What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding to put it simply is branding YOU! After much reading on the topic of personal branding, I have discovered that it is all about defining and positioning your story.
But we then ask ourselves why do we need to build a personal brand? Well to put it bluntly “You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else” (Tyler Durden, Fight Club). A personal brand gives you the ability to stand out in a sea of similar products. It’s about marketing yourself as something different from the rest of the pack.
Personal branding is all about the differentiating factor, what makes you different from the rest? What is it that you can deliver that others can’t? I don’t know... you tell me! And remember don’t be one dimensional here... be multidimensional.
What is so important to remember about personal branding is that it is NOT about role playing... it’s about being you. Role playing will get you nowhere; you need to be true to yourself.
So what is personal branding all about? Here are a few elements:
· First things first, you need to work long and hard on your self esteem to get you going.
· Be Yourself. If you try to be like someone else then what’s the point of this at all?
· Offer value. If you can’t offer me something great then why should I consider your brand in the first place?
· Build a destination. You need to give people a way to reach you, to see you and to know what you are about. This blog is my destination so now go and create yours... and remember the more destinations you have the more exposure you will have and the easier it is for people to discover you.
· Join the conversation. Share your ideas all over the place. Write from the heart. Show people where your passions lie. Listen to people and let others listen to you. Add as much value as you can to others and they will do the same for you. Just comment all over the place... and give people a sense of who you are.
· Innovate. In a world where everyone seems to be doing the same thing, YOU need to be creative, think out the box and create something that will attract people to you and get ahead of the game. Think of creative things all the time and define the path... let others want to follow you instead of you following them.
· Be responsible. Be reliable and help others get something done. The more responsible you are the more your brand will matter.
· You are your own company. You control every aspect of your brand. You are responsible for every action you make. Look at every challenge as an opportunity and talk professionally to everyone as if they were to partner with you.
· Build and learn constantly. Read all the time and learn as much as you can from others. The more you build your personal ability the more you can offer. Remember everything you learn to keep consistent with who you are. Constantly strive to make your brand more useful and valuable to others.
· Communicate well. Learn how to blog in a way that people will read what you say. Listen to how professionals communicate and learn from them. Keep your communication to the point and others must be able to take value from what you say.
· Most importantly have a Passion for your brand.
Take a look at my Activate Your Personal Brand page for “how to” suggestions for personal branding as well as read my book review on Personovation for more guidelines on personal branding.
