Jana gregorioWhen you think about a brand, you probably think about major companies and their advertising campaigns. However, establishing a brand is no longer just for major organizations. Having a brand is important for anything you want to sell. When dealing with your career, what you are ultimately selling is your own story, experiences and skills. Thus, you should strive to build your own personal brand to help your job search. Here are seven tips for doing this.
Identify Your Brand
Before you set out to build a personal brand, you have to identify what that brand will be. If you act without completing this step, your efforts will likely be haphazard and send the wrong message.
Begin by brainstorming how you want to be perceived in your career. What do you excel in? What skills do you pride yourself most in? What do you most enjoy doing? What personal characteristics do you have that make you stand out? Ask yourself these questions to come up with what you want to be known for.
Understand Your Audience
To build your personal brand, you have to communicate it. In order to communicate it effectively, you have to understand your audience. One of the first questions you should ask is who your audience is. Do you want to reach people in a certain industry? Recruiters? Someone at a specific company?
Once you’ve identified your audience, seek to understand it. What does your audience value? How does your message resonate with that audience? These questions will help you effectively establish and communicate your brand.
Strengthen Your Social Footprint
In today’s world, one of the ways that people establish their personal brand is through social media. Yes, you also communicate your brand through in-person interactions; however, someone’s first interaction with you will likely be virtual.
This is where you should really seek to optimize your LinkedIn profile. Sharing content that reinforces your brand is always a good strategy, as is commenting on the content of others. If you’re a good writer, you can create your own content. Those active on other platforms like Twitter and Facebook, ensure that your content and actions reinforce your brand image.
Tell Stories
Ultimately, the secret to building your brand is storytelling. People are naturally enraptured by stories. They catch our attention and move us in ways that facts, figures, and statements simply don’t.
Building your brand through storytelling can take many forms. It can include sharing your thoughts and experiences. It can also include sharing the stories of others that reinforce your brand, such as people you have helped or organizations you have succeeded with.
Consistency Is Critical
Building your personal brand means that people need to think of your brand when they think of you. The key to accomplishing this is consistency. Everything you do and say should help reinforce your brand. The more someone encounters you and a specific message together, the more likely they will associate the two.
In this sense, it’s incredibly important that your brand aligns with your own personal values. Failing to be consistent will send mixed messages. People will either fail to see your brand or, even worse, think of you as not representing it.
Look at Examples
When trying to establish a personal brand for yourself, it can be helpful to look at examples of people who have succeeded. This is not to say that you will copy others’ examples. After all, your personal brand is unique from theirs. Rather, you can look to these examples for guidance.
Maybe you follow other professionals in your field who have a strong brand. What do they do to reinforce it? You can look at how a particular celebrity or athlete cultivates their brand and get ideas from their efforts.
Help Others Tell Your Story
One of the most influential ways to grow your brand is through the words of others. For example, if you want to be known as a strong data analyst, you have to work hard in your field and produce high-quality work. If people see value in your skills and work ethic, they will tell your story to others.
The best form of PR is word of mouth. It’s free, and people often trust it more. As you begin creating a personal brand for yourself and getting that out into the public sphere, having others tell your story will start to come to fruition. Just ensure that your interactions with others facilitate your brand.
Final Thoughts
Creating a personal brand takes its root in the lessons of marketing. Ultimately, you are marketing yourself to others professionally using a common theme or values. Building a personal brand is a long-term project that you have to work on continually. However, you will see improved rewards over time. Keep at it and this strategy can pay off significantly in furthering your career.
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