Choreographing Your Personal Brand
Published on November 16, 2018, at 8:38 p.m.
by Ali Carden.
In dance, personal branding is everything. It is so important to know yourself and present yourself well in order to be booked at any audition. You might be familiar with the TV shows “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Dancing with the Stars” or “World of Dance.” Whether the dancers label themselves as ballet, hip-hop, ballroom or jazz dancers, they have to be noticeable in a crowd of people with similar skills. The same happens in public relations.
Whether you are trying to land your next PR job or Broadway show, these personal branding tips will help you be successful on and off the PR stage.
It’s all in the look
Whether you are designing a template for a newsletter or picking out your next audition outfit, maintaining the same style is important. As PR practitioners, we work hard to write impactful and persuasive pieces of writing, and we need them to be pleasing to the eye. If not, the reader will not want to read or the judge will not give us a look in the audition over the other dancers.
Keep your colors, fonts and images consistent among all of your published documents, such as your résumé, in order to maintain a uniform brand. This will increase how reliable and trustworthy you are, and help you stick out in a crowd by remaining unvarying and letting others know the excellent standard to expect from you.
Set yourself apart
With so many different public relations practitioners, or dancers, having similar skills, you must find a way to be unique and memorable. A post from Forbes discussing personal branding said, “Think about what makes you different and what approach you can take that’s different from others in your field. And just because it may be something simple doesn’t mean you can’t make it your own.”
Just as all the dancers auditioning for the role of Maria in “West Side Story” are given the same choreography in the audition, most people are asked similar questions in job interviews, or required to complete similar tasks every day. The difference is how you execute the job or answer the question in a new or better way.
Be authentic
The best way to build your brand is to build on what you already have — yourself! You need to be authentic and be yourself, or other people may not want to do business with you. Matt Orlic in an Entrepreneur article noted that your personal brand is important “because people like to do business with other people, not companies. Building your personal brand lends credibility and authenticity to your business, especially if that business is you.”
Dancers are their own businesses. Being authentic when performing, when carrying yourself on and off stage, as well as to other dancers, or co-workers, is often a big component that determines if you are hired. The judges are always watching.
Match online and offline
Social media is becoming more of a casting tool. Jamie Body wrote in an article, “If you can google a casting director or choreographer then they can also google you. Make sure that the talent the panel see in the audition room continues across to your social media.” Interviewers can also look at your social media before deciding to hire you. Make sure that your social media presence accurately represents you and doesn’t show anything inappropriate that you wouldn’t want your boss to see.
So, when trying to get that next job assignment or Broadway gig, just remember to maintain a strong personal brand through your look, uniqueness, authenticity and social media. With these tips correctly executed, your personal brand will help you be successful. Break a leg!
