Ram Hadji — Brand Strategist
According to Forbes, personal branding has become one of the biggest self-promotion trends in recent years. I agree 100%, and it’s important that you know how to capitalize on it. Developing your own personal brand can help you get ahead in your business goals and achieve success faster than ever before, but there are some common mistakes entrepreneurs make that can derail their efforts from the start. Some of the most commonly made personal branding mistakes will be covered in this article, as well as some tips on how to avoid them so that you can develop a solid personal brand strategy of your own.
Personal Branding: Why Do It?
Not everyone knows why they should do personal branding or how to get started, but it’s one of those buzzy terms that seems to show up everywhere these days. More and more business owners and entrepreneurs are seeing value in branding themselves, whether it’s because they want to increase their visibility or grow their business. Many successful entrepreneurs have made personal branding a central part of their business strategies.
A strong personal brand can take you places. When people meet you and hear what you do, where your company is located, and so on, how do they view your credibility? Are they impressed? Did they follow up with you afterwards? If not, it might be because of a weak personal brand. This week we’re going to talk about how YOU can improve your own personal brand in three simple steps.
Three Ways to Improve Your Personal Brand: You spend time working to develop your business as a whole. Why shouldn’t you spend some time on yourself as an individual business owner or entrepreneur? There are many reasons why building and maintaining a solid personal brand should be one of your top priorities, but most importantly, building your brand will help increase opportunities for networking and relationships.
Your personal brand matters. If you want to be perceived as someone who is capable and knowledgeable, then you need to have a brand that reflects that. When people see your brand, they should automatically think that he or she knows what she’s talking about.
1. Visualize — With your personal brand in mind, create a vision board to get some ideas for how you want to appear as an entrepreneur.
2. Be Consistent — After you’ve developed your entrepreneur look and feel, look for ways to match your appearance to your message across social media channels.
3. Measure Results: After a month or two, reflect on how you are presenting yourself and see if others recognize what you’re going for! If not, go back through and adjust what needs tweaking!
Personal Branding Tactics:
Sometimes your personal brand isn’t as developed as you’d like. Don’t worry! You don’t have to stick with where you are today — that would be silly. Just because you haven’t mastered your brand doesn’t mean you can’t start taking steps in that direction today. Consider Personal Branding Tactics as a guide for how to better yourself and become the person you want to be.
Don’t Be Afraid of Your Voice (Or Your Ambitions) — A lot of people worry about their professional image. They don’t want to offend anyone, and they don’t want others to think they lack modesty. But there is nothing wrong with having a big ego or admitting that you want something; we all have aspirations. The problem lies in how we go about getting what we want. We tend to be passive when it comes to advancing our careers, which makes us look as if we don’t care all that much and prevents us from getting ahead.
Conclusion
Thinking about personal branding as a strategic and multi-dimensional construct leads to long-term success. Successful entrepreneurs are skilled at building relationships, networking, communicating, creating value for others, and branding their businesses and themselves. Think about your strengths in these areas — and strategize ways to improve in any areas you feel less confident in. Remember that building your brand is an ongoing process; even if you’re proficient in many of these areas now, it’s important to continually grow and evolve over time. By mastering how you represent yourself professionally through your business strategy as well as personally through your personal branding strategy, you can build an enduring career with long-term financial rewards.
Not all of us are born with a silver spoon in our mouth, but we can still be successful as long as we’re willing to work hard. Personal branding is one way that you can create your own success and pave your own path to get where you want to go. Whether you are an entrepreneur or simply looking to land your dream job, personal branding strategies will be of immense help to you.
