Personal Brand

Everyone has a personal brand, but not everyone acknowledges it and manages it proactively. Some people don’t like the term “personal brand” as they feel people aren’t brands. Some people think that it is a thinly veiled term for self-promotion, publicity or image management. In fact, your personal brand is so much more. It is a way of consistently projecting a true, authentic view of you, your expertise and your promise of value to the marketplace.

The competitive environment surrounding us encourages those who wish to succeed to learn how to market themselves effectively. Whether you are applying for a job, trying to win a client, or in some cases, applying to a university, using social media to present the real you can make be difference between you getting noticed or being overlooked.

Whatever you call it, you still need to manage it!

There’s a lot of conversation about the term personal brand. My favorite personal brand is Bono (no surprise here), but Tom Brady, Madonna, J. Lo, Manny Ramirez, Britney Spears and many other celebritites all have personal brands – some good and some not so good at times.

I attended a great event last night held by Next Level Executives on personal branding. This event got me thinking that developing your reputation is nothing new – but doing so on such a global basis is what brings the overwhelming nature of personal branding to many business owners. Throughout my entire career, I have had to manage my reputation and “brand” from job to job. How many times were we told never to burn bridges because you never know when you will cross paths with that person again.

In this era of social media and our ability to effectively connect and build relationships with so many folks around the world, why do some people think that by filling out my contact form, I would ever consider outsourcing client work to them?

The way to gain visibility for your blog is to make it an ongoing marketing project. Do all the marketing basics that you would do for any activity: pick your target audience, understand what they need and how you fulfill that need, speak to them in terms they understand and provide useful, relevant information.

In the workshop I gave last week: Personal Branding: Promote Your Expertise using Social Media, we discussed the importance of being authentic and transparent when developing your personal brand. With the ease of social media, what you do exposes a little bit more of your personality each time. You no longer can put on a false face and get away with it. 

I am hosting a three hour live workshop to help independent professionals, partners in professional service firms, small business owners and entrepreneurs understand social media and how to use it to develop their personal brand. I am sharing many hours of learning with my audience, helping them bypass the learning curve and get started on their social media strategy quickly.

Works both Offline and Online

For many thinking of starting their own businesses, the fear of finding clients can paralyze them enough to sabotage their efforts. Cold calling prospects can make some of us break out in a cold sweat. One of the things that I learned early on in my business start-up days is that there are other ways to find clients.

I’ve been following a few posts that have been debating the purpose of having a resume in this world of social media. In Seth Godin’s post, “Why bother having a resume;?”, he posits:

I think if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all.