Andrew Wayman

Over the past few months I have been thinking a lot about the concept of personal branding and what it means to my over all career. Each and every one of us is a brand and personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others.

A Brand is a promise that links a product or a service to a consumer through a mental association that gets stirred up when the consumer interacts with various brand touchpoints. A brand is the perception of a product, service, experience or organization by the consumer, and can either be positive or negative.

As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make corporate brands appeal to others and we can build brand equity just like them. So with that in mind I have started a journey to treat my personal brand as if I were trying to build a company brand.

1. What do you want your brand to be?

“The Brand Called You signature story in Fast Company in 1997 argued that we should imagine ourselves as brands and manage our professional lives accordingly. That idea is every bit as relevant now as it was then. The difference, as author Tom Peters points out, is that in good times, the Brand Called You was a luxury. Now as companies continue to discard employees like used Kleenex, you have no choice but to actively market your personal brand.” /John A Byrne Editor Fast Company

As a brand, you need to discover what you are passionate about. Without that mental drive, you lose focus and become lethargic; therefore you stop your current activity and jump to the next. When branding yourself remember that you must create a strong and consistent brand (Don’t skimp just because it’s about you). Strong brands are clear about who they are and what they are not; which is why branding yourself can be an easy process - You already know who you are and what you are not.

The key to successfully branding yourself and doing it effectively is to first establish a personal brand identity. Once you have done that focus that message on who you are and what you stand for within your chosen field. Your final step is to get the word out through a variety of media channels that are viewed by the people most likely to be interested in your message.

As people begin to see your name and become aware of the benefit and knowledge that you offer, before you know it thousands of people will not only know who you are but they will begin to seek out your services and expertise. They will identify with your brand which is YOU.

Before you start a blog, a business or proceed in your career, you need to take time to find out more about yourself. You will waste a considerable amount of time second guessing yourself later if you don’t invest now.

2. Creating your brand

Now that you know what you want to do and have a niche in mind, it’s time to get it on paper and online. The following are tools that can help you get started:

1. Start by creating or updating your Resume/cover letter/references document: This is a great place to start, since social media has allowed us to reverse the recruiting process. Instead of just submitting our resume, it can become the basis of an online billboard that can be shared, distributed to hiring managers, searched and more.
2. LinkedIn profile: Your professional profile on this social network is extremely important because it takes into account everything a recruiter would desire from an applicant: cover letter, references list and resume.
3. Portfolio: Having a killer online portfolio is obviously invaluable to freelancers (show the quality of your work and get potential clients excited about what you can do for them), but it can also be the corner stone of a great personal brand. A great portfolio will sell you and your abilities–you just have to get people to see it. Here is a list of ” 8 Amazing Free Online Creative Portfolio Community Sites - Share and Inspire”.
4. Blog/website: You need to own yourname.com or a website that aligns with your name in some fashion. Depending on who you are, how much time you have on your hands and if you can accept criticism, you should either start a blog or stick with a static homepage. Those who blog will have a stronger asset than those who don’t because blogs rank higher in search engines and lend more to your expertise and interest areas over time.
5. Facebook profile: Over 160 million people have profiles, but almost none of them have branded themselves properly using this medium. Be sure to include your work experience and remember that those party pictures make up part of your “online footprint”.
6. Twitter profile: Your Twitter profile should have an avatar that is carved out of your Facebook picture and used in your LinkedIn profile. You need to use a distinct background, fill out your profile and include a link to either your blog or LinkedIn profile. Twitterbacks.com, developed by internet mogul Jim Kukral, has templates you can use to sculpt your very own Twitter background (Photoshop skills not included).
7. Email address: Don’t overlook your email address as not being a significant part of your toolkit. Most people use email over all social networks and when you connect with someone on a social network, you are notified via email, so get used to it. Your email address poses a great opportunity for your brand.
8. Business card 2.0: It doesn’t matter if you’re a college student, CEO, or a consultant, everyone should have their contact information readily available to share. You never know which chance opportunity will change your career, you need to be ready for it. You can create and share business card through your mobile phone using mydropcard.com or rmbrme.com, or the web, BusinessCard2.com is a great social network for creating and distributing your person business card.

Now What?

After you have put in all of this effort, it’s time to showcase it to the world, especially your target audience. Don’t be fooled by the myth that if you build it, they will come. Unless you’re the luckiest person on earth, you’ll have to actually communicate everything you’ve created to others. I recommend reaching out to several people in your network who you trust (if they are in your target audience that is even better) to review your “Brand” to see how well you are communicating your brand message. As I go through this process and learn more about my Brand and personal branding in general I will be cataloging and sharing everything I find. Feel free to add any recommendations in the comments.

What’s Your Experience?

Do you actively work on Brand image? What else have you found that it helps you to find new business or to build your own name recognition? -Andrew Wayman

Sources:

• Tom Peters - The Brand Called You
• Dan Schawbel - http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/
• Quintessential Careers - http://www.quintcareers.com/branding_self-marketing.html
• Steve Pavlina - http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/02/personal-branding/
• Chris Brogan - Chris Brogan’s free ebook on personal branding/

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 7:27 pm and is filed under Personal Branding, Social. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.