The Story of You: An Introduction to Personal Branding

Presenter: Catherine Carr of Secret Sauce Creative

Day of Meeting: May 14, 2012

Catherine began by telling us a little about her history (see bio information below). In short, she does “branding for clients of all sizes” and emphasizes melding brand with content.

Catherine began thinking more seriously about branding when she worked at Cranium, Inc., the Seattle company that created the highly successful Cranium board game (the company was purchased by Hasbro, Inc. in 2008). There, managers would craft and take on a trademark name for themselves (C. was “Keeper of the Flame”). The idea was that the handcrafted title would say something fundamental about you, the employee; it would reflect your personality and perhaps give a clue as to what you did. Catherine has found this concept very useful as a way to help clients think about their own personal brands.

She posed the question to us: “If you had to come up with your own title, what would it be?”
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Brands at their best incorporate inspiration, personality, and focus.

Inspiration

Along the way, she’s discovered “brand archetypes,” and gives credit to Joseph Campbell, who was one of the first to write about the patterns and rhythms that emerge as we humans tell our stories. These archetypes might be broken down into the following 12 iconic character types:

Caregiver: “What do you need?”
Jester: “Lighten up!”
Everyman: “We’re all in this together.”
Lover: “Smell, taste, touch.”
Creator: “There has to be a creative way to do this.”
Ruler: “I’ve got it under control.”
Innocent: “Let’s keep it simple.”
Sage: “Here’s how you do it.”
Explorer: “Time for adventure!”
Hero: “Help is on the way!”
Magician: “You won’t believe your eyes.”
Outlaw: “I refuse to accept that.”

She asked, “Can you find clarity/resonance around one of these?” To help answer this question, she suggests picking a category, then thinking of books or stories that reflect them, e.g., Explorer=Eat, Pray, Love; Everyman=The Help; Outlaw=The Subversive Copyeditor; Ruler=The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. When something resonates with you, explore further.

Question from member: How do you narrow it down if several seem to apply?

Answer: Try a couple on, brainstorm, and see how it feels. What do you love? Believe? What gets you excited? What am I good at? Not good at? It’s OK if you narrow it down to maybe two archetypes.

Personality

Starting points:

  • What do you love?

  • What inspires you?

  • What do you believe?

  • What is your motto?

  • What would you get a tattoo of?

Other thoughts: Think about your vision/mission. Ask your friends how they see your strengths and weaknesses. Personality traits to ponder: creative, warm, precise, witty, thoughtful, detail­oriented, nimble, authentic, sharp, playful, articulate, versatile, intellectual, inspiring, thorough, curious.

If you can really narrow down the key elements from the lists and questions above, you can begin shaping these traits into your brand identity. This identity typically includes your name, a persona, and “something bigger.”

One of the first things to solve: For your business, do you want to use your actual name, a variation of it, or something different? Humorous, whimsical, serious? More descriptive or clever/intriguing?

Ultimately, doing this work not only helps your branding—it keeps you from putting your energy in the wrong places.

Focus

Three things that make up your Brand Universe:

  • What you do best

  • What you also do

  • What you don’t do

Also important for focus are your “brand touch-points.” Usually, we don’t do all of the branding work at once­­—we chip away at it. Aspects of your brand touch-points might include your photo, business cards, logo, tagline, font, e­mail address and signature, and website. The content you create within these areas might include: your blog, LinkedIn updates, Facebook and Twitter updates, Pinterest boards, a newsletter, your stated values and manifesto. Your brand will be built over time; it’s a mosaic. It also requires “constant curation.” You don’t have to include the stuff you don’t want to do anymore. Focus on who you are now. In the end, you are the expert!

Catherine then showed us a series of brands (in the form of websites) she likes and that illustrate some of these principles; hyperlinks to these sites may be found below.

Q & A

[Slight apologies to my fellow editors: I couldn’t hear all of the questions in their complete form, and have probably missed a few.]

How do I balance who I am vs. who I aspire to be and what I aim to do?

Do the work of curating the examples you put on your website. Choose the projects that you’ve loved and want to do more of, and remove the less relevant info.

Any advice for editors just starting out or changing careers?

Picture the types of projects you want to be doing, then try telling your story with those in mind.

(Suggestions from audience included meeting with other editors, forming a group of like­-minded folks, other new grads, etc. Another comment was that if your vision stays consistent, having an evolving brand actually energizes you and your potential customers.)

What about the quandary of putting out an image that is overly serious and editor-­like vs. a more playful, engaging image?

Just make it be like you; be true to yourself.

I’m held back by trying to develop a logo. Any advice on brainstorming logos?

Not really! Possibly best to hire out. Again, start with the work you did on narrowing your personality traits and your archetype. As a designer or friend suggests things, you’ll react and the process will evolve. Don’t let it stop you from proceeding!

Other comments from audience

Writing the copy for my own website was the hardest writing I’ve ever done. What I’ve realized is that it may not be slick or fancy, but it’s very good—and it attracts people by its tone. It’s authentic, and that builds trust.

I second the suggestion about hiring others to help with things you’re not good at. You may be able to do work “on trade” with writers, designers, etc.

Utilize font foundries to find unique typefaces; they might be a good “in­-between” tool [to a full-­blown design]. Suggests myfonts.com or Emigrate; they allow you to type in your own words to see how they’d look. [Notetaker’s comment: I haven’t been successful in finding the site “Emigrate.” Perhaps I didn’t hear this correctly.]

LINKS

http://syntaxsorceress.com
www.debbiereber.com
www.obseussed.com
http:///buoyantdesign.com
www.chucksnavely.com

Speaker Contact Information

Business: Secret Sauce Creative
Website/blog: http://secretsaucecreative.com
Twitter handle: @mamatweeta

Meeting organizer/facilitator: Elizabeth Johnson, board president
Notetaker: Lisa Gordanier
Location: Hugo House