Leadership Lab: 5 Steps for Building Your Personal Brand

Welcome to Leadership Lab, a column dedicated to biopharma executives aiming to enhance their leadership skills and advance their careers. Every other month, Michael Pietrack, the practice lead for Kaye/Bassman’s pharma and biotech recruiting team and host of “The Pharmaverse Podcast,” shares a valuable leadership insight. 

In this column, we’ll discuss what a personal brand is, the top three reasons you should build one and the five steps to follow in establishing a personal brand.

In today’s competitive landscape, building a personal brand is becoming more of a priority for biopharma executives. But what exactly does a personal brand entail, and how can you build yours?

When your colleagues and people in your professional network hear or see your name, the words, images and feelings that come to mind are all because of your personal brand. It’s the impression people have of your unique qualities, values and expertise. They’ve come to this conclusion by working with you, seeing you online or hearing about you from others.

There are three main reasons you should develop a personal brand. Before explaining them, I want to make sure that you see the difference between a personal brand and self-promotion. A personal brand focuses on you as a whole person and all the things you represent, whereas self-promotion tends to only focus on highlighting your achievements.

Here are the three main reasons to build your personal brand.

1. Enhancing your credibility and thought leadership: By establishing a personal brand that includes your expertise, you can enhance your credibility in the eyes of a variety of stakeholders. This will increase their level of trust in selecting you for a range of opportunities. For instance, a well-developed personal brand could avail you to speaking engagements, media appearances, podcast spots, publication opportunities and more. These opportunities snowball, and your credibility and thought leadership will grow and grow.
2. Attracting career opportunities: One goal of a solid personal brand is to gain top-of-mind awareness with others. That way, when people in your professional network consider potential candidates for a role, they’ll think about you first. Also, the best talent will be drawn to working with you because your brand aligns with theirs. Notice, these opportunities are coming to you. The better you do at creating a personal brand, the more magnetic you become, attracting a variety of opportunities.
3. Inspiring investor confidence: Some people, like investors, might be outside your network and thus not seeing all your personal branding in real time. But when they do connect with you, what will they see? Will your personal branding efforts inspire trust and confidence from investors? Will they want to invest in projects you’re associated with? If you have a well-thought-out personal brand, you’ll garner confidence from the investment community. Some executives have such a powerful personal brand that when they announce they’re forming or joining a company, the company’s stock goes up because people associate them with success.

Are you convinced about the value of a personal brand? If so, you may be wondering how you should go about building one.

Developing a personal brand is not an overnight process and doesn’t happen by accident, so I’ve outlined five steps to help you build yours.

1. Develop a brand strategy. Pinpoint exactly what you want your brand to be. Define what sets you apart from others in your field. Identify your core values, strengths and passions. Then, craft a personal brand statement that succinctly communicates who you are, what you do and why it matters. Part of your brand strategy would be to determine the goals and objectives that you want to achieve. Without these goals, you’ll have no way of determining if your strategy is successful.
2. Create a communication plan. Once you have a strategy, you have to communicate it to a specific audience. Start by evaluating your online presence, and either create or expand your profiles on relevant social media platforms. Then, determine the frequency, cadence and content that you want to share on those platforms. The content should vary and could include industry insights, thought leadership articles and personal experiences. Also, be prepared to engage with other people’s content that aligns with yours. By doing so, you’ll be seen by their network as well.
3. Increase your audience. Just like any marketing effort, reach is important. The way you get more eyes on your content is by increasing your audience, so grow your network by inviting people to connect. Once they’re a first-line connection, they’ll see more of your content, which will sear your personal brand into their minds. Be strategic about who makes up your audience. Connecting with people who have similar interests, passions and pursuits will help your brand grow within a relevant community. Also, build relationships with other thought leaders and influencers in the same space, and join professional associations where your target audience congregates.
4. Have deeper engagement. Posting and commenting on social media is a good first step, but to really develop a valuable personal brand, you must have deeper engagements that add value to the desired target audience. For instance, attending and participating in industry conferences and other networking events will help you solidify your brand. Speaking engagements and writing articles are also value-adds for the community. The more you focus on bringing value to others, the more your personal branding efforts will work.
5. Be consistent. Developing a personal brand is playing the long game. Many people start with great zeal, but then their consistency starts to slip. Usually, the reason someone struggles to stay consistent, or altogether stops, is because they’re not getting an immediate return on their investment of time. If you’re not seeing results, evaluate your brand strategy and communication plan, and adjust one or both if needed. In the game of developing a personal brand, those who are consistent, strategic and committed to the long game win.

By following these steps, you’ll not only carve out a distinct identity but also position yourself as a thought leader in the biopharma industry. Remember, your personal brand is a dynamic, evolving asset that requires continuous nurturing and authenticity. So, take charge, stay true to your values and let your unique voice shine.

Interested in seeing more of Michael’s executive leadership insights? Follow him on LinkedIn and check out “The Pharmaverse Podcast.”