By Ashley Gillespie
Whether you’re just getting started in customer success or approaching decades in the industry it’s vital to build and speak to your personal brand.
Not only is your personal brand a valuable tool to set yourself apart from others in the industry, but it is a takeaway from your career that's representative of who you are and what you’re about. It can fuel your next career search, opportunities to do speaking engagements, or participate in thought leadership outside your full time role.
What is Your “Personal Brand?”
Your personal brand is your unique qualifications, perspectives, and skills that make you who you are. Sure, you have a resume that tells of your roles and skills but your brand is composed of your passions, focus, and really illustrates who you are, not simply what you can do.
You might be asking yourself “isn’t my resume enough?” Sure, if you’re looking to simply apply to your next role or content to stay at one opportunity for years on end, but personally I think everyone owes it to themselves to create, nurture, and evolve a personal brand. Thinking about the traditional work week model, you’re spending a minimum of 2,000 hours a year at work! Of course you get to build relationships, be challenged and acquire new skills, along with earning a paycheck during those hours. However, ensuring that you are also evolving your personal brand is an endeavor that is worthy of your time, attention, and prioritization.
How do you Get Started?
Connect with your network - Current and former colleagues, good friends, and family. Share with them that you’re working on your personal brand and hear what they have to say about you. Their feedback may surprise and inspire you!
Build your portfolio of the work you’re most proud of - Reviewing your proudest moments and successful projects will help inspire your direction and mission statement. In fact, even reviewing the projects that were most challenging can also impact your statement for the better. Nothing beats having some firm examples of your wins or challenges when engaging in an interview or strategic conversation.
Develop and evolve your mission statement - This is value pitch or mantra. Your mission statement is 2 to 3 sentences that summarize your brand, hook your audience, and encourage them to learn more.
Create consistency across your persona (in life and online) - Now that you’ve got your statement and portfolio of work guiding you, be sure to create brand consistency across your presence. Update your LinkedIn and other social profiles. Convey your brand across your daily work and live your statement.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat - Your brand and statement will continue to evolve over the years! Circle back and make updates when the time is right. Change is good and seeing the evolution in your brand and statement will showcase your maturation and growth over the years.
Ultimately, continuously evolving and updating your personal brand will empower you to answer “what do you want to be known for?” Having a personal brand consistently driving your success and decision making will provide you a personal compass and aid you in consistent decision making that allows you to achieve your goals. Not only can your personal brand connect you to the north star you’re always striving, for but it will define and differentiate you from others.
Need more help with your career in CS? The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that offers both CSM and CS Leader Certification as well as consulting and coaching. Visit our website at TheSuccessLeague.io for more information.
Ashley Gillespie - Ashley loves to lead account management and success teams; from training newbies to building processes out of chaos. Ashley is one of the founding advisors to The Success League, and serves as a regular instructor for the company's CSM Training Program. She is a Director of Customer Success at Stackla, and brings her work experiences to her articles and classes. Ashley holds a BA from the University of Colorado, lives in San Francisco, and enjoys global travel.