Create a Slogan for Your Personal Brand

Finding a way to represent your emotional value in a slogan is a powerful way to reach your audience. This is what companies do frequently. A good example is with car manufacturers. Here are some examples of one word phrases car manufacturers have established with their brands: Volvo – safety, Volkswagen – economy, Mercedes – performance, Toyota – reliability, Cadillac – luxury, and GM – utility. In You Branding, Mark Cijo states:

“Many experts even call personal branding the ‘you business’, and that’s an accurate assessment”

As you develop your brand, try to summarize your message into a few words and make it personal. You can then decide if you want to promote your slogan implicitly or explicitly. Ways you can deliver your slogan implicitly are through content and/or appearance to get your message across to a viewer; make sure you put the content in a prominent place. Make it a focal point in a similar way an artist tries to draw your eyes to a particular place on a painting. For example, say your message involves compassion, you might use a video demonstrating your compassion in a personal or professional setting or a story depicting how you helped someone. Put it on the homepage of your website so someone visiting it cannot overlook it. Ways you can deliver your slogan explicitly are by using it as a tagline in a heading, keywords in a promotion campaign (Google AdWords, Facebook, and/or Twitter), as part of your domain name (www.ideaactualizer.com), and by tagging content with it.

The primary reason for developing a slogan is to differentiate you from other professionals. Moreover, it is something your audience remembers and associates with you on an emotional level. Something visual also helps your audience recollect their impersonation of you. It is unlikely you pick a slogan that totally standouts from everyone, there are too many people in the world. But hopefully, there are few competitors with similar slogans in your target audience. And you may consider further differentiating your slogan by adding another dimension to it. Related to the car manufacturer example above, Tesla has successfully carved out its own niche defined in two words: performance and eco-friendly.

Think of something personal you can draw on. Let’s take an example of a computer programmer. He or she will have a difficult time differentiating from other programmers, especially on an emotional level; the responsibilities of programmers are predominately functional. In their personal lives, programmers might cut the stress by hiking, sailing, volunteering, or playing sports in their free time. They should incorporate these experiences into their brand. The idea is to not only share personal experiences with a target audience, but also find a way to tie it together with the other part of the slogan.

To illustrate this idea of a slogan, let me explain mine. I try to identify with two words: reliable learner. I express my slogan implicitly in the content on my website and in the taglines of my Google+ and LinkedIn social media profiles. On my website, I emphasize that I am a continual learner – always taking courses (MOOCs or at a university) – through a timeline application. In my social media profiles, I say I am ‘driven to actualize ideas’. A few things to notice. First, my slogan does not say what I do professionally but rather describes me in what I feel is a personal way. Second, there are ways to subtly tell your audience how you want them to perceive you. And, depending on your audience, they might appreciate this added level of sophistication. Finally, summarizing yourself in two words makes you self-aware. Throughout my life, I have always prided myself to be reliable. Being a learner was my top strength in a Gallup Strength Finder test and after self reflection I agree with this assessment; it clearly fits me.

You should come up with your own slogan. To do so, reflect on your personal and professional experiences, take personality or strength tests, and/or ask someone who really knows you well. Once you have one, find a clever way to deliver it your audience.

You can learn more about this concept by buying the book: Online Personal Brand: Skill Set, Aura, and Identity.

A website developer offers a fresh perspective on controlling one’s online image. In this timely book, Frischmann points out that ‘you already have an online personal brand, whether or not you take control of it.’… (The book) boasts insightful observations, complemented by instructive charts and illustrations… A thoughtful addition to the branding literature.

– Kirkus Reviews