Why You Should Brand Yourself

Personal Branding
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Personal branding is about honing your skills, narrowing your focus, and clearly understanding what you’re passionate about. Branding is not just about you being better than your competition. It’s about getting your prospects to choose you as the only solution to their problem. Of course, you can only do that if you have an edge that nobody else has. An edge that is unique enough to be irresistible to others.

Your personal brand affects other people’s decisions about your intelligence, character and ability and determines whether the other person wants to do business with you. The way you act and present yourself has a remarkable impact on the people you meet professionally and socially. This will have a great effect on how others treat you. If your personal brand is not professional and cohesive, attractive, and attracting, you will be passed over; that is a guarantee. In order to stay in the game, to have a great influence on others, to attract more business and be more successful, it is essential that you develop a well-thought-out personal brand. Before you sell anything — your product, company or service — you must sell yourself first. This will allow you to shift the balance of power in your favor. When you brand yourself correctly, you are seen as more desirable and in demand.

Benefits of creating a strong personal brand

  • Stand out – One of the greatest benefits of your having a strong brand is that it creates a sense of individuality and “separateness” in the marketplace. In that case, your clients are able to easily differentiate your company from your competitors.

  • Make yourself known – The goal of personal branding is to be known for who you are as a person and what you stand for. Your brand is a reflection of who you are, your opinions, values, and beliefs. Those are visibly expressed by what you say and do as well as your approach to expressing yourself.

  • Control the process – The branding process allows you to take control of your identity and influence the perception that others will have about you and the services you offer.

  • Attract clients – A strong personal brand will enable you to attract clients and opportunities. You will position yourself in the mind of your marketplace as the service provider of choice,  which will enable you to dominate your market and command higher fees – work less and make more!

  • Establish yourself as an expert and become a celebrity in your area of specialty – Gain name recognition in your area of expertise where it counts the most – in your customer’s mind. Make a lasting impression and be greatly rewarded for your individuality. Trust, respect, and admiration will follow when your name and message are embossed repeatedly on the consciousness of your target market. The more visible you are to your target audience, the more likely you will be perceived as an expert . Your brand will propel you to the top in your marketplace.

Steps for branding yourself

Branding is much more than just a clever, creative logo or slogan and it’s more than just a unique color scheme. Below are the initial steps that you will want to take in order to start your successful brand image.

  • Examine the competition – One of the keys to creating a successful brand image is to separate yourself from your competition. You will need to know how consumers view your competition. You need to recognize how your competitors differentiate themselves from their competition. Also, you need to understand your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Your business will benefit from possessing this information because you will learn from their weaknesses and learn how to differentiate your company from the competition.

  • Identify your strengths – Now that you are aware of your competition’s weaknesses, you can begin to focus on your company’s strengths. Perform a target market analysis, learn from it, and use it to your advantage. This is a useful tool to enable you to confirm that your company’s strengths are, in fact, important to your target market. Once you’ve identified your strengths and which strengths are important to your customers, you can discover ways to successfully market those to the public and integrate them into your branding campaign.

  • Know your customer – Learn more about the customer. Know their purchasing habits. How often do they buy? Do they buy only during sales or promotions? Do they buy an array of products or services or just a select few? These are questions you should ask in order to market more effectively to your customers. Also, know your customers’ lifestyles, needs, mindsets, and attitudes. Knowing and working with these personality traits are also key to your marketing success.

  • Be your brand – Make sure that your company truly represents how your brand identifies with you. For example, if one of the traits your brand identifies your company with is politeness, be polite. This means that every one of your employees, from the receptionist all the way up to the CEO, needs to live your brand.

  • Develop a likable personality – One important part of branding is the image that you yourself portray. Developing a likeable personal brand is critical to success. If you want to rise to the top of your particular arena, you need to first be able to sell yourself to your potential customers. Think about it. Would you rather do business with a person who smiles and comes across as friendly or with one who snarls and ignores you? The first impression a potential customer receives is from you. Make it a good one.

  • Become a great communicator –  Research shows that communication skills are the top determinant for upward social and professional mobility.

  • Become active on social networking websites – By joining social networking websites, especially those that are popular and have a large number of members, you should be able to generate interest in your business, including the products or services that you sell. The interest that you generate mau turn into sales, which will make your social networking experience more than worth it.

