Just did a mini-presentation yesterday on the topic of ‘Personal Branding’ and thought I should share some of those points here.
Personal Branding is the process of creating a brand for you and your career. The same way you would think about branding for a business – you should consider doing the same exercises for yourself.
Your brand should be:
1. Clear – clearly define what you want you have expertise in and what you want people to think of when they hear your name. For example, I am an expert in strategic marketing and helping people focus on strategies and programs that support their business. When people hear my name, I want them to think “Marketing Strategy” and how that will help them build their business.
2. Consistent – Your brand should be consistent. Meaning, once you have decided you want to promote yourself as the expert in a certain area, don’t change that area of expertise each time the next ‘new shiny thing’ comes along. Brand is reinforced in the continuous repetition of the same image and message. For example, like I previously stated, I’m an expert in strategic marketing. I do not reinforce my personal brand if I decide that I’m going to start selling Mary Kay and promoting that message in addition to my marketing expertise.
3. Strong – You need to identify what your unique value proposition is to the prospects you are trying to serve. This should be a powerful message and one that is reinforced with facts. For example, I bring to my clients over 18 years of marketing experience where I have been a key player in helping many businesses grow through strategic marketing plans that have been put in place and executed.
There are many ways to promote your personal brand. Here are just a few online/offline ideas:
Online – blogs, social networks, SEO, published papers, press releases, publication mentions
Offline – 1-on-1 relationship building, personal appearance, personality, speaking opportunities, solid and consistent 30-second commercial
You mention blogs and social networks as an avenue for personal branding. Can you expand on that some and also provide a list of some of the blogs and social networks you might suggest participating in?
Thank you
A blog is a great place to share your comments, insights, and descriptions of events or topics that are important to you – or that you just happen to have on your mind one day. Since a blog is essentially a personal Web site, it is indexed within search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. This means your expertise and opinions now have a global audience.
As far as blogs you might participate in, that goes back to the question of your expertise. You would want to actively participate in blogs that pertain to that – for purposes of personal branding. So you might want to go online and do a search on “insurance blogs” and see what comes up. Observe conversations for a while and see if you think it is worthwhile to participate in. Of course, there may be other interests you have such as snowboarding or some other hobby and by all means you can participate in those blogs as well. Just remember, all your comments are visible to the world – keep it respectable!
Social networks are formed typically by a group of people with similar interests or values. The great thing about participating in social networks is that you can “introduce” yourself to many people in an effort to expand your personal network. This provides great access to individuals that you otherwise may not have the luck to meet. These entries also get indexed by search engines and increase your visability on the Internet.
Since you are a business owner, you might consider Linked In (www.linkedin.com), Plaxo (www.plaxo.com), or create a Facebook (www.facebook.com).