“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
Mark Twain
A personal brand helps you shine in a world where there is so much competition for attention. Nothing helps build a personal brand better than a strong personal story.
Telling a strong personal story requires consistency and planning. Think about the elements that make a compelling story. I have listed some of the elements that make up a compelling story that your audience will want to hear.
1. Understand Who You Are
The only way to tell your personal story is to understand who you are and what you stand for. What has made you the person you are today? You need to understand the negative and the positive events that shaped you into that person.
It is only by having this insight that you can tell a story that will reflect your personal brand showing where you came from and more importantly where you are going. You need to know what your personal vision for your life is?
2. Know What Makes You Special
When you understand who you are, you will begin to understand what makes you different from the other 7.5 Billion people that inhabit this planet. If you think you are not special you need to reconsider your understanding of your self. No two people have identical experiences in life and it is these individual experiences that make us unique.
When telling your story it is these differences that make your story interesting. This is what makes your personal story worth hearing. While your audience may be able to relate to parts of your story, some choices and reactions you had to similar problems they may have had, may have resulted in totally different outcomes, thus resulting in you having a skill or insight, which they value.
3. Find Your Niche
Knowing your niche is so important when building your personal brand. We cannot appeal to everyone. You need to know who your audience is and what they expect from you. Understanding who your audience is helps you tell stories that create an impact on the world around you.
4. Show Your Personality
Your personality is unique to you and helps differentiate you from everybody else on the planet. Naturally you won’t appeal to everybody, but in your niche your personality will shine.
5. Be Honest
When telling your personal story it is important to be honest. If there is something that you don’t like about your story, do some thing to show you have learned from your mistake and will not repeat it. Remember nobody is perfect and your audience will understand anyone can make a mistake; they will not easily forgive being deceived. You may think it is easier to mislead your audience, however in this day of instant information you will be caught out. If you lose your audiences trust it is incredibly difficult to get it back.
Telling Your Story
“All emotion is involuntary when genuine. “
Mark Twain
At the heart of your personal story is your ability to create an emotional reaction with your audience. You can only do this if you understand what “makes them tick”. What are their values? What do they care about? Do you understand their problems? How do they tackle life? When you understand their lives you can begin to tell a story that they will relate to. It needs to be an honest story that gets to the heart of where you came from, what you are doing and where you want to go.
If you can make you audience understand your story has relevance to their lives you create a meaningful connection that will help you both to get where you want to in life. Your personal brand will then resonate with your audience and you will begin to share life’s journey with your audience.