2018 provided a new opportunity for my professional life, and I “officially” joined the team at Studio 8E8. We provide custom, digital marketing solutions for the dental industry, but also personal brands with a focus on story. This is where I come in. Working closely with ten personal brand clients over the past 18 months has been an incredible experience. Each individual brand has a different story, pain point, “why”, and unique gift for what they’re trying to do. Finding simple ways to help personal brands discover the clarity they need at the beginning of the branding process is extremely important.
If clarity is king when it comes to personal branding, then chaos is the enemy. A lack of understanding of your brand can dilute one’s social media, disrupt the messaging on your website and confuse interpersonal communication. Personal brands that move in a thousand directions distract their audience and end up being lost in all the noise. This year will be full of thousands of influencers and people building financially successful businesses through their personal brands. If you want to stand out from the crowd, then STOP to take some time and discover the “why” behind your voice.
Studio 8E8 has an incredible discovery process that we walk all of our personal brands through called the Brand Creator. It’s amazing to see the clarity people find pen in hand, answering simple, thought-provoking questions surrounding their values, what fuels them, what angers them about the competition, etc. The power of clarity cannot be overstated, so make sure you’re working with a company or individual who can help you find it.
A personal brand really breaks down into three parts: who you are + what you do + how you do it. Through all of my personal brand research, I’ve found 3 effective discovery questions from my new friend Mike Kim of the Brand YOU podcast.
What pisses you off?
What breaks your heart?
What problem are you trying to solve?
I encourage you to stop and take five minutes to think through these questions. They will be foundational in keeping you grounded in who you are, what you do and how you do it.
In 2020, an obvious prediction is that the human aspect of personal brands is going to be getting even more attention. The story, the pain, the struggle, the triumph. Significant brands allow you to see inside their journey, not just highlighting surface-level stuff. The question we all have to ask ourselves is, “Am I fearless and brave enough to take this journey towards my story?”
At Studio 8E8 we think you can do it. We believe #yourstoryisworthit.