One of my absolute favourite things about being a marketing student is that I get to finally dip my toes into the complex and beautiful world of branding.
In such a saturated digital world, it is ever-increasingly hard to stand out amongst a sea of digital profiles. That is why personal branding has become essential. Not only are you creating a profile for yourself to present to the world in order to create a lasting impression, but really, it is also an exercise in the art of story-telling.
As part of my learnings at university, I was able to give my mind to this really neat infographic by Social Media Today on the importance of personal branding online and the statistics that show just why is it so important.
Coupled with my daily/weekly podcast adventures whilst on the commute to classes or work, Gary Vee also shares the same sentiment that it is absolutely crucial to build your own brand in order for people to recognise you. He shares this in a podcast entirely dedicated to personal branding — rare for Gary since he usually delves into multiple topics within the one podcast. This just emphasises why it is so, so important.
Gary shares how he has been able to possess his industry reputation today by taking that first step, hustling, and building his brand over a span of decades. It’s no easy feat sure, but definitely worthwhile is basically what he is saying. For Gary, having a brand that people recognise is almost like a culmination of all the years of hard work he has put in — coming back to tell it’s own story.
Building an online presence is really the start of it all in today’s digital landscape. For me, after doing my readings and listening to Gary’s motivational podcasts, this has definitely been a huge wake up call. Sure, I have always wanted to build a personal brand online or create a social media presence — but real life gets in the way; or I am simply not hustling hard enough. This really puts it into perspective just how important it is to start early, because good things take time.
Signing off now to go work on those abandoned .psds that I started but never really got to finish! Catch me with a personal brand by the end of 2018!
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