What is Personal Branding? It is a personal marketing strategy that involves establishing an expectation or impression in the mind of others, about yourself as an individual. The goal is to create consistent and expected behaviours so that each person that interacts with you knows exactly what to expect.
With a brand you always know what you get. You can say the name of a good brand and know exactly what they stand for, what they represent and what you will get if you work with them.
Think about these popular brands:
I’m willing to bet you recognize all these brands, and know exactly what you get from those companies, and their product.
Think of yourself as your own brand. Your brand should reflect your personal values, character and integrity, and work ethic and it should communicate to anyone viewing your media profiles what your priorities are and what you stand for.
Visit our Athlete Page to check out some information and download-able worksheets we have available that will help you identify, communicate and manage your brand.
Once you have figured out what you want your personal brand to stand for, there are a few steps that you should be taking regularly in order to communicate this brand successfully to those in your network.
Here are 5 really important tools you need to master in order to successfully communicate your personal brand.
Social Media
Audit your social media accounts and verifying your public brand. Download this FREE checklist that will walk you through the steps to make sure you are successfully communicating your brand.
Athlete Profile
Creating an online athletic profile page is one of the most important tools you have to maximize your exposure to coaches. An online athletic profile is basically a webpage highlighting your athletic and academic achievement. It gives you the ability to promote yourself, show coaches how serious you are about playing college sports and the passion you would bring to their programs. It also provides details of your academic record and standardized test scores, and references. Try out one of the free athlete profile options available online, or if you are tech savy, create your own website!
Create a Killer Highlight Video
Your highlight video Is a great opportunity to show coaches your amazing skills on the field, your general athleticism, let them know a little bit about who you are, and share some of your goals and aspirations. Use this video as a chance to demonstrate your character, work ethic and communicate some of your leadership ability.
What should your video should include?
An Monologue Portion: This is important because it helps the coach see you, put a face with the name they see in your emails, and get to know you a little bit. This should just be you in front of the camera sharing information such as
- Your name,
- Sport,
- High School,
- Year of Graduation,
- GPA, academic awards or test scores,
- Athletic Highlights (stats, times, awards etc)
- Important qualities you bring to a program.
Your Best Sport Highlights: These should be short clips of your very best moments from both game film and individual training sessions. The highlights do not need to be in chronological order, rather put your very best moments at the beginning to catch the coaches eye and invite them to watch to the end. They should show your skill, technique, form or special skills.
TIP: If you choose to film your own highlight video, choose a filming angle that shows a good portion of your field. Coaches want to see your overall game play which means you on AND off the ball. Don’t zoom in too close. Also, for each clip you show with the ball, show a few seconds before and after as well…how did you get the ball, and what did you do after you got rid of it? If you don’t have the time or ability to create your own video, check out the video services we offer through Access Sport.
As an international student it is hard to really get across your personality and character when you are limited to email and telephone and rarely get a chance to attend as many camps and tournaments as some of the local athletes can. For this reason, Access Sport also offers a mini documentary video option in which we collect quotes from teachers or coaches, and also ask you interview questions to really get a sense of who you are, how you work and what assets you will bring to the university program. This type of video is so powerful when done correctly, and our video tech is a Vancouver Film School grad so he really knows what he’s doing!
TIP: Youtube is a powerful tool for communicating your video. Make sure you include your name, sport and graduating year in the title. Also compose an informative caption for your video upload, use hashtags to help target your audience and filter your video in searches things like #classof2017 #collegerecruit #ncaa #cis #recruitingvideo By using Youtube, coaches will be able to search for you, and the video is also easily integrated into your athlete resume, social media and other websites.
A Solid Communication Strategy
You are not doing all this work to create your personal brand, a killer online athletic profile and recruiting video to somehow be found by a coach searching the web, or identifying you at a tournament with hundreds of other athletes. You must have a communication strategy that includes email, telephone and in person opportunities for you to get to know the coaches you are targeting. Your email strategy and your online athletic profile go hand and hand, one is not successful without the other. Pro Members…you can find everything you need to know about creating a communication strategy within your activity centre.
Actions Speak Louder than Words
Make sure you are walking the walk not just talking the talk. Make smart decisions, don’t put yourself into situations where there could be pictures posted, or comments made that would reflect poorly on your brand. Consider your brand when making difficult decisions, choosing how you spend your time and outlining your goals.
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