A personal brand means more than skills. It shows your competence, especially the unique qualities you can bring to a job or offer as a service. This personal brand is important today more than ever as the world becomes more sensitive to image.
A personal brand takes time to build. It is so solid that you cannot break or fake it. A look at your portfolio and a few minutes working together will give a hint of the value of your personal brand. Building a brand is a deliberate and conscious effort. You must know what to carry along and what to leave behind.
Why Personal Branding is Important?
Before delving into the details of how to build a brand, let’s look at why it is important to brand yourself. Why should you pause and reflect on your personal brand and what does it mean for your professional career?
It says a lot about you why
Why do you wake up at the time you do? Why did you take a particular course? Why apply for a job? The why in all these cases define your passion, value system, and beliefs. It is what drives you to take particular actions each day.
You reflect these values when you interact with other people and deliver to their expectations. As you work with people, they can see honesty, positivity, creativity, and dependability, among other characteristics. This is the definition of why you are what you are.
Helps you to relate with people
People treat you as you are. If you are competent, they will see you as the most competent of them all. They will consult you and assign responsibilities. It happens because your brand demands such treatment. Notice the excitement experienced in some places when a famous person walks in or is talking. People see the brand and know how to treat him.
Take you to your goals
Do you want to be a CEO? Brand yourself as one. The same happens to rich people, leaders, and the famous personalities in the society. If you want to see the CEO, for example, you must dress like you have come to see one. The brand will point at where you want to go, and help you to get there.
Put you in charge of your destiny
A personal brand is a matter of choices. You choose who you want to be as a professional or leader. You do not become by chance. You make deliberate steps by choosing a profession, creating the right networks, and taking bold steps. It is the drive that will get you wherever you want to go.
Strengthen your visual image
Branding is all about perception. How do people see you? What do people see in you to cause them to act in a particular way, give you a job, or assign a responsibility? They must first believe that you can before they assign the responsibility.
Branding is so important for entrepreneurs and professionals. It determines how you relate with clients, associates, and partners. It will shape your destiny to a great extent.
How To Build a Strong Personal Brand
How do you build a strong personal brand in 2021? Here are expert tips:
Tip #1. Figure yourself out
Who are you and what do you want to offer to the world? The world is looking for very unique qualities. Imitating other people will not do you any good. Find a passion, chase it, refine it, and offer it to the world.
A trail of your past achievements can help you to discover yourself. What do you find easy and natural to do? It sometimes happens that you inspire confidence naturally. People congratulate you or turn to you as their sole source of help. Identify that one trait and run with it.
For a professional, you need to specialize in a particular area to become a brand. It explains why, for instance, talk show hosts move from one television station to the other and continue shining using the same tag. They have figured out their area of prowess and are exploiting every bit of it.
Tip #2. Make it about trust and value
The relationships you build and services you offer must be based on trust. Can people turn to you when they want help with digital marketing, social media management, political strategy, business ideas, and such other assistance? Would they trust your insights to help them make the right decisions?
Trust is especially important when dealing with skills. A professional will only get a job and the accompanying responsibilities if the boss is confident of his skills. Imagine that everyone you are meeting wants you to remain with his or her child. Can they trust you enough?
People take time to discover the value you are offering. If you satisfy their thirst for value, they will stay with your brand. In case they discover that you are not offering much value, they leave for another person.
Value is a solid proposal. It means competence and the honesty to admit what you are offering. The value must also rise with time. Always give your best, especially promising only what you can deliver. It is a way of building trust and maintaining long term relationships.
Tip #3. Define your mission- creator, curator, or connector
Creators, curators, and connectors have a place in life. A creator is the originator of ideas. People turn to you because they will get original content and the initiating support. You can build an institution from scratch until it is able to stand. Such people are responsible for establishing departments, building companies, and reviving dying entities.
A curator interacts by sharing information. You are constantly looking for new ideas, apps, software, approach to processes, and such resources. The company will depend on you when it is out of ideas. They know that you can get them out of a hole through more efficient processes.
A connector goes a notch higher by connecting people. You can take a person or a brand beyond its current position. You know the best financiers, professionals, marketers, and associates. A company in need of partnership will turn to you.
Whether you are a creator, curator, or connector, you must prove your worth by building trust and offering value. Your past is a good indicator of your personality trait. Enhance it and identify where you will be more useful for a company.
Tip #4. Find a cadence and be consistent
The world runs on seasons. A consistent flow is, therefore, the secret to success. Develop a habit and stick to it. Take the example of football professionals and how they celebrate. They have a signature gesture they use to mark their wins. It is the same way with a personal brand.
Personal branding demands that you send a consistent message about your intentions. It is similar to producing a magazine every month or releasing a gadget each year for Smartphone producers. You give your audience something to wait upon. In fact, you generate attention around what you offer. People begin to watch your moves. Do not disappoint them by acting otherwise.
Consistency is crucial in building trust. For instance, you cannot be a top-scorer in one year and a terrible striker the other year. It explains why people take time to rise to the top, stay there for a while, then gradually drop. No one will bank on you if your performance is erratic. You will be considered a shaky brand.
Tip #5. Maintain a clear narrative across platforms
Consistent brand communication is crucial for your audience. If one part of the society knows you as a diligent person, all others must know you as such. It is disappointing to realize that a person is hollow or has a dual personality.
In the age of social media and increased media focus, a clear and consistent narrative is important. What people see on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter must be what they get in real life. News of inconsistency travels very fast. It takes away a lot of your clout. It breaks the trust that is so difficult to build. Maintain consistency by being yourself. In this way, you will never have to worry about what people think on another platform.
Tip #6. Work on your digital body language
Portray the personality you would like people to buy. Be smart and confident if you want people to treat you as such. Social media is becoming a great branding tool. A professional who needs to hire your services could first search your online presence. What will they find?
Tip #7. Have a target audience
Each person has a field of operation. For instance, a bank manager does not compete with a football player. One is corporate while the other is a celebrity. Choose an audience and know what they will require. Work on the character and skills the audience will demand. It could be good communication skills, diligence, the art of negotiation, or flamboyant. Feed your audience on what it wants.
Final Words
Personal branding requires confidence. Show people by your actions and words that you mean what you are saying. From your bold actions, they will take your work for it. They trust you with responsibilities and are ready to pay anything to have you on their side.
About the Author!
Anna is a freelance writer working for ThesisGeek research paper service. She loves sharing insights with college students to enhance their quality of life. Through the tips she shares, her hope is that the students will enjoy their college years and emerge better graduates.
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