A great story… is memorable, connects people, builds trust and loyalty, and allows us to stand out from the crowd.
So how can you use storytelling to level up your personal brand?
First of all, you don’t need to overthink about it. Storytelling is something we do everyday, in almost every situation – since the day we were born (or at least as far as you can remember). The good, the bad and the ugly, it all belongs to you. Own it and be proud of it because your story (and all its chapters) makes you unique, it makes you who you are.
The concept is quite simple: We stand out when we’re personal, when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable. In other words when we are authentic. Then, for personal brands, storytelling offers the opportunity to let people get to know us, to learn who we are and relate.
Here are three storytelling tips to level your personal brand.
Tip #1: TELL A STORY
Single character monologues are boring. No one wants to hear you shout about your brand, so share your story and build your personal brand around it.
People will engage with you – on a personal level – before they engage with your brand.
Tip #2: STAY FOCUSED ON THE STORYLINE
Short is better than long, simple is better than complicated and less is always more. Don’t wander in the story and don’t add irrelevant details.
Your story formula should be as simple as this:
- The Problem you faced
- Solution (How did you overcome the challenge?)
- Success (What’s the outcome?)
My story has been the same overtime:
The Problem: I struggled with networking.
The Solution: I realized that I had to change my approach and become more strategic in my networking activities.
The Success: I have built an international career and run two businesses with the support of an international. And, I decided to write a book about strategic networking – The Smart Woman Guide To Networking.
TIP #3: BE CONSISTENT
Being consistent is very similar to having a narrow focus – it’s much easier to get recognized for one topic if you consistently tell stories and create content around it.
Create something – unique to you – that is consistent either visually or personality wise. Something that people can associate with your brand and know it’s you.
Below is an example of one of my posts that went viral (with almost 3 million views) on Linkedin:
SOME KEY POINTS:
1. Why did I post what I posted?
- To share my story
- To inspire others
- To raise awareness on the importance of strategic networking
2. What did I hope to achieve?
- It was just one of my daily post and wanted to share my challenges.
- Feeding into my discipline of posting everyday – consistently – in order to increase my personal brand awareness, my credibility; and grow my community (which had grown from 4,000 members t over 25,000 in less than a week).
3. Did I know it would go viral?
- Of course NOT.
- I allowed myself to be vulnerable and this is how so many people were able to relate. No one has it perfect out there!
Last not the least – the ultimate goal is to prove value to the community. Anything that is self-serving or simply does not resonate with your network and community will be ignored. You carry your own gifts, strengths, talents and experiences. So bring your uniqueness to life by sharing your story.
