must target Wikialpha, a great alternative to Wikipedia. As you can see from this Wikialpha bio for Daniella Rand, a San Francisco financial advisor, Wikialpha is very familiar to anyone who’s spent time with its better-known peer.
- Start Updating Your Personal Blog Again
It’s time to dust off your personal blog and start sharing your professional insights once more. Believe it or not, there’s a market for your wisdom, and not only among loved ones who’ll read anything you write. Blogging regularly is one of the best ways to announce your professional arrival (not to mention maintain your presence in a crowded marketplace).
- Cultivate an Active Presence on Medium
While we’re on the subject of blogging, don’t neglect the world’s most popular blogging platform:
Medium. Medium needn’t replace your personal blog, but it’s likely to attract more readers due to its very high “domain authority,” or visibility in Google search results. It’s fine to make some posts “blog-exclusive,” or even to monetize your musings using a platform like Patreon, but definitely make some content available to all on Medium.
- Connect With Thought Leaders and Influencers on LinkedIn
Back to LinkedIn for a moment. Posting your updated CV and value statement is all well and good, but the best LinkedIn profiles are built around connections. Lots and lots of connections. Devote at least one hour per week to cultivating new connections and communicating with people who could help you rise up the professional ranks.
- Hit the Interview Circuit
Okay, first things first: keeping our expectations in check. We’re not talking about the Today Show here. The interviews you’re likely to attract as an accomplished but not exactly famous professional will probably involve trade magazines, local newspapers, and industry blogs. But, hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
How’s Your Personal Branding To-Do List Looking?
Whew. That was quite a list. How are you feeling about where your personal brand is at now?
It’s okay if you’re not quite ready to declare victory. Cultivating a quality public image is a long-term project, and you’ve only just begun.
