5 Steps to an Irresistible Brand YOU Story

In this year’s last post on my Blog, I am absolutely delighted to spread the inspiring wisdom from my friend and colleague, Jeff Rock-who shares his 5 best story-telling tips to share your Personal Brand with the world!

Jeff Rock

About Jeff: Jeff is the Founder and Chief Insight Officer of Swift River Coaching, where he employs Personal Branding & Story-telling as the engines of Personal Development. An Industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in empowering people to discover their gifts, talents and genius, and translating that into their ideal way of work and life; Jeff is an esteemed member of the International Coach federation as well as a Reach Certified Personal Brand Strategist; he also has multitude of certifications from The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) both as a Coach & Energy Leadership Master Practitioner and Genos International Emotional Intelligence Assessments. 

I am working with a client who has a wonderful and mufti-faceted background. Each step in her career progression demonstrates growth, expanded scope, and courage. She recently took a position in a new organization in a different part of the country. Word quickly spread regarding her capabilities and accomplishments. In a matter of days, everyone knew who she was, and a de facto personal brand had taken root.

What’s wrong with that? Being instantly famous is great but the story of her personal brand was misleading. My client has a decades-long track record of successes spanning multiple disciplines. But for some reason, the hiring executive was fascinated with a brief and obscure aspect of her background, and it was that information that he conveyed, and over-emphasized, to his colleagues, and so it spread. It was a positive message, but very limiting. Suddenly, my client needed a personal brand mechanic . Here are five storytelling tips to help you communicate your personal brand effectively.

Tip 1: Compose Your Own Story – Make sure you have a personal brand story. It should include key elements of your career progression as well as your brand attributes. The longer you are in business, the bigger your story will be. Your personal brand story is not your life story, but the parts of it that are important for your stakeholders to know.

Tip 2: Make It Easy to Understand – People remember stories, especially if they are in a format with which they are familiar. Use the Circumstance, Choice, Consequence model used in literature. Your personal brand story can illustrate when you were faced with a circumstance or challenge, the choices you made based upon your authenticity, and the resulting consequences and what you learned from the experience.

Tip 3: Use Your Hands – We are hard-wired to pay attention to hands. Use your hands when you tell your story. This reinforces your story in the minds of your audience by adding a visual aspect. Palms should face up when you discuss your struggles and how you sought information. Palms should face down at the end of your story to demonstrate confidence.

Tip 4: Ask Others to Share Their Story – Sharing stories with others creates a connection and helps you to understand them in a deeper way. Asking others for their story shows that you care and builds loyalty and trust Building trust is one of the most important things a leader can do.

Tip 5: Find The Connectors – There are people in every organization that are good at connecting with others and spreading information through the informal communication pipeline. Find out who they are and make sure they know your story. It is the fastest way to get your personal brand story, the authentic version crafted by you, out into your communities.

Think of storytelling as a powerful communication tool for raising your visibility, creating strong connections in your communities, and establishing an authentic foundation as you move forward and grow.