The Brand of You: Your Brand Positioning Statement

The best brand ideas are conveyed in as few words as possible, and those words cannot be misinterpreted or misunderstood.

There are many corporate brands whose tagline or slogan is vague and open to interpretation. United Airlines slogan "Rising" aspires to lofty ideals (sorry for the pun), but the idea of "rising" is open to interpretation - rising means something different to everyone.

The best brand ideas are concise and clear. Target's "Design for all" fits beautifully with their business of inexpensive but nicely designed merchandise. Or HBO's "It's not TV, it's HBO" - this positions HBO's unique content well against traditional TV.

A personal branding statement doesn't necessarily need to be this concise (and it takes a lot of work to get it this concise) but you should be able to sum up what you do and how you do it in 15 words or so. This becomes your "elevator pitch" or resume summary.

Taking a look at a couple of corporate brand positioning statements, we see that they comprise of three elements (adapted from Allen Adamson's BrandSimple):

• Who you're talking to
• Your features and benefits vs. your competition
  
• How you're going to beat your competition
  

Every job reports to someone who is your client or customer. You do a job for this person so that they in turn can do their job and move a business forward. Figure out who you are talking to, and make that a part of your positioning statement.

Who is your competition? You need to identify the people you're up against, what they have to offer, and beat that. If you're an administrator, you're not just an administrator, but an administrator with exceptional organizational skills, or an administrator with an eye for details that everyone else misses. The sharper you can focus your position - the features you offer and the benefits that those features have - the stronger your branding signals will be.

What do you do that your competition doesn't? What has your competition overlooked? Finding out what employers dislike most about previous hires and making that a part of your brand will get you noticed. You're appealing to an emotional need, and this is very powerful.

A couple of sample statements:

For small business owners, Kathy Jones is the accountant who can design small business accounting systems that will help you understand your financial positions more clearly than ever before.

For busy corporate executives, Susan Smith is the executive assistant with an exceptional time management ability that will keep your schedule on track and organized.

For small entrepreneurs, Joe Williams is the web designer, developer and marketer with the all-in-one skills to make your web site look like you are a huge company.

Exercise #3: Develop your brand positioning statement

Incorporating the three points above, write your personal brand positioning statement. Use your "features and benefits" list from exercise #2 to keep this statement focused.