Take Your Personal Brand to the Next Level in 2013: Ten Resolutions
The New Year is right around the corner, and this is the time of year where many of us think about what we’d like to accomplish in the next 12 months. Right now, 2013 is a blank slate, full of possibilities. For both yourself and your business, you have the opportunity to set ambitious goals and achieve incredible success. Today, I’d like to offer ten New Year’s resolutions designed to help you take your personal brand to the next level in 2013. I will cover the first five here, and the next five in an upcoming blog entry.
- Refine your elevator speech. When given 30-60 seconds to talk about yourself and your business, do you know what to say? Do you have a speech prepared that effectively communicates your brand and your points of differentiation? You never know when this will come in handy, so be prepared!
- Live your brand. Personal branding only works if you truly commit to it. Every interaction you have with your market—whether it’s a face-to-face conversation, a radio commercial, a website, or a speech—should be consistent with your personal brand. By itself, your personal brand has limited value… but when you tie it in to every aspect of your business and your relationships, it can take your marketing efforts to the next level. Be particularly careful to “live” your brand while you are working with clients and customers—the impression that you create goes a long way to determine their perception of you and your business!
- Smile! This may sound elementary, but the truth is that happy, positive people are more fun to be around, and therefore more memorable. Do your best to maintain a cheerful attitude when you’re around others—it really does make a difference.
- Focus on relationships as you use social media. Twitter and Facebook are full of individuals and companies that are trying to establish their brand and sell their products by ramming them down their audience’s throat. It’s free marketing, the theory goes, so why not aggressively self-promote and sell? The problem with that line of thought is that most people don’t log on to Facebook or Twitter looking to be sold something. Your customers use Facebook and Twitter to build relationships, both personal and professional. The key to establishing your brand on these sites is to build relationships
- Don’t be afraid to grow. Change is scary. But it’s inevitable for a healthy business, and for a healthy personal brand. Your business can’t afford to stand still—you should always be searching for opportunities to innovate and improve. Don’t be afraid to stretch and grow in 2013!
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