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Build Your Personal Brand

Personal Branding
A brand is a promise. When you have a brand, it’s a promise that you make and are known for keeping to the person who you are asking or trying to influence.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Branding yourself
Branding yourself means developing your professional identity to align with your values. A personal brand statement always begins with your values. Branding Rule: “Everything counts. Everything that you do either creates and builds your brand or weakens and destroys your brand.”
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Focus and Specialize in One Area
It means you have to focus your brand on one area of achievement. You can choose to specialize either in your line of work, your product, your company or industry, the media, your community, etc.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Become a Thought Leader
... in your field. You have to be acknowledged as one of the most knowledgeable, respected, or skilled people in your field.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Your Brand, Your Personality
Your brand must be built around your personality in all its aspects, including flaws. Think about this: If you wanted people to describe you in a particular way, what would be a good way for them to describe you?
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Build a Distinct Brand
Once you’ve created your personal brand, you have to express it in a unique way. Maybe you will sign your name in a particular way or dress in a particular way.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Be Visible
When you form a brand, in a way you’re getting into show business. Be out there where people see you all the time. Your personal brand must be seen repeatedly and consistently. Very often people will hire you, buy from you, recommend you for no other reason than they’ve seen you around a lot.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Be Consistent
Your behavior in the offline world must match your public brand. One of the greatest brand claims you can get is people saying you are always the same on the outside as you are on the inside.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Be Persistent
Once you’ve established your personal brand, give it time to grow. Stick with your brand and ignore fads, trends, changes.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Build Good Will to Others
Ask yourself this:“In 3 years from now, if they’re going to do a study on me and come back with a report on the kind of person I was, my reputation, and my position in the hearts and minds of others, what words would I want them to use? Pick a word that will be your leading attribute.
How to Create & Strengthen Your Personal Brand
Do Your Research First
Commit to a niche--but choose the one you can actually win. All the big names in your industry started out by dominating a small space. What do you want to be known for? What sets you apart from other established influencers in the same space?
5 Unusual Personal Branding Tips
Weave Your Brand Into Everything You Do
For example, brand the content you're creating, whether it's great data (charts, research, infographics, visualizations, etc.), photos, memes, or cool diagrams or workflows. Think about the tone and style of your content. You need to be intentional in how you develop your personal brand. Simply blogging or showing up on social media doesn't cut it.
5 Unusual Personal Branding Tips
Go Big at Industry Conferences or Stay Home
Generally, the people who attend a large industry conference will only remember the top 2 % - 5 % of sessions. The rest will be forgotten. You need to be great. If you aren't reasonably confident that you will be among the top presentations, don't bother.
5 Unusual Personal Branding Tips
Invest in Yourself
That means you're going to have to pay for stuff. Consider: Hiring an editor to proofread your content. Hiring a speaking coach. Buying a book that will help you learn a new skill. Hiring graphic design help.
5 Unusual Personal Branding Tips
Do something remarkable first
Many uber-wealthy and successful people have built unique personal brands. But they also did, created, or said remarkable things. Most people are better off spending time doing something remarkable before building a personal brand. So don't build a personal brand if it isn't time. Do something remarkable first!
5 Unusual Personal Branding Tips
"Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand."
How to Create an Effective Career Brand - Thrive Global
Offer proof
You may excel as a project manager, marketer, scientist or astronaut but would anyone know? Sharing specific examples of some challenges you’ve faced, and what resulted from your efforts builds your credibility.
How to Create an Effective Career Brand - Thrive Global
Eliminate superlatives
Statements like “successful,” “accomplished,” and, “dedicated,” to name a few, are empty words. Don’t take up precious space or time bandying them about.
How to Create an Effective Career Brand - Thrive Global
Create content
One of the best ways to establish your brand is to write or speak about what you know. Even if you don’t have 10,000 readers, it’s an invaluable form of credibility when a potential client mentions a problem they’re having, and you can tell her, 'I just wrote a piece about that — let me send it to you' - Dorie Clark.
How to Create an Effective Career Brand - Thrive Global
Seek feedback
You may think you know yourself, but others may see you differently. A more accurate measure of your value is the perception held by others. Ask trusted members of your network for an example of when they’ve seen you at your best and the strengths they noticed you using.
How to Create an Effective Career Brand - Thrive Global
Show your personality
What sets you apart from the thousands of others in your field? Your branding is more than a collection of facts. It’s an opportunity to express your passion and own your differentiation.
How to Create an Effective Career Brand - Thrive Global
Leverage Social Media
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for personal branding. Your up-to-date profiles can tout your skills and accomplishments for you, without you so much as saying a word. Try joining LinkedIn groups or Twitter chats to participate in discussions relevant to your industry and connect with fellow professionals.
How to Build Your Personal Brand When You're an Introvert
Focus on Relationships
Don't pressure yourself into thinking that you need to be the center of attention or speak with a large audience. If you continue to build one meaningful relationship at a time with the people who actually matter to you, by setting up informal meetings or coffee dates, you'll actually end up with a stronger personal brand than those people who fly around networking events engaging in endless conversations about the weather.
How to Build Your Personal Brand When You're an Introvert
Expand Your Qualifications
Expanding your skills and expertise is a surefire way to solidify and improve your personal brand . Once you complete your extracurricular, make sure to post your new certification on your LinkedIn, your resume (if relevant) and your personal website to cash in on the branding payoff.
How to Build Your Personal Brand When You're an Introvert
Create a Plan for Networking
You're probably going to find yourself in a crowd of strangers every now and then. It can be particularly helpful for introverts to have a plan—before ever even wandering into that sea of people. Are there any specific attendees you're hoping to chat with? Think through ahead of time how you'll approach them and what you'd like to talk with them about. You can even arm yourself with a few conversation starters.
How to Build Your Personal Brand When You're an Introvert
The protagonist in your life
One very good reason to mix the personal with the professional is that if you are intentionally living a life of authenticity, then they already are linked. Learn from those who have gone before. Mixing the personal with the professional is not a branding mistake. It’s smart business.
A united front: the importance of congruence for your personal brand - Thrive Global
The personal and the professional
People don’t trust faceless corporations. They trust people. And intersecting your personal and business brands gives an invaluable human touch. Through a platform like LinkedIn, you are shown as a part of your organization (or industry) but your personal profile still stands distinct and is recognizable as your own personal brand. Twitter is another network where the personal and professional mix.
A united front: the importance of congruence for your personal brand - Thrive Global