Branding (if you haven’t worked on creating a brand yet) or rebranding (if you’re considering a job or career shift), means deciding which career path you’re on and tailoring your message, expertise, and what’s visible to network connections and prospective employers, to match that brand.
Your brand, besides showing what you’re capable of doing and where you’re heading, will show employers what you can bring to the table and how you will add value to their organization. In my blog article personal branding as an employee (here is the link)  I am share simple tips on sharpening your image to be successful in your corporate career and answer the question of why you even need to think about it. This blogs gives tips when to use your personal brand strategically.

First, you need to be clear what you stand for, who you are and who you are not.

The first step is to Create your Branding Statement

A branding statement is a short, catchy statement that highlights your most relevant expertise in about 15 words or fewer. It should answer the following questions:
- What are my greatest strengths and skills?
- What makes me special as an employee?
- What successes have I achieved in my career?
- What are my core-values?

Now that you have created your Branding Statement let’s look into where you can use it. 

In your Resume

Adding a branding statement to your resume is a way to show employers how you can add value to the organization if you were to be hired. It is important to tweak and adjust the Branding statement to the individual jobs. This is where the respective Job description comes into play.

In your LinkedIn Profile

Consider to update your LinkedIn profile. This is a crucial part in creating your career, as this is the place where you want to be found from head hunters and HR teams. Prospective employers can visit LinkedIn to learn more about you and your skills and credentials. Take time to write a summary that’s informative, reflects your career interests, and will grab hiring managers' attention. Think about the important key words as this is what head hunters will search for when looking for talents. Here's what to include on your LinkedIn profile: Along with listing your work experience, be sure to add a summary section to your profile. This is your branding statement and allows you to highlight your greatest strengths and work experience. Just a side tip: you can write your summary in the first person; this is an opportunity to be authentic and show a bit of personality. You can find more insight regarding LinkedIn in my blog post here.

Check Your Other Social Accounts, too

Is the message you’re sending to recruiters and networking connections consistent? When they look at each of your various public social media accounts will they get the same impression? Consistency is important when you’re using social media for career development. Using the same professional photo across platforms will help to build your brand.

In job interviews

During interviews the most popular question is “tell us something about yourself” This question is the chance to deliver your Branding Statement. It is your chance to highlight what is special about you. In my blog article SHOW UP! During a job interview I present a concept how you can use your branding statement to answer the questions “tell us something about yourself”. The link is here.

During networking

Your branding statement will become an important part of your elevator pitch when introducing yourself to a new audience or when asking someone for support. My blog on networking can support you here in more detail, find the link here.

During presentations

You can use the Branding statement at the beginning of a presentation to introduce yourself, the better the sentence is crafted the more people will remember it. Take some inspiration from my blog article how to draft your elevator pitch, the link is here.

It is important to understand that personal branding not only works to the outside but as well to the inside.

Based on your Branding Statement you will define your next career steps, it will define how you present yourself in meetings, on conferences and on social media.

Your Branding statement will help you to set up your network strategically as you know where you want to grow and what you can offer to your network as well. Your mentees will approach you based on your branding statement and your mentor can support you better.

Based on your Branding Statement you will ensure that your assignments match your dream job.
Remember: If you don´t know where you are going any road can take you there.

Enjoy updating your Branding Statement, this is what I cover in my course SHOW UP! Find the link to the course here.

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