Personal Branding: What’s in a name?

Are you using your name consistently? As simple as this may sound, I find people using their names, both their “real” names and businesses names inconsistently fairly often. Sometimes the name you use does actually change. This is often the case when your marital status changes.

Your name is a big part of your personal branding. Pick one and stick with it, then use it consistently. If you are James A. Smith, then always be James A. Smith. Not Jimmy Smith,  James Andrew Smith or Jim A. Smith.

3 TIPS FOR USING YOUR NAME:

• Pick one name and stick with it 
• Always use it in the same exact manner 
• Have others use your name in this same exact manner

Let me give you a recent example. A young woman came in for career coaching and we were going over her LinkedIn profile. She was using both her full first name and full middle name in the headline area. For example: Sarah Alexandria Jones. Throughout profile she was Sarah, until we hit the recommendations where she somehow changed to Alexandria.

When we looked  at her contact information, I found she was using an email address that was totally different than any of her names: riaj1981@gmail.com. Who’s Ria? And what’s 1981? We assume it’s your birth year and that’s not information you want to volunteer.

Sarah was aware of these naming issues and had NOT addressed them. She told me that when she gives her email address that people have a hard time getting it because it is different than her actual name.
With a little investigation, it was fairly easy to locate the place in LinkedIn where you request a “revised recommendation.” Sarah will simply ask the two people who are using her middle name to revise it to her first name.

Sarah had not realized that using different names could be detrimental to her progress.

Take a few moments and look at your names with “new eyes” and see if there are any issues that need to be cleaned up.  It’s well worth the effort.