Some up-front truths behind self-branding by The Brand Agency’s Dan Agostino

By Dan Agostino, Head of Design at The Brand Agency.

I have always been a big advocate of the idea of ‘brand: you’. The self-branding idea where everything you say, how you act, and the way you portray yourself influences and crafts people’s perceptions of you. It’s Branding 101, but for yourself.

It’s nothing new that our own personal ‘brand’ shapes how we are perceived by those around us. It informs how others interact with us, how they approach us and even treat us based on a series of instinctive initial observations or preconceived ideas on who we are, what we do, and the things we stand for.

For a long time, I was relatively comfortable in what my personal brand was. ‘Brand: Dan’ is confident yet approachable. A strategic thinker who could be either very open minded or hyper-focussed depending on the task at hand. A fun-loving guy who loves good design and loves his three children. (For what it’s worth, my Instagram profile describes me as ‘Designer, guitar player, Papa Bear’.) However, when I look in the mirror, I have to ask: is this list of adjectives as accurate as it can be?

One of the primary rules of branding is that it is not what you say your brand is, but how the audience describes it for you. If you ever want to find out the truth behind the personal brand of you, enter the world of online dating. Yes, that’s right. Recently, a friend convinced me to sign up to an online dating app. At the time, I couldn’t think of anything worse. However, I’m always up for a challenge. Maybe I should add that to my list of adjectives on Instagram.

There’s nothing like finding out what the ‘reality’ of my 46-year-old brand is by testing it in the online world of dating. Nothing peers through the cracks in what and who you say you are more than someone in their 40s searching for a connection and sitting directly across from you.

Every single little detail is scrutinised.

Do I wear a long sleeve shirt to show my serious side, or maybe roll the sleeves up to appear a little more relaxed? Which brand of shirt? The colour? Jacket? No jacket? What do I say? Do I try and appear calm and collected, or be honest and admit I’m nervous as sh#t. Every decision leading up to this encounter is a reflection on my own personal brand. Is it judgemental? Damn straight it is!

I heard recently that the average person takes seven seconds to form an impression of someone or something. Seven seconds to decide yes or no. Seven seconds to decide should I or shouldn’t I? In less time than it takes to read this paragraph, that person sitting across from me has already instinctively made their mind up, and vice versa.

This is all too familiar in the world of branding and design. How a product or organisation appears, its visual aesthetic, the brand cues, its entire tone-of-voice all help in forming an almost instantaneous idea in someone’s mind that makes them say, “yes I want this” or “no I don’t.” Seven seconds.

Lanna Hill, director and founder of Leverage Media, has spent her career helping people build and refine their own personal brands. She believes that “your personal brand should be the combination of three things – how you perceive yourself, how others perceive you, and how you want to be perceived. The principles of brand storytelling apply just as much to personal branding as they do to business brands – they’re not told by mistake. They’re told with purpose and a clear vision in mind. Be intentional to make sure your ‘voice’ cuts through the noise.”

Solidifying what your personal brand stands for can help you build trust, credibility, authority and influence. It can increase your visibility within industry and be used to highlight your strengths and qualities. With a clear and consistent brand message, people can see you as that leader with a voice and be more likely to seek you out to collaborate and partner together.

With social media and a simple Google search, it’s easy for anyone to find out information about you in just a few clicks. Something important to consider before that online date, I guess. As a result, it’s important to be aware of how you are presented and portray yourself in the best light possible. Your personal brand can help you stand out and control that narrative.

While my online dating experiment was quite short lived, the development of my own personal brand will continue to grow and evolve for much longer. For me, being perceived as a role model for good design is highly important. However, being seen as a role model to my three boys is even more so.

Building your own personal brand is essential today and probably more important than ever before. In a highly connected world, it doesn’t matter if you’re scrolling through a dating app, a student looking to get their first break in industry, or the CEO of the company, your personal brand is what sets you apart – and what can help you stand out from the crowd.