Personal Branding
What is personal branding?
In both our look-at-me cultural shift and evolving job market, it’s both helpful and necessary to stand out in order to help you develop and progress your career. A personal brand is for (almost) everyone. It tells others who you are and what you believe in. Creating the right personal brand will not only help you be known in your field and consistently land work but it could be the difference between “Who are you?” and “Thank you for being here” in your career.
Ready to create a “brand”? Follow the advice below for creating an engaging, unique, and inviting personal brand.
Key ingredients to personal branding
1. Have a focus
What value do you provide or what problem do you solve? The narrower and more focused your brand is, the easier it is for people to remember who you are. And when it comes time to hire a speaker or a new employee, your narrowed-down brand will be what they remember. If you’re deeply skilled in one area, your reputation alone will help you build the brand you want.
2. Be genuine and authentic
There’s an easy way to have an original personal brand—and that is to be genuine and authentic. Building a brand based on who you really are makes your messaging more consistent. This may need to start with working out who you really are and how others see you. What are your natural inclinations, skills and passions? Use these to your advantage.
3. Develop your story
Help others to understand who you are and what you believe in by developing a story. This can be a personal story or a story about your project or research. Fine tuning this and developing an “elevator pitch” will help you tell your story to new people you meet in a compelling and succinct manner.
4. Proactively manage your brand
Present your brand practively and consistently – in person, in writing, and importantly (but often neglected) on social media. Keeping a positive attitude and helping others will only help healthily grow your brand in the long run.