Build Your Personal Brand for Professional Success

When you’re the best of the best, your name alone is enough to get the deal done. Personal branding works for professional athletes and performers, and it works for top-tier producers in the mortgage industry. Whether expanding your book of business or leveling up your career, your personal brand lets everyone know three things:

1. Your professional worth is unmatched.
2. Your story is authentic and compelling.
3. Your name opens doors and closes deals.

Social media is a powerful branding tool. Use your online profiles to expand your professional reach with your unique success story.

Marketing vs. branding

Marketing is for making sales. Branding builds relationships.

Marketing is about emphasizing what a product or service can do for a target market, and while essential to business success, it’s ultimately all about the benefits for them. Your personal brand is about you. It’s your highlight reel, curated autobiography, and a peek behind the scenes of your success — in work and in life.

When you’re a top producer, your industry already knows what you can do. Marketing or “selling” yourself is slick, impersonal, and inauthentic. To build trust and long-term business relationships, tell your story — and show them who you are.

Get real

You can’t leverage a brand you don’t have, and people won’t respond unless your story rings true.

But getting real doesn’t mean sharing everything or pandering to the latest trend. An authentic personal brand is:

• Honest. As a top producer, you have no need to exaggerate or oversell your success. An accurate account of your professional pedigree is impressive as is.
• Humble. Give credit where it’s due. Acknowledge your team’s good work, and express your gratitude. Share stories, pictures, and hard-won lessons.
• Genuine. Let your brand reflect your personal and professional values, and don’t stop with “success.” Talk about your diligence, your achievements, and even your setbacks. Nobody’s perfect, and everyone knows it.
• Human. You work hard so you can live well. Share some highlights from your “other” life, whether that includes family, friends, pets, or personal victories.
• Curated. Being real is a requirement. Oversharing is ill-advised and potentially damaging. Your brand presentation is a choice. It needs to be you, but it doesn’t have to be all of you.

People react to marketing and targeted messaging, but they RESPOND to other people. Start the conversations you want to have, engage with the people you want to hear from, and above all — keep it real.

Come out on top

So, your brand is established and growing. Engagement is up every day — and then the market takes a turn.

What good is a brand in a downturn? An authentic, well-known brand is an opportunity to build relationships that withstand market shifts. When your professional success and your personal brand are in sync, you take the field — any field — with an advantage.

You’ve got hard-earned knowledge, razor sharp skills, and a history of professional achievement. Combine your proven proficiency with a reputation for authentic interaction, and a touch of humility, and you’ve got another invaluable tool in your belt — name recognition.

Be ready for the power play

Symbols are the basis of human thought and communication, and they have power. Developing a brand is essentially creating and codifying a symbol exclusive to you and your work. If your current corporate partner doesn’t recognize the dual power of who you are and what you can do, it’s time to consider your options.

A strong personal brand reflects your authenticity and experience and contributes to your professional success. Complete the picture with a position you’ve earned — one where you call the shots.

When you’re ready to make your power play, partner with an agent who understands your value. Experience the agency difference you deserve at veritysearch.com.