When you hear “personal brand,” you probably think of LinkedIn influencers posting motivational content at 6am, or consultants with carefully curated Instagram feeds. Personal branding sounds like something for people who want to be internet famous and probably not for you.
However, you may not realise it, but you already have a personal brand, whether you’ve built it intentionally or not. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, the reputation you’ve built through how you show up in meetings and events, how you communicate in emails, how you handle challenges, and what you’re known for delivering.
The only question is whether the brand you have created thus far is intentional and aligns with the way you want to be recognised.
Most of us fall into the accidental category because we’ve been focused on our work and not necessarily on how we’re perceived while doing it. And that’s fine, until you realise that perception often matters as much as performance when it comes to opportunities, promotions, and being taken seriously in your field.
January is a good time to get intentional about how you’re positioning yourself professionally. This is not because you need to become a thought leader or build a following, but because clarity about your personal brand gives you control over how you’re seen and remembered.
Contents
- What personal branding actually means
- Why it matters for your career
- How to define your brand
- Where your brand shows up
- Building your brand strategically
- The practical steps to take now
What personal branding actually means
Your personal brand is the professional identity you’ve built, made up of your expertise, your reputation, and the impression you leave on the people you work with.
When you start to think about “creating” a personal brand, you don’t need to look at this as self-promotion or performing a version of yourself that isn’t real. Instead, think of it as getting really clear on what you want to be known for, and making sure your actions, communication, and presence consistently reflect that.
Think about the people in your industry or organisation who come to mind when specific needs arise. When someone says “we need someone who can handle difficult stakeholders,” or “we need someone who understands the commercial side,” or “we need someone who can present to senior leadership,” whose name gets mentioned? The person you think of immediately is the one who has an intentional personal brand they have cultivated over the years.
Your brand is built through repeated impressions over time and every interaction is a data point that contributes to how people perceive you, and the goal is to make those data points add up to something that aligns with who you want to be seen as.
Why it matters for your career
You can be excellent at your job and still be overlooked if people don’t know what you’re excellent at, or if your reputation doesn’t align with the opportunities you want.
Personal branding matters because opportunities don’t just go to the most qualified person. They go to the person who comes to mind first, and the person who comes to mind is the one with a clear, memorable professional identity.
When a senior leader needs someone for a high-visibility project, they think of people with established reputations in that area. When a recruiter is looking for candidates, they search for people who have positioned themselves clearly in their field. When you’re being considered for a promotion, the narrative about who you are and what you bring matters as much as your track record. If you haven’t been intentional about your brand, you’re leaving these outcomes to chance and hoping that your work speaks for itself, which in competitive environments is rarely enough.
Being deliberate about your brand also makes career decisions easier. When you’re clear on what you want to be known for, you can evaluate opportunities based on whether they reinforce or dilute that brand. You can say no to things that don’t fit, and say yes to things that build the reputation you’re working toward.
How to define your brand
Defining your brand starts with getting clear on three things: what you’re good at, what you want to be known for, and how you want people to describe you when you’re not there.
These aren’t always the same thing. You might be good at something that you don’t particularly want to build your career around, or you might want to be known for something you’re still developing. The goal is to find the overlap between your strengths, your aspirations, and what’s valuable in your field.
Start with this reflection exercise. Set aside thirty minutes and work through these questions honestly.
What do people currently come to you for?
Think about the last few months. What questions do colleagues ask you? What problems do people involve you in solving? What expertise or perspective do they value from you?
What do you want to be known for in the next two to three years?
This question helps you set direction you want your personal brand to go in and shouldn’t be seen as an immediate transformation. Where do you want your expertise or reputation to develop? What do you want people to think of when your name comes up? Be specific here and avoid basic goals like “Leadership” which is too vague. “Leading cross-functional teams through complex transformation projects” is clearer.
What are the three words you want associated with your professional reputation?
These words should be descriptors that reflect how you want to be perceived. Think about qualities like strategic, dependable, innovative, commercially minded, collaborative, and decisive. Choose three that feel authentic to who you are and valuable in your context.
What makes your approach or perspective distinctive?
This is where you identify what sets you apart from other people at your level. It might be your background, your combination of skills, the way you think about problems, or the perspective you bring to your work. You don’t need to be completely unique, but you do need to be clear on what makes you memorable.
What opportunities do you want to position yourself for?
For this question, be very specific. Do you want to be considered for board positions? Speaking opportunities? Senior leadership roles? Advisory work? Client-facing projects? Your brand should point toward these opportunities so that you come to mind when they arise.
The answers to these questions can become the foundation of your intentional brand.
Where your brand shows up
Your personal brand isn’t just what’s on your LinkedIn profile. It’s expressed in every professional interaction, and you need to be consistent across all of them.
LinkedIn and professional profiles
This is often the first impression people get, especially if they’re considering you for opportunities. Your profile should clearly communicate what you do, what you’re known for, and what value you bring in specific, credible ways that reflect your actual expertise rather than generic terms. We cover the tactical refresh in this post, but the strategic foundation is that your profile should tell a coherent story about who you are professionally.
How you show up in meetings
Do you contribute strategically or only when asked? Do you connect ideas across topics or stay narrowly focused on your area? Do you ask good questions or just provide answers? The pattern of how you participate in meetings shapes how people perceive your thinking and your value beyond your job description.
