Here at BIGEYE’s Florida ad agency, we spend a lot of time working with brands to help them define their voice and vision. We strategize every day, with the goal of implementing ideas and technologies that help connect brands with their audiences. But as the year begins, we think it’s important to remind our readers that there’s one brand that also takes time to cultivate and grow: your personal brand.

As we resolve to improve ourselves in 2014, it will make sense for many of us to reevaluate our personal brand: the message we put out there in the world about ourselves. Every day, through each of our interactions, we tell stories of who we are as people, and through these interactions, our audiences – everyone from family members to casual acquaintances – decide how and why they should want to work with us.

Here are a few tips to help you revamp and grow your personal brand in 2014:

1. Do a Brand Brief – For Yourself

BIGEYE consistently develops brand briefs for our clients, but did you know that you can also use this idea to help brand yourself? Doing a brand brief for yourself helps you to think critically about your own vision and mission: who you are, what you represent and what that means as part of the bigger picture.

2. Get Social

People who aren’t using social media are at a distinct disadvantage behind competitors. Social media offers an easy way to stay connected with people, and to share content that friends, business associates and acquaintances may find interesting. People who don’t feel comfortable posting personal information online can use social media in a purely professional context. Those considering taking that route might start with LinkedIn, which also allows users to connect through networking groups and by sharing interesting content.

3. Create Cohesion Across Channels

This is a simple marketing idea that also applies to individuals.[quote]People recognize brands because they recognize the brand voice and imagery, be it logos or other elements of design.[/quote] By making sure your personal letterhead matches your email signature and Twitter handle, you’re effectively branding yourself across channels in much the way a big brand like Nike or Pepsi does on a continuous basis.

4. Keep In Contact

The major reason brands send promotional emails at regular intervals is because they are extremely effective in helping them to retain customers. Therefore, sending out a monthly email newsletter with updates about various projects may help keep your personal brand in the forefront of peoples’ minds. However, if the newsletter email route doesn’t seem to work for you, try instead setting aside time each week to send out personal emails to old friends and colleagues.

5. Make Time For Others

With only so much time in the day, it can be compelling to spend more time working and less time meeting in person for lunch or coffee. However, taking the time to meet with old colleagues and acquaintances is a great way to keep up the networking mojo – and consequently, to help improve your brand.

6. Improve Your Business Mind

Investing some time and money into career improvement is a great way to help strengthen your personal brand. Taking online or in-person courses through companies like Coursera, Skillshare and General Assembly is an excellent way to help improve your personal brand.

With these personal branding tips, you can be sure that 2014 will be your best career year yet.