Branding: Not Just for Businesses

Written By Maddie Schuck

As a company, Matchbook Marketing offers affordable marketing solutions to local clients, helping them refine and elevate their brands. To do that, we have to immerse ourselves in their companies and what they stand for. This process quickly becomes second nature to us.

Something we don’t often think about, however, is how to apply this concept to ourselves. How can we best promote ourselves if we’re not well-versed in our own personal brand? After all, our company is designed to offer advertising experience for students looking to enter the industry with an edge. That’s why it’s important to leave with a tight grasp on the things we do well and how we integrate who we are into our work.

Personal branding can be explained as an intentional effort to influence perception of yourself by highlighting what sets you apart from the competition through an easily identifiable image. It’s arguable that nobody does this better than our generation. At Matchbook Marketing, we invest time in professional development opportunities for creatives that addresses personal branding.

To put this concept into action in your own life, start with the basics. Try to write down five or so strong values that guide your work. Visually build out how your values exist in your life by creating a mood board on Pinterest or on paper. How do you want your passions to materialize? Try to create the image and feeling you want others to experience when they hear your name.

From here, you can instill this brand in every platform and format you use to present yourself. Align your Instagram grid with the mood board you created, tweak your resume to reflect the values you jotted down and start following other creatives that inspire you to strengthen your brand. Don’t forget that in-person elements can be just as important. The way you answer interview questions and even how you dress are important facets of your brand. If you haven’t picked up on the theme yet, consistency and coherence is key.

Your personal brand, however, just like the industry we work in, is ever evolving. We can’t expect the values that guide us to stay static throughout our lives and careers just like we can’t expect creative marketing agency practices to hold steady. Keeping up with trends, taking time to truly know yourself and regularly auditing your personal brand are all great ways to make sure it remains defined and valuable.