For a personal brand, the person is the brand. Often, people think that if they’re running a personal brand, they have to share everything in their personal life. The opposite is true though, picking five to ten categories of story and only sharing those helps stay on brand.
Brand messaging serves two purposes. The first purpose is to get the brand’s services and basic story out there. The second is to let people in so that they know about the person behind the brand. To paraphrase Zig Zigler, if people trust you, they’ll buy from you. The second purpose allows people to trust the brand.
Now, picking five to ten categories to stay on brand with can pose a challenge. Most of the time, brands tie their categories to their brand emotions (a la what they want people to feel when they see it). This works well but isn’t always personal. Another option is to include a major passion as one of the categories, while a third is to pick a struggle. Ideally, a combination of all three types of categories makes staying on message easier.
In the age of stories as an app feature, it can be tempting to overshare at the moment. However, clients do not need to see the breakdowns and nights crying in wine in order to trust. It is better for those stories to be shared after some time has passed. That space is necessary to maintain a consistent brand image.
It is vital to be both personable and stay on brand. Without a consistent image, there is difficulty in building trust. Therefore, there is difficulty selling. Picking just a few categories of stories develops a more consistent brand and builds that essential trust.