personal brand or personal brand is, as specified in Wikipedia itself, “the mark we leave on others«. Or put another way by Jeff Bezzos himself, «your personal brand is what they say about you when you are not there«. Indeed, the personal brand is what you transmit and that influences how others value you, in this case focusing on the professional field, although it also affects the personal.
Each one of us is, in a certain way, a brand that, in the same way as a product, It must transmit who we are, our trajectory and what we contribute. This personal brand that we work on will be determinant to be recognized in one way or another in the sector in which we operate.
Personal branding in the online age
This concept of personal branding is substantially transformed with the appearance and rise of the Internet. Previously, the way to build a good personal brand and position ourselves was mainly through our closest environment: through our co-workers, our friends or our relatives.
At the moment when the Internet comes into play, it allows us to make our knowledge, experience and ideas known. in a much easier way andespecially important, to an infinitely wider audience. Anyone from their own home can specialize and position themselves as they wish as well as come into contact with people from all over the world.
Work on the personal brand
The brand must be born from oneself, from our own essence, but effectively it can be shaped, worked and focused in the way that most interests us based on the objectives and purposes that each of us have.
This involves an exercise self-knowledge and personal development which consists of, as we have initially commented, working on our brand and focusing it correctly with the aim of differentiating ourselves from the rest of the brands (users ;)) and achieve enriching and successful social and professional relationships.
Why do you need to work on your personal brand?
Working on your personal brand will help you have a better professional position. It is especially relevant in the following situations:
- Active search for employment or job opportunities as a freelancer.
- Starting your own business.
- Aspiring to improve your job position inside or outside your current company.
- Wanting to get an expert / specialist position in a specific area.
- Willingness to have influence and voice in your sector.
- Add value and share knowledge with other professionals.
Many times we start working on the personal brand when we find ourselves unemployed or looking for other professional opportunities both outside and inside the current company. Anyway, we should always work on our personal brand because regardless of being in one of those circumstances or not, it will help us to have a good position, a good rating in our sector and will allow us to share knowledge and learn with other colleagues. It is always beneficial for ourselves, to continue growing and improving as professionals.
There are professions in which personal branding is especially relevant how can it be either as well as other types journalist, politician, actress, model or businessman. Below and its ups and downs in your personal brand and your own reputation.
5 key elements when creating your personal brand
Experts in the area such as , explain that «developing a personal brand consists of identify and communicate the characteristics that make us stand out, be relevant, different and visible in a homogeneous, competitive and changing environment«. With this approach in mind, where do I start? What do I have to do to work on my personal brand?
1. Know yourself and position your brand
Do a personal knowledge exercise to decide how are you going to want to raise your personal brand. It seems like an easy part but I really consider it to be the most important and at the same time most complex part of the process. It is essential to be clear about who we are and what we are good at (and at the same time what we are less good at) and thus decide what I want to value and what I want to be associated with my personal brand.
It is key to define well what you offer and be clear about the differential element. Our environment is increasingly competitive and homogeneous, so it is essential to provide differential valuely have something different and useful compared to the rest.
Linked to this last point, we will have to decide how do we want to position ourselves. We can, for example, position ourselves as entrepreneurs, as brand ambassadors for our company, as professionals in a company, as experts in a specific area, as entrepreneurs, etc. It will be key to take this into account to properly define and position our brand, since The communication strategy and tools to be used will have to be decided based on this base that must be worked on from the beginning.
This point is closely linked to authenticity. Our personal brand, as we have said, has to start from our essence. If we force a personal brand, if it is artificial, it will not be credible and it will not be successful. It must be authentic and not based on deception or artificial facades that will eventually be discovered.
2. Defined objectives
Without defined objectives there is no possible strategy that we can develop. After having reflected on how we want our brand to be, it is time to decide what we want to do with it and what we want to achieve. And as we have already discussed several times, These objectives that we set ourselves must be set and ensure their implementation, always taking into account the acronym : Specific (specific), Measurable (measurable), Attainable (attainable), Relevant (relevant) and Timely (scheduled).
The fact of setting objectives and following a consistent and previously structured strategy, It will help us to really work on our personal brand and not work in vain making only social noise.. It is not about impressing or publishing content from time to time, it is about contributing by building your own brand that adds value.
3. Define our target audience
At this point, we already know how we want our brand to be, what strong points we want to highlight, what differentiating elements it has and what objectives we set for ourselves. Now, to fulfill them, it is necessary define our very well and focus our efforts on directing our strategy to reach that audience which is what interests us.
4. Strategy: where to work and how
With the previous points worked, and always in that same line, we must develop a action plan to achieve visibility. For this, it is necessary to decide where our personal brand is going to work and in what formats. All this must be consistent: it is just as important that the basic definition is well formulated as that the strategy and subsequent action plan are carried out along the same lines.
We can work on our personal brand in very different ways and using different formats and platforms. We are going to explain it by dividing the possible actions into three large groups:
- On a small scale (direct contact 1 to 1). It is the most traditional route and, as we mentioned initially, it has always been the case but now, with the possibilities offered by the Internet, the scope increases and the possibilities grow. It can range from having a coffee with someone close to you speaking via private message on LinkedIn with someone from another country to establish a first contact.
- On a medium scale (to a group of users). You can, for example, hold conferences at events, classes at universities or business schools, talks at civic centers or similar spaces in your city.
- On a large scale (open). Mostly internet tools are found here. Here we would include, for example, publishing articles in specialized media in your sector (you can find out how to collaborate with Marketing4eCommerce ;)), having your own website or personal blog, writing a book or using relevant media from your sector or broader such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Youtube.
Formats such as podcasts or videos that usually work very well and especially in certain sectors. Surely from these examples you can think of other actions, so we recommend you try them and see what approach you feel most comfortable with and what is most effective for you to achieve your goals.
5. Honesty, passion and perseverance
And we add three ingredients that must always remain from start to finish: honesty, passion and perseverance. To work and maintain that personal brand image that we want to convey, it is important that is raised with honesty, that is fed with a lot of passion and that is maintained with constancy so that it is not a punctual work but that it is based and persists over time, thus achieving sufficient relevance.
And the person of the year is… YOU
And to finish, what better than ending with the cover of the American Time magazine of the year 2006. Since 1927, the magazine chooses the person or people with the greatest social influence in the world, including from Bill Gates to the singer Bono. As well, in 2006, “You” were chosen as person of the year.
It was a tribute to anonymous citizens for what they contribute daily in the global information age as Internet users. You can also join in by contributing and sharing while you build your personal club, so «welcome to your world«.
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