Overview
The purpose of this assignment is to consolidate your vision, purpose, values, passions, strengths, abilities, attributes, audience, and goals down to a single sentence and begin telling your brand's story. The outcome of this assignment will be your personal brand statement, branded bio, and a professional headshot.
Objective
By completing this assignment, you will be able to:
Communicate your unique promise of value in less than 10 seconds
Provide your target audience with a short bio that describes how you can help them and why they should choose you over your competition
Showcase a professional headshot that represents and strengthens your brand online.
Instructions
Step One:
Write your branded biography. Leaders at the top of every industry use a branded bio to communicate their professionalism while explaining why their target audience should work with them rather than their competition.
As an aspiring leader in your industry of choice, you too should have a branded bio. Ideally, your bio will appear on your LinkedIn profile and your digital portfolio About page. Your branded bio should be updated at least once a year or after any significant achievement.
Writer's block can be a real pain, so I recommend you craft your branded bio by first creating your personal brand profile as described in Chapter 7 of Personal Branding for Dummies. Be sure to complete each segment of the personal brand profile table even though you won't necessarily use all of the information in your bio.
Style Guide for Branded Bios
Length: 150-250 words. As you progress in your career, the branded bio will grow in size (up to 1000 words), but for now, please keep it between 150 - 250 words.
Tone: Branded bios should formally tell the story of your career journey with an emphasis on your notable achievements. While this is a formal content piece, it should still exude your personality and compliment your brand identity. Use your first name or appropriate pronoun throughout the bio. The branded bio should be written in third-person to increase professional perception.
Content: Present a well-rounded picture of yourself both as a student and individual. Avoid long explanations or specific details on any one event or accomplishment. Just the facts, please. Keep a public audience in mind when deciding on content and tone. Be sure to include all of the following elements:
Values & Passions - What is important to you. What excites you. (15%)
Notable Accomplishments - What you have done. What you do. Your brand advantage; the single most important skill your target audience
should know about you. (30%)
Fascinating Facts - Interesting statistics. (15%)
Personal Characteristics - Things that make you, YOU. Most relevant and compelling brand attributes. (5%)
Credentials - External validation. Awards, testimonials, quotes. Evidence to support your brand position. Evidence of your skills. (30%)
Super Strengths - Things you do better than anyone else on earth. Your differentiator; what makes you different in your industry. (5%)
The percentages above are indicative of the ideal proportions for each element in your branded bio.
Format: Begin with your first and last name, the degree program you are enrolled in at Full Sail University, and your expected graduation date. You can also include where you are from and (if you are a recent high school graduate) the high school you graduated from. You should also include any specific honors or awards from your time in high school.
High school accomplishments become less relevant for juniors and seniors or anyone who has been in the workforce for over a year. Transition to your Full Sail experiences by the second or third sentence. Focus first on academics and then co-curricular and interests/accomplishments. Conclude with career interests and/or future plans.
You can diverge from this format to make the branded bio more personal, but please be sure to include all the required elements under the "Content" section.
Consider these examples of branded bios for college freshmen:
Jane Doeraeme comes from St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from Westbrook High School as an AP Scholar with Distinction. At Westbrook,
Jane was the President of the Digital Arts Club and earned several awards in regional art competitions. Her artistic abilities reach far beyond just the digital scene as she is an accomplished musician and recognized audio engineer. Jane found her love for music when her dad introduced her to the violin at the tender age of seven.
At Full Sail University, Jane is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Music Business and is expected to graduate in the Fall of 2018. She is a member of Grammy U, works as a tutor for entry level math classes, and is a member of the 3300+ Climbing organization. After graduation, Jane plans to move to Los Angeles and pursue a career as a Music Supervisor for large production companies like Universal Music Group.
John Doeraeme is finishing his first year at Full Sail University where he is studying sports marketing and media. Aligned with his passion and drive, he elected to enroll in an accelerated bachelor degree program where the institution prides itself on project-based learning. After participating in a behind the scenes event at the ESPN studios, he knew at a very young age that he wanted to work in sports media. In high school, Jon played varsity football in the Fall and acted as the school's play-by-play commentator for baseball games in the Spring.
He was fascinated by the intricate operations of successfully operating a sports media outlet. From this experience, he learned the value of hard work, efficiency, and communication. In the future, he hopes to land a position as a Sports Analysts or Social Media Manager for an NFL team. Jon spends his spare time volunteering as a mentor for kids in the Play 60 program and playing flag football with friends and family.
Step Two:
Write your personal brand statement. While your branded bio reflects on your notable accomplishments, your personal brand statement is designed to describe your "ideal self"; your past, present and, most of all, your future! Your personal brand statement will act as your compass and calling card. It reminds you of your life's purpose, helps you set priorities, and increases effectiveness in communicating your brand message.
This statement should be easily understood by a teenager, memorable, and held to a single sentence. Your personal brand statement is actually less about YOU and more about IOU as it describes the promise you are making to a targeted audience. Your statement should work to manage the expectations of your target audience while explaining what makes you different from your competition. Your statement should be written in the first person.
Consider these examples:
I use my goofy personality and my belief in encouraging others through laughter to motivate production teams to work together more effectively to deliver memorable hip hop concert tours for fans.
At the intersection of sports and entertainment, I use my passion for social media to help the marketing professionals in MLS franchises engage fans in ways that humanize the team's brand.
I discover and cultivate high-achieving actors and actresses in television series by focusing on social trends, building relationships with influencers, and systematizing seasonal projects.