What makes you or your business different and stand out from your competitors or colleagues is what sets you or your company apart.
YOUR BRAND—IS YOU and what makes your career or company EXCEPTIONAL & UNIQUE.
Whether you are a professional in the corporate world wanting to take your career to the next level, an entrepreneur looking for a competitive edge or a senior professional wanting to get on boards, your personal and business brand need to create an image or persona that sets you apart in the mind of your peers, employers, employees, groups or organizations.
Even if you have a fabulously successful business, having a brand keeps you current and creates a lasting impression. Your brand helps sell yourself; it is one of your best marketing tools you have. Especially in the digital age, where everything about you is visible for the world to read. It’s better that you create your voice, build your credibility and visibility than for others to “brand you.”
Where do you start?
The first Step is to determine what your goals and objectives are? Who do you want to reach, who is your audience, your target market.
The next step is to assess your online digital footprint. Where you do you appear online. Is your LinkedIn profile aligned with your goals and objectives? What about other social networks, like Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. Does it match your values, tell your story your way?
Going a step further in the process could mean assessing how your peers see you, your teammates, employees, employers. Is it aligned with the image you want to portray? What steps might you take to revise your brand narrative? If you’re changing careers or taking on a new challenge that might seem incongruous to your present-day self, what are the steps you need to take to revise the narrative?
From there, you can more clearly define the value you bring to your career, product, service, organization or group.
I was working with an employment lawyer who wanted to stand out from a crowded marketplace. He had already carved out a niche by working only on behalf of individuals- the employee- not employers. Many employment lawyers work for both sides. He didn’t want to be compromised. As we were putting together a website, and a strategic marketing plan, his brand and values came together, An Advocate for Doing the Right Thing; his blog and social media reflected his concern for the inadequacies of the law when dealing with employment law issues and the employee. His values were front and center. Clients could see whose side and passion he was clearly on. All of this was carefully planned and thought-out after assessing the marketplace, his values, audience, goals, and objectives.
There are of course steps in between, but by creating a personal brand that will also translate well in his professional life, we were able to map out a successful marketing strategy and way forward that now acts as a guidepost in all his work. And what makes his practice different and stand-out.
That’s why building a personal brand, whether in business or a professional in a company is important. Because who you are, should reflect you and your uniqueness in every way and everywhere.
