Building a unique personal brand story involves a thoughtful process of self-discovery, crafting a narrative that aligns with your values and goals, and effectively communicating that story to your target audience.
What is a personal brand story?
Storytelling is an important part of personal branding. It is a way to connect with your audience on a deeper level. But what is a brand story?
A brand story is a narrative that communicates the essence of you as a person. It captures who you are, what you stand for and what makes you unique. It is the story of your personal and professional journey and highlights a combination of experiences, values, skills and achievements.
Brand story elements
A personal brand story includes the following elements:
1. Origin
Where do you come from and what experiences have shaped you to the person you are today? It could include your upbringing, your education, the people who influenced you or important moments that have had impact on your life.
2. Passion
What are you really passionate about and what motivates you in your daily life? Mention the things that give you energy and bring you enthousiasm. This is a cruciual part for others to connect with your authentic identity. It helps them to understand what drives you and your personal/professional persuits.
3. Expertise
Everyone has its own expertise. By highlighting your achievements and experiences, and showing your skills and knowledge, you create a professional story around your personal one.
4. Values
Values are the principles that guide you and are one of the most important parts of your identity to connect with. Communicating these core values will help people understand you and your ethical framework.
5. Impact
Making an impact can refer to many things. You can discuss the impact you've made on others, on the environment or the world. Whether it is through the work you do, by mentoring others or any other meaningfull contribution. Sharing stories of how you have helped others solve their problems, overcome challenges or how you inspired others creates a powerfull image behind your name.
6. Future Vision
Where do you see yourself in a few years? What aspirations do you have?
Your amibitions and future vision inspires others to support you and your journey.
3P's of a brand story
Everyone who is building a brand, personal or business, must define their 3 P's: Personality, Purpose and Promise. We will discuss the 3P's and how each one is important to your personal brand story.
Personality
We have been talking about your unique personality and identitiy in different other blog posts. In this case it is more about how you communicate with your audience. The personality you show and that is part of your brand story is more than your characteristics. It is about your tone of voice.
Which voice represents your overall identity and story? Is it more playful or professional? Your personality is part of your story and visa versa. Your story represents you as a person, but the way you tell it defines how your audience will receive it. It helps to build a relationship on a deeper level.
Purpose
Purpose refers to the underlying reason of your existence. What do you want to achieve in life? And what impact do you want to make?
Understanding your purpose can help you in a lot of different ways. It guides you in your branding and marketing, but also builds a connection with your audience. Your purpose gives meaning, shows your ambition and that is what people value these days.
Promise
What is your promise towards your audience? It highlights your unique value proposition and shows your audience what you can offer them. Is it reliability, knowledge, confidence etc?
Your promise is one of the reasons people will connect with you and follow you as a brand.
How to define my personal brand story - brand story template
You know your own story. You lived it, you experienced it and you know the feelings that are connected to certain important moments.
But even if it is your story, it could be difficult to exactly write it down. That is why there is a template. This template helps you to answer different questions about you, your history, your purpose and values, your positioning, brand attributes, and the people playing an important part in your story.
This template is a tool to understand your story better. Putting it on paper and writing it down is a first step in understanding what you can tell your audience about yourself. You can download a PDF with this question template at the end of this article.
The next step is to write down your storyline. This includes your history, mentioning the important milestones of your life, and connecting this to your values, emotions, learnings, purpose etc.
It is the moment where you combine and connect the answers of your story template. It is the part where you add emotion, the secret ingredient to a powerfull story!
Storytelling
Defining your brand story is just the beginning. You still have to communicate it, and that part is even more important. The way you tell your story, is more than just mentioning what you have done in your life. You have to show and let other people feel it!
We will get deeper into storytelling in a later blog. So if you are curious about this topic, keep an eye on our socials and website!
Can't wait? Or do you want to discuss your brand story with us? We are happy to talk about it with you! Just send us a message and we will get in touch.