October 11, 2023
How To
How to write a personal brand statement
You’ve likely heard the famous Will Rogers quote, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” In business and in digital marketing, your personal brand statement is often that first impression.
A personal brand statement is one to three sentences that clearly communicate your skills, value, and goals and entice people to learn more about you. Think of it as the tagline or catchphrase to market a product—except in this case, the product is you. You can use your personal brand statement as a tagline for your social media profiles, website, blog, startup, job search, and more.
Though it consists of just a few sentences, a personal brand statement can be challenging to craft. Prepare to invest some time in the writing (and re-writing) process to make your best personal brand statement sing. In this article, we’ll walk you through 6 easy steps to creating a standout personal brand statement.
Read standout personal brand statement examples to get inspired
Let’s take a look at some examples of strong personal brand statements and why they work.
Marie Forleo
Marie Forleo is a business strategist and life coach. She’s also the creator and host of MarieTV, a popular online TV show where she interviews thought leaders and entrepreneurs. Her brand statement reads like her own personal mission statement: “Hi, I’m Marie. An entrepreneur, writer, philanthropist and an unshakable optimist dedicated to helping you become the person you most want to be.”
As a coach for aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs, Forleo keeps her brand statement light and optimistic. The statement is a pitch for her business, but it’s also a pitch about who Marie is as a person.
Brian Dean
Brian Dean is an SEO expert and the founder of Backlinko, a website about SEO copywriting, content marketing, and online marketing. His brand statement reads simply: “Want higher rankings and more traffic?”
Dean’s personal brand statement is actually a question—and it’s a powerful one. In just six words, you understand that Dean is an authority on how to acquire more traffic. He knows how to do it, and he’s going to share his secrets with you.
Adam Cobb
Adam Cobb’s job title includes fitness and nutrition coach. Exercise, a healthy diet, and a spiritual awareness are at the core of his life and career. He reiterates these focuses in his personal brand statement: “Move well, eat well, think well.”
Cobb’s personal brand statement exemplifies the power of repetition to drive your point home. With three catchy phrases ending in “well,” he communicates more to his audience than three sentences could.
Andrea Perez
Andrea Perez, global vice president and general manager at Nike’s Jordan Brand, exudes confidence, authority, and expertise in the personal brand statement on her LinkedIn profile. This seasoned marketing expert knows she has much to offer as a consumer marketer and doesn’t need to be shy about it.
“I’m a modern, fearless, digitally-driven and globally savvy brand/business leader with over 15 years of experience representing two of the most exciting, influential consumer brands in the world. I live for opportunities to deliver game-changing, digital and physical global marketing programs that deepen consumer connections, accelerate revenue and drive brand growth.”
The statement above doesn’t merely exude confidence. It also backs up that confidence with impressive accomplishments from her 15 years of experience with branding and marketing strategies.
Answer three key questions about yourself
You’ve seen how others approached writing a personal brand statement—now, it’s time to identify the key nuggets of your story. Begin by answering the following three questions, which will form the foundation of your own personal brand statement.
- Who do you serve? (your target audience)
- What value do you provide them? (your expertise, skills, or the problem/pain points you solve)
- How do you do this uniquely? (your unique selling proposition or USP)
Here at Copy.ai, Chief Marketing Officer Blake Emal accepted the challenge. Blake answered the following questions like this:
- Who do you serve? As CMO of Copy.ai, I serve creators of all types, including entrepreneurs, small business owners, eCommerce shop owners, ad agency professionals, and social media managers.
- What value do you provide them? I help them write better marketing copy faster.
- How do you do this uniquely? With AI-powered creativity tools that save you time and increase conversion rates.
As you can see in the above examples, it’s important to do your critical thinking at the outset. This will help you envision your brand statement more clearly and make the overall drafting process more efficient.
Draft a rough personal brand statement
Professional copywriters know that great copywriting comes from many revisions. And in order to revise, you’ve got to have something down on paper. For now, you want to get a rough draft of your personal brand statement on the page (or your screen), so you can improve and make it even more attention-grabbing later.
To create your draft, fill in the information from the above three questions using the template “I help [target audience] do [value] by [USP].”
