Personal branding is an integral aspect of online reputation management. A powerful personal brand leads to an indelible presence online. That often includes a website and other “digital assets” like a blog, thought-leadership articles and other informative material that appropriately reflects your expertise, point of view and stature.
Many damaged reputations occur when people, businesses and organizations don’t manage the information available about them and haven’t put any general information about themselves online. When such resources aren’t established, material from public records, old articles, Facebook sites and a myriad of other sources can easily rise to the top of search engine results…and stay there. That is why personal branding is so important.
We tapped into the expertise of Sylvia de Martino, Creative & Account Director/NYC at CC:S (pictured at right), to illuminate the personal branding process used in this work. She sat down with our founder and CEO Shannon Wilkinson to share insights about the transformative effect personal branding can have on your business and online reputation.
Shannon Wilkinson: During the course of our work, some clients seek personal branding when they don’t have any reputation issues. They just recognize the need to differentiate themselves within their industry or to reinforce their credibility. What are common issues you face from the design point-of-view?
Sylvia de Martino: Creating a personal brand has a lot of moving parts, but the most important focus is to communicate integrity and credibility. A personal website, for example, is not an opportunity to boast, but to inform with humility and create trust. So, we must carefully choose typography, color and imagery to communicate a certain spirit and style—whether bold, edgy, classic, or otherwise—while making sure the design remains understated and doesn’t undermine the content.
SW: As reputation manager, our role is to create optimized, SEO-rich content that will result in a high ranking on search engines. But another of our roles is to deliver the type of image our clients seek. What is important to help you as designers fulfill a client’s goal in terms of image?
SDM: We start with discovery questions like:
Who is your audience?
How do you see yourself as viewed in your industry—and are there perceptions you wish to change? Or, if you are not yet known as a thought leader, how do you wish to be viewed?
What do you want your personal branding site to achieve?
What is the “story,” or, rather, YOUR story that you want the site to tell, in terms of a viewer’s overall net takeaway?
How do you describe your style, and are there examples of brands you admire?
Who are your competitors, and how are they branding themselves?
Are there any new audiences you wish to reach?
SW: The first step in our process is to write or expand a client’s biography so it provides an in-depth narrative of their expertise. What are the steps in the design process?
SDM: Once we identify what our clients wish to communicate, and to whom, we can design their logo—usually something very understated—and then their personal website.
Some of the elements of a website might include:
● A home page that features a biography, or content speaking to issues
● Bio page if that’s not already on the home page
● Public Speaking section
● Consulting section
● Book section
● Fundraising Org section or link
● Contact information
Supporting elements can include:
● Infographics that illustrate methodology
● Video of important speaking engagements
● Blog page
From there, the client reviews and approves our design. Once the website is live, we ensure all of their branding materials — blog and social media banners and potentially other communications materials — are consistent. We then update and refine as needed.
Pictured above: Sylvia de Martino