Crafting a relatable & attractive personal brand story
In a world of information overload, how do you get your point across?
One word: Stories.
Stories shed light on our past experiences, forge a bond between human experiences, and as a result become powerful forces of revelation and trust building.
So it’s no secret that your story forms the core of your personal brand.
Your story makes you real. Relatable. And most of all, inspiring.
Yes, you don’t need to scale the Himalayas to be credible and inspiring (but mad props to you if you do!).
It’s the little things, all the small scattered experiences that converge to shape you and your purpose.
Wondering how to channel your emotions, collate your experiences, and craft a relatable story for your personal brand?
Dive in!
- Dig Deep
It’s difficult to be vulnerable and share the parts of you that have truly shaped you.
But a powerful story is made up of all the vulnerable bits that have lit a fire in you and forged you into your fabulous self.
Think about it:
What’s the bravest thing you’ve done?
What has shaped your principles?
What inspires you today and every day?
What made you choose your career or inspire you to start your business?
What’s one quality that you value in yourself and your employer/business prospects?
Answering these questions will give you more impactful and distilled points to weave into your story.
- What do you want to be known for?
Whether you admit or not, you’ve always felt you have a purpose to fulfill through your work.
You touch the lives of so many people on a daily basis: what legacy are you going to leave behind? What’s one thing that people will remember about you when you’re gone?
Is it how you manage to think calmly even when all hell is breaking loose? Or your compassionate leadership style?
The purpose of your personal brand is to attract your soul clients or your dream job. Show them why you’re head and shoulders above anybody else in your industry.
- Talk about your mission
Your personal mission statement is an integral part of your story. To be effective, it should be diverse enough to showcase your strengths and future goals as well as focused enough to set you apart.
But here are some things to consider while writing this part of your story:
What’s one thing you’d like to fix in the world around you through your work?
How will you fix it?
Essentially, your “mission” should answer the “why factor” about your goals. That is, your story shouldn’t just be about what you do but why you do it.
If you get this down pat, you’ve got a significant chunk of your story sorted.
- Keep it simple and focused
Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your story for your personal brand should also follow the same structure to be memorable and to hit home with clarity.
Explain who you are, what you do, and why you do it in simple language. Weave in how you plan to solve your customers’ or potential employers’ problems. But most importantly, tie in WHY your skills or services will make a difference in their lives.
- Your story is not your resume
Your resume is all about your professional achievements. But your story, which forms the core of your personal branding, is an all-encompassing narrative that showcases your strengths, ideas, as well as goals.
A resume is good for a quick once over. But your story highlights the best parts of you and creates valid links between different parts of your personal experiences that have shaped you.
Your story should make anyone pick up the phone and call you to talk about that one wild experience that launched an ambitious project.
Bottom line
You are a fabulous composite of your distinct human experiences.
You have been buoyed by your strengths and strengthened by your perceived failures. Your story should factor in all these aspects but in a streamlined manner.
While there are no right or wrong personal stories, your story should be composed in line with the values of your personal brand to be impactful and effective.