Your communication style
The way you write emails, present ideas, and articulate your thinking all contribute to your brand. If you want to be seen as strategic, your communication needs to demonstrate strategic thinking. If you want to be known as clear and direct, your emails need to reflect that.
The projects you take on
Every project you say yes to either reinforces or dilutes your brand. If you want to be known for commercial acumen, taking on operational projects won’t build that reputation. If you want to be seen as a leader, you need to be visible on leadership opportunities, not just executing tasks. So it’s important that you are selective about what you attach your name to.
Networking and visibility
This includes industry events, speaking opportunities, panel discussions, and the professional communities you’re part of. Being visible in the right contexts with the right people accelerates your brand. If you’re never in rooms where decisions are made or where your industry gathers, your brand stays contained within your current organisation.
Your presence in professional networks
Joining the right professional networks and communities gives you opportunities to build relationships, test your ideas, and be visible to people beyond your immediate work environment. Communities like Peer Suite create space to connect with other professional women, share expertise, and build the kinds of relationships that support long-term career growth.
The more consistent you are across each of these touchpoints, the clearer and stronger your brand becomes.
Building your brand strategically
Once you’ve defined your brand and identified where it shows up, the next step is to build it deliberately through consistent choices that align with the reputation you’re working toward.
Align your visibility with your brand
If you want to be known for something, you need to be visible doing it. This means volunteering for projects that demonstrate that expertise, speaking up in meetings when those topics arise, and making sure the right people know about your contributions in those areas.
Communicate your value clearly
Don’t assume people know what you’re good at or what you’ve achieved. You need to articulate it in a way that’s confident, such as updating your LinkedIn headline to reflect your expertise, mentioning relevant experience in conversations, or being clear about your track record when introducing yourself at events.
Position yourself as an expert
There are lots of way to position yourself as an expert in your field and an easy place to start is by writing about the topic and sharing insights on LinkedIn. Here you can also contribute to industry discussions, comment on related news and share other people’s posts with your own thoughts. Consistently showing up in spaces where your expertise is relevant will get noticed over time.
Build strategic relationships
Your brand gets amplified through the people who know you and talk about you. Invest in relationships with people who are influential in your field, who value what you bring, and who are well-connected. These relationships create opportunities for referrals, introductions, and advocacy that you can’t create on your own.
Be consistent over time
The mistake most people make is being intentional for a few weeks and then going back to autopilot. So you need to commit to your brand and think about the answers you gave when defining your brand with every email, meeting, project and conversation that you have.
The practical steps to take now
If you’re ready to get intentional about your personal brand, start with these actions in the next two weeks.
Complete the reflection exercise
Work through the questions in the “How to define your brand” section. Write down your answers and keep them somewhere you’ll reference regularly.
Audit your current presence
Look at your LinkedIn profile, your email signature, how you introduce yourself in professional settings, and the projects you’re currently involved in. Do they align with the brand you want to build? If not, identify the gaps and make a plan to close them.
Choose one area to focus on first
Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Pick one area where you want to strengthen your brand. This might be getting more visible in your organisation, building your LinkedIn presence, positioning yourself for speaking opportunities, or joining a professional network where you can build new relationships. Focus your energy there for the next eight to ten weeks.
Update your LinkedIn profile
Make sure your headline, summary, and experience clearly reflect your expertise and what you want to be known for ensuring your profile tells a coherent story about who you are professionally.
Identify three strategic relationships to build
Think about people in your industry or organisation whose connection would be valuable for your brand. Reach out, suggest a coffee or call, and start building those relationships intentionally.
Track how you’re showing up
For the next month, pay attention to how you’re contributing in meetings, how you’re communicating, and what opportunities you’re saying yes to. Notice whether your daily actions are reinforcing the brand you’ve defined or pulling you in different directions.
Your brand is an asset
Your personal brand is one of the most valuable professional assets you can build as it determines what opportunities come your way, how you’re perceived by the people who matter, and how much control you have over your career trajectory.
Most people leave it to chance or think personal branding is not for them, hoping their work will speak for itself. But in competitive fields, the people who get ahead are the ones who combine strong work with a clear, intentional reputation.
Start by simply defining what you want your personal brand to be then align your actions with it, and build it consistently over time.
Continue Reading
- The 4×6 Method: Your Strategic Roadmap to Career Acceleration – Create a quarterly planning system that aligns with choosing one clear direction at a time.
- The Year-End Career Audit: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself – Reflect on where you’ve been so you can decide where to focus next.
- The #1 Simple Thing You Should Be Doing to Get a Promotion – Track your wins consistently so you’re ready when career conversations happen.
- The January Advantage: Why You Should Plan Your Career Moves in Q1 – Understand why Q1 is the best time to act on your career direction.
- 29 Ways to Get Organised Before the New Year (And Stay That Way) – Set up systems that support focused progress instead of scattered effort.
Dive Deeper in the Members’ Library
Want more practical resources to support your career and life? Peer Suite members get exclusive access to our resource library, including:
- Career Tracking Sheet – Track your accomplishments throughout the year
- Workplace Communication Templates – Professional email templates for every situation
- Building Sustainable Routines for Rest and Recovery – Avoid burnout with practical strategies
Plus workshops, guides, and tools to help you navigate every stage of your career.
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