Creating A Personal Brand Equity Pyramid
At the heart of The Single Diaries is a genuine desire to help young women build a better relationship with themselves. In fact, it’s why we decided upon the name The Single Diaries. Our founding belief is that the most important relationship a girl can have is the one she has with herself. It’s our mission to help our readers discover what they are passionate about, learn to tackle the things they maybe aren’t so passionate about, and embrace an unconditional love for themselves.
In the past few months we’ve encouraged you to take several steps to get to better know this very important person (You!). We kicked off the year with a lesson in building your vision board to help you visualize your dreams and aspirations. We followed with a guide for answering the question ‘What Defines Me’. And now we are bringing you a lesson in building your personal brand starting with the creation of your personal brand equity pyramid.
Your brand equity pyramid is a snapshot of who you are or, maybe more importantly, who you want to be. It is the building blocks of your personal traits, characteristics, and qualities that define you and the impression that you leave on people. If you think about your favorite brands there are images, words, and memories that are evoked. The same is true when people think of you. You are a brand!
I encourage you to go through this exercise twice. First build a brand equity pyramid that accurately reflects who you are today. Then, build a second brand equity pyramid that reflects who you want to be. Look back at your vision board if you built one. Think about your goals and make sure to bring them into your final pyramid. Don’t be shy about your dreams. This is the starting point to make them realities!
Let’s Get Started!
1. Build the Foundation with Your “isms”
Write out all of the things you would like to be known for- those things that you’d like people refer to as your “isms” (e.g. oh that’s such a Jen-ism). These are the small things you do that make you, you. Your very unique traits. For example, you might want to be known as the girl who knows the lyrics to every 90’s rap song or who remembers everyone’s names. These are important because they establish how people remember you as well as the first things that come to mind when they think of you.
2. Layer on Your Core Qualities
List the personal qualities that you’d like to truly own. These are constructed from your “isms” to make up the points that really get at the heart of who you are and want to be. For example, if you are known for always being the girl at the party Instagramming one of your core qualities might be bringing a creative twist to everything that you do. Or perhaps, you are known for always sharing news on Twitter. You might be a master connector who is always socializing and bringing people together. If you want to own these qualities but aren’t quite there yet still write them down!
3. Craft Your Elevator Pitch
In one sentence describe how you’d like to be introduced. This should be a succinct message that sums up who you are. It should capture the essence of your “isms” as well as your core characteristics. For example your elevator pitch might be something like “Jen is a creative genius who can make anything look good”. The idea behind your elevator pitch is to summarize what people can expect when they meet you. When they go home and tell friends about you, your elevator pitch is also what they’ll pass along.
4. Top it with Your Equity Statement
Most important of all is your equity statement. This is the ultimate description of you are/want to be. In just a few words it encompasses every other layer of your brand equity pyramid. It is basically what you want to be known for and will be what you communicate out to others. If you are “Jen” your equity statement might be something like this: Talented visionary with a skilled eye for style and astute attention to detail. Without having to say much, it ties your pyramid together.
What Now??
Once you have crafted your two brand equity pyramids rate your ideal version verses your actual version. How closely would you say they are aligned? If the answer isn’t 100% think about what needs to happen for you to get closer to your ideal version. Do you want to be that creative genius but would never describe yourself that way today? Consider taking classes at a community college, joining different networking groups, or pushing yourself to simply get out and try new things. Write out an action plan for the next month of steps you can take to get to the ideal version of you. Remember that nothing is out of your reach. If you begin moving in the direction of your dreams you will eventually reach them.
Bringing Your Brand Equity to Life
Download a brand equity pyramid here and get started! Spend some time on this. This is an important step and there’s no need to rush. Next, be on the look out for upcoming posts on how you can start to bring your brand equity to life. We’ll be sharing tips for using social media, networking, and your resume to spread your message. Stay tuned for more!
Superbly Single,
Jen