Here’s an example:
I help small businesses (target audience) grow their customer base (unique value) by creating memorable and entertaining video marketing campaigns (USP).
And here’s what Blake wrote:
I help creators of all kinds write better marketing copy faster with AI-powered creativity tools that save time and increase conversions.
Your three elements don’t need to be in the same order as the above example. Just make sure all three are somewhere in your statement.
Use Copy.ai to make it more distinctive, descriptive, and creative
Make your rough brand statement draft more colorful and unique by iterating on your initial statement. Copy.ai has a slew of copywriting tools to turbocharge your creativity, including a Brand Mission generator.
Just input your draft statement and hit “Create Copy.”
In less than 30 seconds, Copy.ai will deliver a bunch of intriguing ideas that would otherwise have taken hours of brainstorming. Browse the results and copy the ones you like so you can modify them later. Copy.ai has no limit to the number of times you can generate new text, so “create” away!
Keep in mind, the Brand Generator results aren’t meant to be final drafts. Instead, view the suggested text as a source of fresh ideas and phrasing that you can shape into your own.
Now it’s Blake’s turn. First, he input his draft statement into the Brand Mission generator:
After hitting “Create Copy,” these were his initial results:
In the copy examples above, Blake might find ways to make his brand statement more concise, compelling, or take a different angle altogether. And if there’s one output, in particular, he really likes, he can click “Make like this” to generate more suggestions that use similar language.
Polish your personal brand statement
Choose your favorite result—or a bunch of nuggets you like—from Copy.ai’s Brand Mission generator. You can combine and tweak, revising the phrasing until you love it. Consider each word carefully, noting the following factors as you edit:
- Does the statement highlight my strengths? Remember, the whole point is to market yourself and communicate what you do better than anyone else.
- Is it memorable? It should be catchy, pithy, and differentiate you from competitors.
- Is it concise? This is your elevator pitch. Make every word count.
- Is it honest? Your statement should be consistent with what you have to offer—otherwise, you’ll disappoint customers. Avoid veering into cliché and exaggeration.
Let’s go back to our original draft statement:
I help small businesses grow their customer base by creating memorable and entertaining video marketing campaigns.
After reviewing the three questions above, here’s how we might revise the statement:
I help small businesses make a big impact through online video. I support entrepreneurs and SMBs in all stages of development by creating entertaining, impactful video marketing campaigns that increase their customer reach and sales.
The revised version is a more effective personal brand statement. In this draft, we call out the target audience more clearly and tie the service’s value to the customers’ end goals. We also plucked a clever line from Copy.ai’s Brand Mission generator to use as our opening sentence.
Test it out
Though it may be tempting to immediately take your shiny new brand statement public, you need to test it out first. It’s not enough to just show it to your boyfriend and your mother (who will no doubt say they love it). Share your personal brand statement with colleagues, friends, and (ideally) some folks within your target market.
Create a test group of 8 to 10 people who will give you an honest opinion. Email or text the statement to them individually (or bcc) so they won’t be influenced by each other’s comments. Keep in mind that the larger the group, the more of a consensus you’ll get. You’ll get a clearer idea as to what’s working, what’s unclear, and how to further tweak your personal brand statement.
What if you don’t have any contacts within your target audience? No sweat. Get the word out on social media, especially to connections on LinkedIn. Let followers know what qualities you’re looking for in the people who review your statement for a representative sampling of your target audience to provide some quick feedback. Likely, some of your direct connections will have a friend, relative, or colleague who is willing to participate in your “mini” market research study.
Your personal brand statement isn’t carved in stone
Your personal brand statement will likely evolve along with you. We recommend reviewing it every six months or so to make sure it’s still the best reflection of your personal brand. And for job seekers looking to use a personal brand statement for job interviews or networking events, make sure you review it more frequently. You may need to adjust your statement depending on the potential employers or recruiters you speak with.
And remember, Copy.ai can help you spruce up your writing in seconds. Use our AI-powered creativity tools to quickly generate personal brand statement revisions—or website descriptions, social media posts, product descriptions, and so much more. Get started with AI writing today!
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