Diana Jennings

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Are You in Control of
Your Personal Brand?

December 1, 2020 By Diana Jennings Leave a Comment

I was recently asked, “How do you help women take control of their personal brand during these times when face to face is very limited?” Because this question may be on the minds of women and men across the globe, I wanted to share my answer with you.

It begins with a shift in your mindset that occurs when you realize you already have control of your personal brand. “Taking,” implies that the control resides outside of you when in fact the control is already within you.

There is a lot of confusion among career-minded individuals about their personal brand. The confusion is due to the many individuals who promote personal branding focused solely on the where and how to communicate. Too much emphasis has been placed on promoting the brand which is in the middle of the process and not enough on the beginning where you uncover and develop your brand, or how to align it with what you want to achieve.

When promotion becomes the focus of branding, individuals are deprived of the critical fundamentals required to establish and evolve a strong personal brand along with the clarity for how best to communicate and align their brand with their goals and vision.

If you’ve already invested time and resources to undergo a well-structured personal brand development process, you probably feel confident that you are in control of all the facets affecting your brand. If you’re not confident or you don’t feel your brand is working for you, then your process was most likely incomplete. It’s important to understand that your personal brand is YOU and not a thing as in your social media, your resume, LinkedIn profile, your image, headshot, or how you show up on a Zoom call.

A more accurate way to have asked the original question would have been… How do you help women take control of how she communicates her brand?

The thing is, how you go about communicating your brand will be dependent on the structure of your brand’s foundation which is based on how thorough you work through the fundamentals of the process. A thorough personal branding process will include foundation building, a communication strategy, alignment, as well as an examination of the elements that contribute to your brand presence.

An objective of effective personal branding is to be intentional with your written, verbal, and nonverbal communication. When you are not intentional, you lack control of your brand, resulting in communication by chance. When this happens, you risk not being seen or heard, and the probability of being mis-understood increases.

When, what you communicate is misinterpreted, you jeopardize potential opportunities. These are the smaller incremental opportunities that act as the steppingstones leading you toward the advancements in your career, business, or life. Incremental opportunities are defined as engagement, conversations, invitations, introductions, recommendations, referrals, or being requested by name.

Not until you have established a solid foundation on which to build your brand, can you gain full control of your communication. Once the brand development fundamentals have been addressed, you’ll want to develop a strategy to define what you will communicate, decide where you will communicate, determine how you will communicate, and identify whose radar you need to be on.

What will you communicate?
The last thing you want to do is confuse others through your messaging. If you continually send mixed messages by means of your written, verbal, and nonverbal communication, you will most certainly confuse those with whom you need to connect with.What is it you want to be known for? Define your core message and weave that message as an underlying common thread throughout your written, verbal, and nonverbal communication. Doing so will reinforce who you are and your subject matter expertise in the minds of the people you want to connect with.

Where will you communicate?
In person face to face communication may be limited at this time; however, you have numerous on- and off-line options available to you. Online you have social platforms, webinars, podcasts, blogs, and websites.

Before the coronavirus, off-line meant you networked, attended events and conferences, and scheduled coffees, Today, most of these off-line communication methods have transitioned to online.

Consistency is key. Decide on one or two places to communicate and stick with it. Over time, you can assess if where you you’re making your presence known works best for you.

How will you communicate?
You communicate thoughts, ideas, feelings, and beliefs verbally using your voice, through your writing, and nonverbally by way of your behavior, actions, facial expression, appearance, and through what and whom you choose to surround yourself.

To be successful you need to master all methods of your communication. Determine how you will choose to communicate in writing. You can author a book or paper, write articles, a short post, leave reviews or comments. Consider contributing to a newsletter or blog. This could be your own, the company you work for, or the ones published for your industry.

To have your voice heard, volunteer to make a presentation, participate on a panel, keynote, or schedule one on one Zoom meetings.

When you communicate nonverbally you have an opportunity to reinforce what it is you want to be known for. That’s because your nonverbals provide visual cues that can affect another person’s perception of you.

To whom are you communicating?
Identify your ideal audience. When you zero in on who it is you want to speak to, what and how you communicate becomes clearer. The more specific you become the more direct you will be with your messaging allowing you to connect with those whose radar you want and need to show up on.

Personal branding is not a one and done exercise. It’s an ongoing professional and personal development process. As you continue to assess your brand’s underlying message, strive to create harmony between your written, verbal, and nonverbal communication.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to be notified of upcoming personal brand develop programs use this link to sign up https://dianajennings.activehosted.com/f/23

Here’s to the best brand you can be!

