How to Build a Personal Brand
Liza Dunning, Creative Director at Apple
by Allyson Thompson
The following interview is with Liza Dunning, a UGA alumni, who discusses what personal branding means to her and provides some helpful tips on how to build your own brand.
Dunning is a creative director at Apple and is part of the retail engagement marketing team. In her career, she has had experience creating award-winning brand identities, creative campaigns and content for some of the most beloved startups.
Q: What does personal branding mean to you?
A: “Some people might define personal brand as the way you “sell” yourself to the world. But if you get the ‘ick’ from the idea of selling yourself like I do, then consider personal branding as a great way to hone your voice and clarify your message. When you have a deep understanding of your personal brand, you can more clearly communicate your value to the world. When other people can convey your unique identity or story when an aligned opportunity comes up and you’re not in the room, you know your personal branding efforts are paying off.”
Q: How can you keep your unique identity when working with bigger companies?
A: “This is an interesting question, and maybe a complex answer. Ideally, if you work with a bigger company early in your career, you hopefully feel aligned with their mission, culture or brand. I started out of school with an early-stage startup as the founders’ first hire, so there was a huge opportunity for me to hone my own voice and influence the direction of a growing brand. When I moved on to Airbnb, my personal brand was my foundation, likely a key reason they hired me – to bring that voice or set of experiences in the mix.”
“Think of a larger company as a recipe containing various ingredients. In this somewhat cliché metaphor: What’s your flavor-add? What are your strengths? What, perhaps, is the recipe missing? And how can you contribute to what’s already happening? When you inevitably move on to the next company or brand, parts of that larger company identity stick with you while others are left behind. It’s all part of the journey, and every experience adds dimension to your unique identity as you evolve.”
Q: What is some advice that you can give to people who are starting their personal branding journey?
A: “If you’re just starting out and unsure of who you are, or what your story should be, one way to kickstart your thinking is to pull together your own board of advisors– family, classmates, close friends, mentors– anyone who knows who you really are, what you aspire to be and what really motivates you to do what you do. Ask everyone on your board the same 5-10 questions. They may likely give you some standard ‘soft’ answers like: ‘Oh, you are really nice. You are thoughtful. You are funny.’ But dig deeper to find common themes in their responses. Those themes will be a good starting place in building a meaningful brand that is authentic to you.”
“Another starting point is auditing what you’ve put out into the world. I’m assuming most of you have lived your life online. Every piece of content out there is either adding to or watering down your personal brand. Use those channels to your advantage–strategize, refine and add to what is out there in a more intentional way.”
“Finally, write down your mission statement: who you are, why you do whatever it is you do and how you do it. Commit it to memory so you can confidently answer the dreaded ‘So, tell me about yourself…’ question.”
Q: What are some techniques or resources that are useful when trying to tell your story?
A: “A clear mission statement is a great foundational resource. Go back to it every time you are faced with a career opportunity or a question. Ask yourself: What decision is most aligned to my mission? What feels right in my gut?”
“It’s also wise to conduct a quarterly audit of your brand: How has it changed or how is it evolving? What goals do you have in the next few months that can help you build your brand? What content should you plan to put out into the world that can help strengthen the brand you’re building and help achieve your next goals?”
“I suggest using tools like Pinterest or Miro board, or a good old fashioned cork board to pin references and Post-Its of what your brand is made up of visually. Build a collage or board, add your mission statement, and choose a color palette, typefaces, photography, or graphic style that brings your personal brand to life. Have some fun with it. Make it you. Figure out how these themes and visual cues can be threaded through your outward-facing channels – social, website, LinkedIn, blog, etc.”
Q: What are some final pieces of advice?
A: “Personal branding is a soft science. There are tools and exercises to help you unlock it, but there is no ‘right’ or exact formula to building a strong personal brand. I’d say the most successful brands are always clear, consistent, authentic to the person and memorable in some way that feels different from the rest. Sometimes this process feels like you’re fumbling forward through the dark, and you never quite know if you have it yet. But that’s just part of it. Build your brand brick by brick, as they say. Then, stand back, take a look at those bricks, and arrange them into a story that feels like yours.”
