By Tracy O’Shaughnessy, founder, Branding & Beyond 

I’ve been helping frustrated commercial construction firms look and sound as credible online as they are offline since 1999 and it’s safe to say our industry’s seen some tough times before – but nothing quite like this.

You might think I’m here to tell you that you need to rebrand yourself and that now is the perfect time for you to change up your entire brand: overhaul everything from the logo to the messaging on your website to your marketing. 

But I’m not. 

Now is not the time to rebrand. 

Right now is the time to take stock of what is working and what is not. And focus on what you can do to help your business and your career in the long run. 

When this whole pandemic nightmare is over and the dust settles, you can circle back and evaluate if you need a rebrand, a brand refresh, or just a tweak here or there. 

LinkedIn guru Goldie Chan recently wrote: “Creating the right personal brand will not only help you be known in your field and consistently land work, but it could be the difference between “Who are you?” and “Thank you for being here” in your career.”

So, for the moment – let’s take a look at your personal brand and how it can help you connect with clients through the tough times. 

What does your current personal brand say?

In its most basic form, personal branding is essentially long-term reputation management. In many ways, personal branding is a lot like business branding, it’s a mix of reality and perception. 

A brand is the definition people hold in their minds about you or your company. It’s a collection of emotions, senses, and memories. A brand is built in two ways: by what you tell people (or they hear from others) and by what they experience themselves.

Your brand reputation is either created and managed with intention or it grows organically over time (sometimes not in the direction you want). 

• To have a brand, you need to be known.
• To be known, you need to be remembered. 
• To be remembered, you need to be memorable.
• To be memorable, you need to be visible and clear on the value you create and who you create that value for. 

Clarity sounds simple but it’s not. Clarity is subjective. What is clear to one audience is complete irrelevant gibberish to another.

To be clear, you need to know who you are talking to and what they give-a-damn about. 

To be clear, you need to know why people buy what you are selling.

To be clear, you need to get rid of jargon and be direct.

A brand, personal or business, is rooted in being known for something, in the industry or market you work. If you want to intentionally build a personal brand, you must first ask, what do I want to be known for? What would someone like that do to get that reputation? How would that person need to be in the world to maintain that reputation?  

Do you want to be top-of-mind and known for:

• your expertise in the market?
• a strong point of view and being outspoken?
• as a champion for a cause in your industry?
• your creativity and ingenuity?
• your thought leadership?
• making a difference in your community?
• delivering amazing customer service?
• being the best salesperson on the team?
• successful marketing and social media campaigns?  

This isn’t about popularity. It’s about clarity, visibility, and consistency in your market.

So, what’s the state of your current personal brand? It’s time for a little soul searching and some (possibly uncomfortable) honesty. 

The ultimate goal of personal branding is to build a reputation as a go-to authority in your field. You need to be THE authority, not just AN authority.

Being seen as an authority is how you go from being hired as a service provider to being hired as an expert, and being hired as an expert is how you go from commodity pricing to charging based on value – multiplying your price and profitability.

If you are seen as the best choice for X in X industry, and there aren’t viable replacements because of how you do what you do in a way only you do them, then you have done your job of positioning your personal or business brand successfully.

We all know the secret to loyal customers and happy colleagues is personal connection – they need to feel like we have their best interests at heart. Personal branding can promote and encourage this relationship for you. 

Here’s a quick exercise: think of one person in your company or friend group that you wish you could clone. Think of all the reasons and traits they have that you would love to have more of in the world. All those reasons boil down to one thing: that person has a great personal brand, that’s made up of delivered value in their own unique way. 

When someone gets to know you through your personal brand, you’re already a step closer to winning them over. What does that mean? Better working relationships, easier sales and ultimately, more job satisfaction.

How to improve your personal branding

When you have discovered who you need to be, it’s time to figure out what you need to do to uncover the sustainable personal brand you want 

Branding, personal or business, is not about fabricating. It is about finding what already exists and enhancing it. Deciding what you want to be known for and creating a plan that requires your A-player self to show up. 

To get clear on what you want your personal brand to be, you need to take a deep look at a few things:

• Where you are now
• Where you want to be
• The value you provide 
• What you want to be known for
• How you are going to be known for that
• What does that type of person do
• What does that type of person act like

When you know the answers, it’s time to magnify and promote those qualities for your whole industry to see. 

Promoting your personal brand

Promoting your personal brand online pretty much has one goal: to get you seen by the right people, at the right time, in the right light.

Try Googling yourself. What comes up? An impressive LinkedIn profile? An outdated company website? Drunk holiday photos on Facebook? There’s no judgment from me – we all need to let our hair down once in a while – but how we present ourselves online matters in our careers. 

Imagine a huge referral heads your way – they Google you to see what the deal is… and they’re greeted with a rant on Twitter you posted 5 years ago. Not good. 

But, if you promote your personal brand with an optimized LinkedIn page, a professional website and maybe even a guest article in a well-respected niche magazine – you’re going to make the right impression. 

Make sure you’re seen – by the right people. In our industry, trade shows are huge. The American Subcontractors Association provides plenty of opportunities to get your face in front of the industry through its annual conference, plus numerous committee activities, give you an ideal forum to become better known.

Depending on what you specialize in and the clients you want to attract, consider getting on stage and speaking. Do interviews on the radio and podcasts. Share that expert knowledge with the world you work in. 

Yes, times are tough right now – but they won’t be forever. Now’s the time to put the effort in behind the scenes and reap the benefits when the world opens up again. 

The moral of the story? Stop blending in. Stop sounding like everyone else. Be 100% you – that’s the power of personal branding in construction. 

Tracy O’Shaughnessy is the founder of Branding & Beyond and creator of The 5 Layers of Brand Alignment™. With over 25 years in branding strategy, Tracy and her team help construction companies break through the noise and stand out in a cluttered marketplace by discovering, developing and consistently marketing their brand.