Understand clearly what brand is and what brand isn’t.
Brand isn’t your logo (although your logo is an expression of your brand). Brand is what you mean.

Decide what exactly you are trying to achieve
Unless you have clarity of ambition you can’t have clarity of brand.

Turn personal ambition into personal brand strategy
Once you know what you ‘want’, work out and write down what you need to achieve in order to obtain it.

Establish your personal brand values (the things you won’t compromise)
The best brands in the world are built on distinctive but very solid values, sometimes just one value. Volvo for example is built entirely on the value of ‘safety’.

Put your personal brand in context
Creating a personal brand is at least in part dependent on understanding the context of other people’s brands. You won’t win by being exactly like everybody else.

Choose your enemies
Often the most effective way to develop a distinctive personal brand is to identify those people to whom you don’t want to appeal.

Use your imagination
Brilliant brands use metaphor, imagination and even myth to engage our human spirit. It takes courage, not money, to use the power of imagination in your personal brand.

Find your brand DNA
Brands, like people themselves, are unique: or at least they should be if they want to succeed. Work out what’s really DISTINCTIVE, COMPELLING, AUTHENTIC and RELEVANT about your personal brand.

Understand brand ‘positioning’ and create your unique place to stand
Positioning (your special place in the hearts and minds of your ‘audience’) is relative. Think about what position you want to adopt relative to others.

Create the narrative
Story is king! You need to create the authentic, meaningful and compelling story of your brand which will be irresistible to your audience.

Bring your personal brand to life
Not just your logo or your website, but the way you dress, the way you talk on the phone, the speed at which you answer emails, all tell a story about your personal brand.

Brand consistency: get every aspect right, all the time
Nothing fails more loudly than a brand that is inconsistent: promising one thing and delivering another.

Build your personal brand tribe
Treat your early supporters well and keep them informed and engaged. They will be the first members of your ‘tribe’ and will champion your cause to others.

Know what to do when your brand gets things wrong
Every brand lets down its customers now and again. The important thing is how you respond.

Do not limit your ambitions
Faint heart doesn’t make great brands. Be bolder than you feel.

Review constantly
Brand ‘nurture’ never stops. Never be afraid to develop and change, and never be stingy about investing in your personal brand.