The essence of personal branding

Question

Dear AFETT,

I was recently at your Suit Me Up Fundraiser on Saturday September 29, 2018 at the Cruise Ship Complex. While I was there, one of the volunteers was recommending that I should shop according to my personal brand. Can you tell me what personal branding is and how to build my personal brand as an upcoming professional?

Signed

Young Professional

Dear Young Professional,

To answer the first; simply put, personal branding is you branding or self positioning. It is positively influencing people’s perception of you and your brand. Whether we like it or not, other person’s perception becomes your business reality.

Much like fashion, many principles and ideas come back around under a different name. It is no different with personal branding. In fact, this concept was first introduced in 1937 by Napoleon Hill in his book “Think and Grow Rich”. The concept again reared itself in the '80s in the book “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Whatever we choose to call it we are probably doing it – or parts of it at least – without even being aware that you are personal branding.

The follow-on question could then be “do I need to put effort into personal branding?” The answer is yes. Just like companies expend time and money to position their products or to alert potentials buyers to the value of their products, so should we if we want to:

1. Build a reputation

2. Show that we are one to be considered as an expert in our area

3. To be uppermost in the minds of persons considering the service that we offer

4. Increase chances of growing our business

Once we agree that we should be self positioning, we must ask the question: “Am I doing it correctly?”

Some tips for effective personal branding

1. Know your target

Knowing your target helps you to hone your brand message. Research shows that what persons will accept as a message varies between industries. A good example is persons in the financial industry. They tend to dress formally. Why? If you are looking for someone to manage your money (fickle as our perceptions are), they must look the part. In other words, if they look like they have money you will more likely better trust them to manage yours.

Your target could be employers, other industry professionals or even companies looking for your area of expertise. Regardless of the composition of your target market, you need to know who and where they are, what they may be looking for and last but not least whether are likely to be the influencing perceptions within your area of expertise or industry with which you interact?

2. Be in the Know

Ensure that you spend time developing yourself so that you remain on the cutting edge. Attend development training and consistently interact with persons in your area of expertise. Being part of industry associations and conferences afford the opportunity for learning in an informal manner. Use formal training avenues whenever possible. After all you are a professional.

3. Consistency

Once you decide on your brand message, stick with it. Whatever you brand yourself to be – go getter; creative industry insider; keep with the brand. One thing that can mess up your brand is inconsistency. Stick with what you know; what you are good at and what can make you the best that you can be.

4. Create Online Content

Ten years ago this may not have been as important. Today however, this most definitely has to be part of your personal brand. This is all part of building your network and being able to share expertise. It also sends a message that you are keeping up with the trends and expanding your market reach.

You should also remember that someone is always looking on. You never know when your brand can sell or waylay you. Manage your social media. Keep your personal and business media profiles separate. Just as online content can support you, the wrong (or disrupting message) can also get you noticed for the wrong reason.

5. Be ready to expose that you are in the know

Do not forsake available opportunities in the media, networking, associations and the like. A lot of business contacts are made via these avenues. Can you write an article or speak at an event? Then do it. Sometimes you just need to get one person’s attention. Years ago, a CEO of a multinational corporation said to me “empty vessels are a real thing in business. Not because their voices are louder than yours do they necessarily know more than you do”. Speak up! Be one of the knowledgeable voices. Aim to be heard when you get the opportunity.

6. Pay attention to soft skills

Soft skills are as important in the development of your brand as a tool for training. While It is all well and good to have the intellectual capacity in being able to deliver your brand; lacking the ability to apply the correct etiquette and protocol in a global arena, could be the difference between getting a contract and not. In an increasingly global business environment it can get lost on us that because it is correct in this part of the world, application of a soft skill applies similarly elsewhere. If you are doing international business, learn about interaction protocols. It could buy you brownie points and at the least make you look international savvy.

7. Always be prepared for first contact

It is said that it takes seven seconds for value judgments to be made. I dare you to count to seven seconds; see how long it could take to lose an opportunity. Much as we would like to think that we were inviting persons to converse at an intellectual level, the first interaction is always visual. Make it count by looking and sounding the part of your Personal Brand. Remember, perception is everything.

8. Practise good (corporate) self governance

Limit opportunities for accusations of impropriety. You want to be well- known not infamous. Part of your brand should be to be uppermost in persons’ minds, but not for the wrong things.

9. If you have a signature use it

If there is something about you that signifies you and your brand, use it! This is a means of keeping you relevant and present in persons’ minds. Bear in mind that it should be enough to be memorable and not to turn persons away. This could be your look, brand items:- logo, business card, correspondence or even social media.

Next steps - start your personal brand planning

Having read tips above, spend some time on your personal brand plan. A good plan should always be your guide. It prevents you from missing things and also helps you to keep track of how well you have moved forward.

In your plan consider professional associations such as AFETT to help build your network and develop your level of professionalism as a young upcoming professional.

Grow with success,

AFETT

AFETT is a not-for-profit organization formed in 2002 with the goal of bringing together professional women and engaging in networking opportunities, professional training and business ideas. ASK AFETT is a column meant to address issues and concerns of professionals seeking advice to assist in progressing in their careers. Today's response was written by AFETT member, Jo-Anne Edwards, Personal Interaction Designer, iMage by Jo Edwards. Learn more about AFETT at www.afett.com, search for AFETT Events on Facebook, follow us @AFETTEXECS on Twitter or contact us at 343-2160. Email us your career-related questions at admin.afett@gmail.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, meant strictly as advice and guidance, based upon their experience and expertise. In no way are they meant to be legally binding upon AFETT and or its members, servants nor agents.