For aspiring content creators, developing a rich and unique personal brand can be the difference between career success and a rocky start. By having a clearly defined brand that communicates what you can bring to an audience, client, or employer, you increase your chance of getting noticed in a saturated market. But a personal brand is much more than a standout logo or a well-designed website.

According to Full Sail instructor, musician, director, and portrait photographer Mike Dunn, a personal brand is far more nuanced.

“A lot of the way that we think about branding is all these things that we want, the way we want people to think about us,” he says. “But it's really out of your control. Your brand is not defined by you, it's defined by the way other people perceive you or the way you're thought about in the industry.”

And while your personal brand – or the culmination of all you do and how it communicates – may be defined by others, Mike says there is a lot you can do to shape that perception.

“Personal branding is about doing the hard work to develop a look and a feel that is recognized as your own. So, I might work on a lot of different projects in a lot of different industries, but there is a through line between everything that I create.”

For students studying media communications at Full Sail, Project and Portfolio courses help guide them through the journey of uncovering their brands.

“In our portfolio experience, we have a scaffolded approach to personal branding. You'll get the basics introduced early on in the program, and by the end, you're looking at a 360 approach to what branding really means,” Mike says about the curriculum. “A lot of crafting your personal brand is the art of combination. It is taking those elements that you love and putting them together in a way that is new and uniquely your own.”

As students develop portfolio pieces that explore design, marketing, social media, digital cinematography, and more, they define their brands through the lens of their work while preparing themselves for careers in content creation. Once they define their personal brand, students create supporting assets including digital portfolios, resumes, demo reels, logos, and websites.

If you’re wondering if developing a personal brand is worth the effort, the instructor’s advice is simple.

“From an artist's perspective, you're supposed to create what you want to see, not what other people are creating. So when we talk about personal branding, we're looking at a unique approach to your style and your artistic approach. So why is that important to have your own personal brand? It's important because when other people are going to hire you for your work, you're going to want to get hired for the work that you want to do.”