Design Your Professional Presence

Branding Statements

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Individuals, like companies, can benefit from establishing a branding statement that captures their unique qualities. Your personal brand statement is a representation of your stated value to a future employer. Rather than creating a long list of your expertise in various functional areas, a branding statement should instead outline the skills, strengths, attributes, and other defining characteristics that distinguish you from others.

Think of the branding statement as a statement about who you are and what you want to be known for. You might find this exercise difficult because it requires you to be bold and focus on your personal attributes and strengths—and on learning what is exceptional about you. Still, this is an important task to complete because doing so will allow you to more clearly define and communicate to others what you do, how you do it, and for whom.

To get started, consider creating a short list of your one-of-a-kind attributes. Ask yourself questions like these:

· What problems do I know how to solve?

· What is unique about my approach?

· Who is the target audience for my particular skill set?

Focus on keeping your statements short and sharp. Use your authentic voice and know that you will likely revise your statement at least once or twice a year as you continue to build and develop expertise and refine the scope of your work.