Strengthening your personal brand

Making sure the person you present matches up with the person you really are is pivotal for success.

“I like to say a brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room,” said Elizabeth Shea, founder of SpeakerBox Communications. “If you don’t think about your own brand, or your company’s brand, somebody else will do it for you.”

Shea said that to be able to control one’s own brand, it’s best to start early. “I think it’s important to start thinking about it as soon as you’re in college, or right when you get out of school.”

“What is it that you want to be known for? What is it that you’re passionate about? What are the values that you bring to the table, and what kind of things can you get excited about?”

To cultivate and communicate your brand effectively, however, requires more than just self-promotion. “It’s also important to be thinking about how you can give back,” said Shea.

“You have two ears and one mouth for a reason… Be transparent, be authentic. It’s so important, because people will see that,” she told What’s Working in Washington.

To be able to get a real grasp of your own brand, you won’t get good results from simply asking for it. “I think it’s important to have, potentially, other people to ask the question. Or, if you wanted to ask the question yourself, ask different questions than you might think,” said Shea.

“[Ask] ‘If you were to refer me to somebody else… what kinds of things would you say about me?’”

Shea says she hopes the D.C. region as a whole can learn to strengthen its brand.

“I believe that there’s more that we can do… We have to get behind what we want to be known for, and it’s not Silicon Valley of the east, per se.”

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