Filed Under: Personal Brand

Harness the Power of Nonverbal Communication to Attract Career Opportunities

January 27, 2020 By Diana Jennings Leave a Comment

Feeling stuck? Fortunately, you’re one opportunity away from moving closer toward advancing your career, business, and life. Learn how to align your best self with your goals to produce faster results. 

Advancing in your career or taking your business to the next level can sometimes feel like a mysterious task. It’s as if there’s some formula you’re missing, leaving you stuck in a place you don’t want to be. The truth is, you’re just one opportunity away from advancing your career, business, and life. The secret is in learning how to harness the power of nonverbal communication then aligning your best self with your goals to produce the results you want. 

What Are Your Goals? 

Do you want to achieve the next level in your career? Do you need to advance your business? Or have you concluded it’s time for personal growth? Identifying specific goals is the first step to moving ahead in your career or business. As you look ahead to 2020, identifying three to five goals to accomplish over the next 12 months is realistic. To start, you’ll need to dig deep to create a crystal-clear picture of where you are currently and where you want to be in your career or life. Once you can see this vision, you’re ready to move on to identifying the steps necessary to achieve the goals that will get you there.  

As you self-evaluate, it’s helpful to become an objective observer of your own life in order to see yourself as others view you. Perception is reality in the mind and hearts of the observer. What do people see when they meet or interact you? What are the thoughts and feelings they experience during these interactions, be it a meeting, an interview, or a casual conversation? By taking on the role of an objective observer during your interactions, you’ll begin to identify the attributes you possess that help you in forming positive impressions, fostering relationships, or those that may be working against you. 

Attracting Opportunities

Attracting opportunities is affected by how others perceive you. What if being the right person for the job, the promotion, or the new relationship is about more than having all the right qualifications? You need to know how to position yourself.

Knowing even the smallest of details that can potentially interfere with you moving closer toward your goals, will allow you to make the necessary adjustments to improve the experience and perception others have of you, while increasing your ability to attract career advancing opportunities.

Nonverbal Communication 

You can set yourself up for success without saying a word. 

We live in an extremely competitive world. The people who could potentially hire, promote, or even date you, are sometimes forced to look for reasons, no matter how small to narrow the field. This is where your nonverbal communication comes in. Your non-verbals can help you reinforce the quality of your knowledge, skills, and talent. When it comes to how you show up, you need to do what you can to visually give others a reason to believe that you’re the best choice, you’re ready for the opportunity, you’re on top of your game, and that you’re easy to get along with.

What it boils down to is whether others can see you in the role you desire to be in. Your nonverbal communication will either work for or against you. Because nonverbals are visual, your image accounts for the greatest portion of your nonverbal communication. Your image is the visual representation of who you are at your core and just one of the ways in which you communicate your personal brand.

The visual components of your nonverbal communication include your:

  • Grooming and hygiene 
  • Style and clothing
  • Body language
  • Facial expressions
  • Preferred material objects
  • Activities and surroundings

Each component works together to create your image. If your current image isn’t purposeful or isn’t helping you achieve the results you want, you can easily make adjustments to tweak the message you are conveying so that you can begin to project the level of authority and credibility you need to get you to where you want to be. 

Position Yourself to Attract the Right Opportunities 

What is it you need to communicate? In order to create or fine-tune your messaging, begin with the end goal in mind. When you present yourself with purpose and refine your nonverbal communication it’s an opportunity to reinforce what others need to know, to help you stand out from the crowd. 

The ability to position yourself comes when you have developed a strong personal brand.  It’s what will help you to differentiate yourself from the other people vying for the same business opportunities, positions, or relationships. 

Whether it’s fine tuning your appearance, becoming aware of your body’s language, or adjusting your actions and behavior, it’s important to keep in mind that all the nonverbal components of your communication will either strengthen or weaken the perception others have of you.

Ready to Harness the Power of Nonverbal Communication and Personal Branding?

Diana Jennings is a personal brand and image strategist who teaches clients how to align their best self with their goals, attract career advancing opportunities, and produce faster results. Connect with her online now to learn more about the services available to help you to move closer to your personal and professional goals.

Filed Under: Career, Image, Nonverbal Communication, Personal Brand, Personal Growth Tagged With: Attracting Opportunities, Body Language, Career Advancement, Career Goals, Image, Job Promotion, Nonverbal Communication, Perception, Personal Brand, Personal Growth, Professional Clothing

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