Has it hit you that it is no longer enough to have a good education to advance in your career? Lately there has been huge commotion about personal branding. Developing your personal brand can do wonders for your career success. Everyone already has a personal brand whether you take control of it or not so why not use it wisely. Are you ready to be empowered by your brand?
Here are 9 benefits of personal branding
1. Showcase your strongest assets
Focusing on your strongest assets in personal branding allows you to underplay your weaknesses. Lets face it, everyone has weaknesses but creating a personal brand allows you showcase your strengths and downplay your weakness.
2. Comfortable in your own skin
The benefit of having a personal brand is that you do not have emulate anyone. This is about you. It is your opportunity to have pride and develop your personal qualities rather than try and be someone you are not. You do not have to have Martha Stewart’s cooking skills or Tom Cruise’s striking looks; you can simply be John the nerdy technical support guy and showcase your passion for technology.
3. Attract your targeted audience
Your personal brand will not attract everyone but it will reach and familiarize your intended audience with your brand. It will create a relationship between you and your audience that will help you land more opportunities and contracts.
4. Focus on your goals
Knowing your personal brand allows you to focus on an area of expertise and minimize distractions. Rather than waste your time on many different fields of interest, your personal brand will allow you to excel in an area that you will become known and accredited for.
5. Creates trust and connectedness with your audience
Your personal brand is an excellent medium to communicate your passion and motivation to your intended audience. It creates trust because it digs deeper than the surface creating a more personal relationship. Trust grows when an employer or client feels like they personally know you and that is why your personal attributes are just as significant in your brand as is your area of expertise.
6. Creates a consistent image
When you take the time to develop your personal brand you create a standard by which to live by. It helps you maintain a consistent image because you have a personal brand as a guideline to follow in how to portray yourself. For instance, if your personal brand is as a responsible and innovative marketing director, you know that posting a video on Facebook of you burning a Boston Bruin’s flag after a hockey game will not fit the standards of the brand you created.
7. Makes you an expert
Defining and marketing your personal brand makes you the go to person for a specific need. It makes you an expert in your area of specialization. For example Tom is an innovative and responsible marketing director. He is very diligent about maintaining his personal brand. He posts blogs every week, speaks in seminars, updates his Facebook page and always keeps his audience informed about his work. This makes Tom an expert and if you are looking for a responsible and innovative marketing director he is the person who will stand out from the crowd.
8. Makes the little things count
Personal brand allows you to make the little things in your daily life contribute to your career and personal brand. For example, that detested bingo game that you play with your grandmother on Friday evenings to make her feel happy and cared for is not a minor event. It will distinguish you as a caring person that your employer or client will appreciate. Personal brand allows you to make the most basic activities in your life count!
9. Gain visibility
Creating a personal brand allows you to market yourself and be known and distinguished from other competitors. It will give you that leverage or edge that other people in your field might not have.
Personal brand is what will get you noticed in today’s very competitive market. Managing your personal brand will not only give you visibility but also create trust and connectedness with your audience. We always love to hear your feedback. How has your personal brand contributed to your success? Even more interestingly, how has your personal brand MISMANAGEMENT impacted you and your career?