Conclusion

For a minute, think of yourself as a company with one employee — you. How much time, money, and energy have you spent on developing a “personal brand” that is unique enough to sell to your market? An individual who has a well-defined personal brand has more status and a tremendous advantage over the competition in the market place. With a great personal brand, you are already half sold and thus, far above the competition. Your personal brand is one of your greatest business assets. Put as much time and effort into it as you do into branding your product.  In the end, if you can’t sell yourself, you’ll find it nearly impossible to sell your product.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a complimentary assessment of your online presence, let’s have coffee.

Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

7 Responses

  1. Suzanne Tulien says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Small Business Accelerator
    Discussion: How Do You Brand Yourself?

    hello Michael,

    I appreciate your post and would like to add another dimension to the Personal Branding point. I want to make sure that we understand that you already have a brand, the question is “are you in control of it?” Meaning, are you fully conscious, strategic and deliberate in how you’ve identified and defined who you are from the inside out, and then create the actions and behaviors that perpetuate that perception consistently?

    Most of us have an INTERNAL brand perception, and an EXTERNAL brand perception. The ultimate goal is to combine the two so they overlap through authenticity, and then and only then can you become self actualized.

    In my Personal Brand Presence Mastermind Group program, we flesh out the internal Personal brand first, then create actions and behaviors to live it fully. It is a lot of fun, and more meaningful when you start at the internal level rather than just focusing on the external ‘marketing’ perspective that may only be a facade. ;0)
    By Suzanne Tulien

  2. Sean Gallahar says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Social Media Mastery for Business Leaders
    Discussion: How Do You Brand Yourself?

    An already established brand can help, but if that brand is tarnished, it’s better to re-brand. Building a brand from the scratch will insure that consumers recognize you and identify with you.
    By Sean Gallahar

  3. Tanya Kostadinova says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Attraction Marketers
    Discussion: How Do You Brand Yourself?

    I’m developing a personal brand for few years. Now I’m spending time in three social networks. As part of a team It’s crucial for my company’s success. Especially in this digital world. People are connecting with people they know, trust and like :). Self branding takes time, a lot of efforts, testing, mistakes and experience. But in the end everything is worth it 🙂
    By Tanya Kostadinova

  4. Rex Rolf says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Manage Your Leads
    Discussion: How Do You Brand Yourself?

    Executive Career Transition, Leadership Development & Performance Enhancement Coach / Strategist: http://www.Go4Cornerstone.com

    As as an Executive Career and Leadership Coach you are spot on. Personal Branding is critical to ones success in todays world of work. I too focus a great deal on branding. Thorough overview. Thanks.
    By Rex Rolf

  5. Fanny Cheweya says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Client Relationship Management
    Discussion: How Do You Brand Yourself?

    This is where one’s culture becomes one’s downfall. In my culture, we are not supposed to “blow our own trumpet”. Yet, had I been trained to horn my skills from the onset of my career development, I would probably be successfully running my own company and providing Jon opportunities to many. In my culture, we are trained to be conservative with self praise and to let other people praise you. Conservatism is equal to humility and therefore attractive. Maggie, thank you. It’s never too late to reinvent and / or rebrand. This topic should be one of the parental guidelines and a unit in schools.
    By Fanny Cheweya

  6. Jorg Bogwardt says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Client Relationship Management
    Discussion: How Do You Brand Yourself?

    Personally I hold the values Fanny mentioned very high and have lived my professional life accordingly – and not without success. I have watched many colleagues better at (or less concerned) about blowing their own trumpet who eventually sank; their ability to “blow” was not matched by their delivery. In conclusion I’d say that you should never do what you’re not comfortable with and always try to maintain a high level of personal integrity. It does take time for people to recognise it but once they have you’ll have strong relations forever. In the end honesty and reliability will win.

    However, today is not as time rich as the past and therefore those that can help people obtain such a reputation in less time could be looking at a good business niche.
    By Jorg Bogwardt

  7. Toni Lawrence says:

    Diana Swan via Business2Community.com

    Great Article Michael,

    I particularly like your phrase’ think of yourself as a company’ – that’s so true, You are Your Own Business and the sooner you make You, Your Business’ great the more secure your career will be. We live in a world where Employment Contract Hire is becoming the norm, it is essential you build for yourself your own brand that may for a while collaborate for a term of engagement but remains strong and becomes stronger in the process before moving on. It is this brand that will attract and secure future opportunities, and ensure you have future contracts to fulfill.
    I have to add that I believe a Premium Personal Brand Website should act as the hub of your brand as this is owned and controlled by you alone.