3 Frameworks for Personal Branding

One Story Founder, David Weinberger, led a workshop called “Crafting Your Legal Brand” for the MCCA (Minority Corporate Counsel Association) at their C-Suite Leadership Conference. This group, which included attorneys from Google, Nike, Starbucks, Microsoft, Skadden, Dentons, Baker Botts and more, left with the tools to understand brands, define their own brand, and how that can be used in their daily life.

The frameworks that were covered included personal brand attributes, understanding how you are perceived, and a personal messaging framework.

Framework 1- Personal Brand Attributes

What are 10 associations that people may have with you? Don’t limit yourself. An association could be that you love math, or you always wear blue, or you are comfortable with ambiguity.

Imagine someone at your company has a problem and they need help. Think about their options. What if they want someone proactive. Someone who works quickly. Someone who asks the questions they haven’t thought of yet. Someone who is great at client dinners. Or an industry expert.

Those are all part of someone’s personal brand.

Framework 2 - Vision, You, and the World

Here, we outline 3 common inputs we use for companies, but apply them to you as a person.

A. Your Vision. Where are you trying to get to?

B. How you see yourself. What is your value and how do you describe yourself?

C. How the world sees you. Think about the people you know, including friends, family and co-workers. How would they describe you?

When we understand these inputs, we can define a brand strategy.

Framework 3 - Messaging Matrix

This is a simple and powerful way to organize your messages.

Primary Message - What is the one thing you want to tell the world?

Secondary Messages - What are three specific statements that make you different and valuable?

Proof Points - What recent examples make those statements true for you?

It’s very important to spend the time to go deep on each message. Your Primary Message should not just be some facts. It should convey your point of view and what makes you different and valuable.