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In this ever changing digital landscape, personal brands have become the “go to thing.” Building your own mini brand online allows you to cultivate an audience, gain opportunities others don’t have, and grow your business.
A personal brand statement is a unique proposition about who you serve, the value you bring to them, and what makes you worthy of attention.
Personal Brand Statement vs Unique Selling Point vs Elevator Pitch
A personal brand statement pulls on the traits and values of a USP and an elevator pitch.
A unique selling position (usp) is one feature you have that no other company has. Some famous examples of this are:
- Fedex: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”
- Debeers: “A diamond is forever”
- Domino’s: “You get a fresh hot pizza to your door in 30 minutes or less or it’s free”
A USP allows businesses to differentiate in a crowded market. If you had something unique that no one else could touch, you could break through the noise of competition.
A personal branding statement is built on the same premise. There are hundreds of candidates for a single job. There are thousands of people who claim to be experts. What makes you different than anyone else?
What makes you worthy of anyone’s attention?
USP formula:
I am unique because I can do _____ better than anyone else I know.
An Elevator pitch describes what you can do for your ideal customer in 30 seconds or less.
Elevator Pitch Formula:
“Typically, my ideal client needs help with (pain) and we solve this doing (solution). Usually resulting in (results)”
The concept is to show your value right off the bat, so the person in the elevator will bring you up for a meeting.
A personal branding statement also pulls on an elevator pitch. Here is a grim reality—people don’t care about YOU, they can what you can do for them.
What can you do, what solution can you create, and what value can you bring to the table?
I solve the pain point _____ for this audience ______.
This results in _____.
Before you create a personal branding statement, ask yourself a series of questions.
What unique value do you have that no one else can touch? Steve Harvey calls this your “gift”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kILVFRlUtT8
My gift is ______?
What are your character strengths or core values?
When you are operating in your character strengths or core values, you create better results. Think about it like this: can an introverted person talk to other people?
Absolutely, introverted doesn’t mean a lack of social skills. Entrepreneur Tim Ferriss is a self-proclaimed introvert and he interacts with hundreds of people a day. He can do it, but it isn’t his primary strength. It isn’t a core value.
Tim’s core value or strength is creating amazing content that is more in depth than anyone else. It is because naturally as an introvert he thinks deeply about subjects, takes copious notes, and analyzes the crap out of his results.
Compare that to Gary Vaynerchuk, who is 100% an extrovert. Gary is amazing at rallying people up, connecting with others, and being in the limelight.
Gary can rally people together, but ask him to be detail oriented and he will admit he fails.
When you work in your strengths you build success faster than operating in your weaknesses.
My character strengths are ___________?
What cause do you wish to serve? What change needs to be made?
One of the key components of building a personal brand is to stand for something counter-culter. To say “this needs to change” or “I believe in this.” This doesn’t mean you have to try and solve world hunger, but if you do I support you.
Stand for something counterculture – @austiniuliano
[bctt tweet=”Stand for something Counterculture”]
For example, my good friend Brian Fanzo or better known as @isocialfanz has two personal branding statements. The first came about when Twitter hit the market: “I talk fast, and I tweet faster.”
This statement shows you he cares about Twitter, but more importantly he cares about engaging on Twitter in a humanistic approach.
This statement has slightly evolved to “#thinklikeafan.” First off, this is a great personal branding statement because fan, and Fanzo… yea I love good puns. Second, it speaks to what is lacking in social media. Companies need to think like their audience, and cater their message to them. This includes engaging in authentic conversations like a real human.
There are many others too. If you can think of more leave it in the comments at the end of the article.
How do you make a personal branding statement?
Combined all these pieces together into one cohesive unit. Here is an example template you can use. By no means is this an exact formula, but it should do the trick.
Personal Brand Statement Formula:
I am a (character strengths). That believes in (cause). I serve (audience) by eliminating (pain) resulting in (result).
For example, I’ll use myself.
I am an extroverted storyteller that believes in empowering millennial entrepreneurs to take action and build their brands. I offer practical knowledge devised from experience in an easy to understand format, that inspires and motivates others to take action.
My humor and geeky references allows complex concepts to be engaging and fun while teaching necessary core concepts. I believe that everyone has the potential to do big things, and with the right information and motivation they can change the world.
An example from job-hunt.com
“A focused and determined business leader, I offer the entrepreneurial stamina and wisdom to drive bottom line growth and lucrative business, inspire employees to peak performance, and cultivate profitable business relationships built on respect, loyalty, and trust. My easy-going sense of humor has been a defining management strategy to bring out the best in everyone, instill pride, and mobilize them to make their company the best in the industry.”
For more information on building a brand, check out “How to build a brand strategy template”
What is your personal branding statement? Let us know in the comments!
