Does your brand have its own story? How to tell your personal brand story - tips from the expert

Being recently inspired by an amazing article "30 Minutes To Craft a Remarkable Personal Brand Story" by Lana Kravtsova in her Daring Clarity blog I decided to tell my own story while retelling her advices to help you create yours. So below you can see what is the result of this.

First of all, I want to give credit to the author as her personal story in about section has inspired me to embark on this creation work and help spread those great tips she kindly provided.

So, lets clarify, why you need your story? - according to Lana your story can set you apart. Make you stick in your customers’ (readers, followers) minds. Motivate and inspire your employees as well as ignite emotions, dialogs and call to action - exactly what you need from your customers, readers, followers to take.

There is almost nothing to add, except that fact that your story will give a personality to your brand or service. The Humanization of the Brand is what will drive people to learn more about you. In many cases we usually find that the existing architecture leads people from a very vibrant and interactive experience (social networks) to a static dead end (our web sites, ads or materials). In order to stand out in this environment we need to become social architects, and build the roads necessary to lead customers to a rich and rewarding network, full of valuable and interesting information - and your story, personal story, unique story is what should be at core of this architecture.

Lara starts her guide from simple question - do you tell your story?

Too often people focusing on what they do.

I sell great custom made dresses. I sell great soaps made from organic ingredients. I am a great life coach. I am a great social media expert.

But probably most people, not specifically looking for that service will forget about you in two minutes if all they saw on your website is focused on “what”.

You need to tell your why. Tell who you are. Tell your story.

Don’t try to be someone you are not. Take time to find your story. We all have one.


Your story generally consists of 3 main elements:

1.Your values and beliefs. In other words your “whys”
2.Your experiences
3.Your personal unique characteristics

Let’s take 30 minutes and write your story.


You might add more to your story later as more things surface. Self discovery is a never ending process. But let’s start now.

Take a blank sheet of paper. Answer the following questions. Don’t think or over analyze. Just answer. Write whatever comes to mind.

1. What do you do?

What comes to mind when you hear that question. Write it all down.

My example: I help people to improve their marketing communications, increase their presence online and facilitate conversations on popular information platforms. I also strive to raise an awareness about Ukraine, it's people and culture through the social media channels and platforms.

2. What are you attracted to?

Concepts, things, people etc.

My example – creativity, personality, people, stunning web experiences, favorable dialogs and unique design concepts.

Yours?

3. What do people praise you for the most?

Inspiration, enthusiasm, authenticity, creativity. What about you?

4. Why do you do what you do?

This is the most important question. Why do you think the world needs what you have to offer?

5. What are your goals for the future?


6. Three words that describe you.

This are essential questions you should ask yourself while essaying, however you can add some more, something like

What are you passionate about the most in your business (career, vocation)? What makes you feel alive?

What did you learn for years being in business? How has it changed your attitude over time?

Or any other question that springs in your mind during essaying

Now look at your answers and tell me your story.

See what’s appropriate to include and what’s not. See how you can incorporate your values, your experiences, your personality traits that make you unique into your story.

Play with it.

Your story is the most important part of your brand. Use it everywhere you go. About page, which is mostly associated with the story is one of the most visited pages on blogs and small businesses’ websites. Align your story with your corporate message and use this tandem exponentially throughout your communication channels.

What other business social networks (XING, Ecademy) you're active on?

I know it might be not the best place to ask such questions, don't get me wrong, LinkedIn is a paramount social media business tool for me.

However being a social media strategist it might be stupid to exclude other services and not to revisit your strategy from time to time. Several years ago I have been active on another business network called Xing, former OpenBC network and some others which were known as a good place for social networking in their respective regions.

Since then however, Linkedin gained so much of everything and became one-stop-shop tool for business social networking so I almost lost pulse of those networks, just rarely spending some maintenance time and checking inbox. I think it was not the best thing to ignore them, but LinkedIn grew with such a pace :)

Recently I spend some time on my Xing profile and found some good things about it, including it still close geographical orientation on Europe, that's actually was always known about Xing. Also, I found it more alive and dynamically these days, with discussions, questions and active groups.

Taking into account the expansion of my geographical preferences towards Europe, Xing might be a good supplementary force to social media strategy. But before jump into I would appreciate opinion of other professionals.

What other than LI networks do you appreciate enough to invest your precious time?


Please leave your opinions in comments to these post, or join respective discussion on Linkedin here