The What, The Why & The How of Personal Branding

As a kid, I was very fascinated by television advertisements. I used to love watching them and memorizing the jingles. And I used to sing it secretly and feel happy. I wanted to be in the field of advertising when I grew up.

Little did I know that these advertisements were building a brand for the company or product. I had never heard of the term “brand” in my childhood.

During my Management course, I came to know that one of my seniors had submitted a project titled “Madhuri Dixit as a Brand” and I was so fascinated to know that someone thought a person is a brand. Until then I thought only products or services could be brands. I never realized that human beings could also be brands.

Long afterwards, not sure exactly when, I came to know that the popular newspaper Economic Times used to have a weekly supplement “Brand Equity” and I used to wait an entire week to read that.

Then, I bought a lot of advertising books to read about various world-famous brands. I still have those books and fondly open it once in a while to read the wonderful stories of how brands were built.

Today, I know that personal branding is one of the fastest growing markets and people are super crazy about brands called movie stars and sports people.

People are willing to pay up to 13.57x more for those they consider to be elite experts, compared to the average person – Hinge Marketing

Executives worldwide attribute up to 43% of company market value to their CEO’s reputation – Weber-Shandwick

You can read the full article here.

According to the reputed Forbes Magazine, “In today’s competitive and ever-changing business landscape, highly accomplished leaders must continually cultivate their personal brand to maintain their reputation, relevance and upward trajectory”.

What is personal branding?

When you were in school, there were always some kids more popular than others. Why? Because unconsciously they had created a perception about them i.e., they had a personal brand unknowingly.

When you started going to college, you put some conscious effort in attracting the opposite gender by trying to create a brand for yourself i.e. showing off some talent or creativity or dressing nicely for something unique about you which was only yours and no one could stake claim.

If you want a theoretical definition, then as per Investopedia “Personal branding is the conscious crafting of a person’s public identity, which includes their image, their story, and their position within particular communities”.

Now with YouTube and Instagram everyone is a brand.

But what is personal branding exactly?

Personal branding is:

A highlight of your expertise and strengths: What is it that makes you unique in your field?

Sharing your story:

When you share snippets of your life, such as your background, your experiences, what you are passionate about, what are your plans etc. this helps people connect with you.

Crafting a consistent image:

Maintaining a consistent image both online and offline over many years. And even if you want to change the image, doing it systematically with a reason behind this change is appreciated.

It’s important to remember that personal branding has to be intentional and not accidental. It should be an authentic reflection of who you are and should convey a benefit or a value proposition that you have to offer to whoever it is – your followers, business contacts or potential employers.

But why does one need personal branding?

A simple answer would be to stand out from the crowd. If you look around you, within your friends’ circle, colleagues, business connections, family, why are some people more popular than others?

Because they have certain personality traits that are attractive and some people put effort in honing those skills which make them an attractive brand.

Having a strong personal brand can help in multiple ways:

In personal life

Improves confidence levels

Builds a strong support system

In professional life

Helps in attracting better clients and new employment opportunities

Empowers you to have better financial status

But how to build a personal brand

What is a personal brand and why do we need a personal brand is fine but the big question is how do I build a personal brand?

While there are multiple ways multiple people build their brand and celebrities even hire branding agencies to create, cultivate and nurture their brand carefully over the years.

Everyone of us may not have the luxury of hiring an agency to build a brand but there are certain basics that we can keep in mind.

Conduct an audit of your current brand

Before jumping to craft a brand for yourself, take stock of what your current brand is.

Self-reflect and understand what your brand is. Ask friends, family, colleagues, well-wishers and mentors what they think your brand is.

May be list down your education, experience and achievements.

Evaluate the quality of your connections both personal and professional.

Most important is evaluate your emotional quotient based on your life experiences.

Now think what is the brand you want to portray and how should the world perceive you. Do your audit results measure up to what you have in mind or do you need to gain new skills and modify your habits to create a positive brand value.

Seems like an uphill task but building a brand requires systematic effort and no one can evaluate yourself best.

Define your purpose

Zero in on what should be your purpose in life around which you can then build your brand.

To define your purpose, think about:

Your values

Your goals

Your unique value proposition

Take into consideration both your personal and professional life while thinking about your purpose.

Once you identify your purpose, try to frame a sentence something like a vison statement for your life the way companies have their vision statement.

To arrive at a vision statement is not easy. But don’t lose heart. Try different variations and discuss with your mentor if you have one. But remember you should be 100% sure about it and not use some flowery words because they look good. And it should be your vision not someone’s vision that you byheart and rattle it out.

Next what should I do after identifying my purpose.

Build a narrative

While you have the vision crafted now, just having a theoretical vision is not sufficient.

You have to time and again prove with personal examples that you are living your value proposition. If you don’t live it, no one else will believe it.

To make things easy, have a set of experiences handy that you can use to justify what you mean by your purpose and how you are living it.

After you identify your purpose and craft a narrative what next?

Communicate your brand, embody your brand

Now you need to communicate your brand to the external world. How can you do this? One is through personal interactions, through your actions and via online medium.

Initially some of you especially introverts may hesitate to market yourself as it’s not your nature. Here is an article Personal Branding For Introverts – A Practical Guide

For example, if you are passionate about volunteering then you can involve yourself with a local charity even if it means refusing to go out for a movie with your friends.

Socialize your brand

While no one can represent your brand better than you, you will always need the help of your broader connections to make your brand visible and reach out faster and further.

So, who is that who can be your brand ambassador? You will have to do this subtly. You can’t just go to friends and colleagues and mentors and say, talk nice things about me in front of others. So how do you go about it?

Mentors: Ensure you take up some tasks for your mentors such as offering them a list of useful and latest articles in their field as they may not have time to do research. Implementing their advice sincerely and giving feedback about the advantages you reaped. This will ensure you are at top of their mind when any possible opportunity comes and they can put in a word for you.

Friends: Probably, you can request your friends to put in a word for you but this has to be mutual. When some opportunity arises where your friend needs help, you have to extend a helping hand without any second thoughts about what’s in it for me.

Communities: Be a part of community about your field wherein like-minded people meet up, share experiences, share best practices, share resources and help each other. If you are adding value to the community, without ever asking, the community will come together to help you.

Re-evaluate your brand

Building a personal brand is not a one-time, one-off project. You need to reassess continuously, learn new things, readjust to ensure the brand is shaping up well.

Also, take help of well-wishers and mentors to reevaluate your brand and tweak it accordingly.

Useful resources

Here are some articles that you can refer:

Why Personal Branding Is Important And How To Build Yours

Personal Branding: Why It Matters

Brand Yourself, Build Your Future: The Importance Of Personal Branding For Professional Success

Why Personal Branding Matters In Today’s Competitive Job Market

Conclusion

Personal branding is a vast ocean and just one article cannot explain everything. Branding strategies that are employed for products or services can also be tweaked and used for people and vice versa. Borrow from other branding experts and tweak it to your personality.

Also, now a days branding is happening for various niches. Say Personal Branding for Women, Personal Branding for Doctors, Personal Branding for Stay at Home Moms, Social Branding for Career Success and the list is endless.

In my upcoming blogs, I shall cover how branding can be done for people across various niches.