What is a brand statement?
Building a personal brand can give you a competitive advantage and open doors to new and exciting opportunities. Establishing a personal brand is one of the first steps in crafting a brand statement.
What is a personal brand statement, and why should you write one?
Your brand statement is essentially a quick blurb or 1-2 sentences summary of what you do and your unique value proposition. Brand statements aren’t just meant for companies. Anyone can have a brand statement. An effective personal brand statement intrigues potential employers and proves what makes you more qualified than your fellow candidates.
Four key aspects to include in your brand statement
- The skill or area of expertise
- Who do you want to serve
- What benefits do your skills bring
- What makes you unique
7 Tips for writing a personal brand statement
- List your key skills/attributes
- Choose your audience
- Look at the competition
- Keep it brief
- Make it memorable
- Be honest
- End with a call to action
List your key skills/attributes
To get you started, begin jotting down all your skills and desired attributes.
This can include your strength, areas or skills you have years of experience with and even personality traits.
Choose your audience
You know you want to target potential employers, but who do you want to hire? Its
Similar to a job description, you must identify who you’re looking for to connect with the right people. If you are passionate about working with non-profits, you would want to emphasize this in your statement to avoid more commercial organizations from seeking you out.
Your audience will also dictate how you write your brand statement. In the IT world, there is a lot of cross-over with various industries, which can significantly influence the tone and verbiage used in your statement.
Look at the competition
What are your competitors doing? By looking through LinkedIn and/or noting what others are saying at networking events, try to get a sense of what’s already out there and then do something different.
After some observation, you’ll start to notice some patterns within your industry. You might find your competition uses similar language and phrases or specific skills constantly being promoted.
Part of your brand statement includes your unique value proposition. If you hop on the bandwagon, there’s nothing unique about you. Refer to the list you made earlier and cross off any skills or traits that seem to be frequently promoted. Focus on what makes you unique, and you’ll avoid blending in with the crowd.
Keep it brief
Brand statements are like the elevator pitch of elevator pitches. They should be concise and direct. You want to give your audience a little taste of who you are. Make sure to include the 4 key aspects, and you’ll be golden.
Make it memorable
Avoid using complex language that’s not widely understood. Like a brand slogan, you want to keep it brief, but something people will remember.
Your target audience probably won’t take immediate action, so it’s essential to be creative and memorable. Adding creativity, such as using strategically chosen adjectives, can help make your brand stick in people’s minds and hopefully prompt them to reach out when they do need your services.
Be honest
Though you might feel inclined to exaggerate your abilities, avoid doing so. You wouldn’t want to lie on your resume, right? Don’t claim to be if you aren’t the “best” or “number one” at something. As your hone and gain new skills, adapt your statement to reflect that but never lie.
End with a call to action
Leave people wanting more. Your statement should drive excitement and have your audience wanting to know more about you. Ending with a call to action can prompt your audience to reach out or highly consider you for a position. The key, though, is not to sound too desperate.
People often get too caught up wanting to “put themselves out there”; they don’t realize they’re coming on too strong.
Where to promote your brand statement
Once you’ve written a statement you feel confident with; it’s time to promote yourself.
Social media is your best bet to reach a large mass of people at once. Include your brand statement in your bio on social media platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn, which potential employers might see. If you have an online portfolio, be sure to include it there as well. Whatever media you choose to include your brand statement, ensure you maintain professionalism.
Networking events are another great space to spread your brand statement. You can print your statement on business cards and hand them out at network events or whenever you meet a potential connection.
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