Personal Branding for Public Speakers – Branding

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Seven Part Personal Branding Series:

1. The Importance of Branding
2. Personal Brand Building: Niche
3. Personal Brand Building: Differentiation
4. Personal Brand Building: Branding
5. Personal Brand Building: Affiliation
6. Personal Branding Case Study: Garr Reynolds
7. Personal Branding Litmus Test

When a new product is being developed, a lot of time and money is spent on branding – designing it to look just right, and creating the perfect packaging. Personal branding for the public speaker incorporates everything which contributes to your audience’s impression of you. It’s the way you and your slides look, the look and feel of the pictures you use; the language and analogies you include; and the things you talk about.

Your Slides

Giving your slides a ‘look’ is a great and simple way to give yourself a recognisable brand. It will also make your presentation design process much simpler. When you find a stylish slide design which works for you, stick with it – it will make your life easier, and contribute to your brand.

That’s not to say that all of your slides should look identical, but think about the fonts you use, the way you lay out bullet lists and statistics, and how you make text and images fit together. Do these things in a consistent way, and you will begin to develop a recognisable brand.

Your Images

Using images with a consistent ‘feel’ is more difficult than creating a presentation template, but contributes strongly to your personal brand. Anything which makes your presentations stand out in peoples’ minds has the potential to get your brand remembered and recognised.

Try to use images which all have something in common, whether they’re of the same theme, the same colour scheme, or all cartoons or drawings. There are shortcuts which you can use to make different pictures resemble each other, for example using filters or picture effects. Try using Instagram to give your pictures a consistent effect.

Your Language

Key themes and expertise will help you to stand out in peoples’ memories, but there are other things you can add to your speeches to make them more memorable.

Be personal – we all relate to, like, and more easily remember people with whom we make an emotional connection. And you can make an emotional connection even if you’re speaking to a room full of people. Put yourself in your speech – talk about your life, your family, your own experiences.

Stories are by far the best way to add some personality to a presentation, introduce ideas, explain concepts, and persuade people of your point of view. And everybody has their own, unique stock of them in their mental library.

Seven Part Personal Branding Series:

1. The Importance of Branding
2. Personal Brand Building: Niche
3. Personal Brand Building: Differentiation
4. Personal Brand Building: Branding
5. Personal Brand Building: Affiliation
6. Personal Branding Case Study: Garr Reynolds
7. Personal Branding Litmus Test