Be an influencer - 4 steps to building your personal brand

When your building your brand whether it’s a personal brand or a corporate brand there are certain steps you need to follow.

I have summarised these steps into 4 categories:

·      VISION

·      VALUES

·      MISSION

·      IMAGE

What's your Vision?

Firstly we are going to look at how to craft a vision statement and how it differs from a mission statement.

A vision statement is where you want to be in the future, whereas the mission statement is where you are right now.

A good way to look at it is as a road map.

Bill Gates had a vision statement way back in 1980’s it was:
“A computer on every desk in every home”

Ikea has a Vision statement of:
"To create a better everyday life for many people"

Whereas their mission statement is:
"Offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

And Linkedin:

Mission: "To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful."
Vision: "To create economic opportunity for every professional in the world"

As you can see the vision statements tend to be more aspirational.

When you have crafted your vision statement plaster it everywhere!

When I work with my clients I always make sure there is plenty of clear space in the photographs ( negative space) so they can include their Vision or Mission statements as text.

For example this photograph was for an architectural photographer - Simon Green.

The Value of Values...

Values are very important when building either a personal brand or a company brand.

Simply put they are your core beliefs, the things you stand for. The things that you are passionate about - your drivers.

Your personality type is key to establishing your values.

Are you quirky and funny or studious and methodical – or a combination!

The main thing though is to be authentic to your values – nobody likes a fraud!

To help assess your values it may help to answer these questions:

1. What are the things that you would class as being important in your life?
2. In an ideal world, with no financial obligations what path would you take?
3. What are the issues in the world that make you sad, angry, or happy?

Once you have identified your values keep the list at hand and start incorporating them into your daily life.

Small steps at first!

I firmly believe that a good branding photograph should clearly demonstrate your values and the values you give to your clients.

Do you feel that your photographs clearly get across your values?

Let me know in the comments.

Image - from a marketing campaign for Parsons Bakers.

Your Mission - if you choose to accept it!


"Your brand's mission statement is connected to your purpose."

So how do you define your purpose?

You have to ask yourself what is the “Why” behind your business.

Which I think is one of the hardest questions and yet the most important questions that can be asked of your business.

To help with this and to start building your data write down the following:

· Your Education
· What work Experience you have
· The things that make your job worthwhile
· The Difficulties you face
· Your Goals in 1, 3 and 10 years.

Time spent answering these questions will help you put together a mission statement,

The great think about this statement is that it can function on two different levels –

For you, it acts as a beacon, a reminder of where your business is heading. An element of accountability.

For your employers or customers, it quickly shows whether you would be a good match.

The attached photograph was a commission for Water2Business who had a mission to have the happiest customer sales team - and they did!

So ....What's your mission?

Are you happy with the way you look?

So far we have looked at the elements of a personal brand – Values, Vision and Mission.

Now we are going to talk  about your Image.

I have saved this one till last because obviously I would like to think this is my expertise!

After all, I have been a Fashion photographer for over 20 years and a lecturer in Advertising photography - making you look good and helping sell your brand!

Your image is everywhere these days, be it on your own social media or on somebody else's. It can be done knowingly or sometimes without you being aware.

This is where people will start making judgements about you – these judgements are made in a matter of seconds and are often subconscious.

The tiniest details are taken in and processed by the human brain and those initial impressions are hard to break.

One of my favourite quotes is;

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression”

This photograph shown here was taken for a stylist for an article about favourite scents. We were after cool tones and a clean look, in keeping with their brand.