Skip to main content

Develop Your Personal Brand

Having a good professional reputation is an obvious key to success, but many people don't take the time to nurture it. Or they don't know how. I find it helpful to think about a reputation as a personal brand. Developing your own unique brand is considered not a luxury but an essential for future employability and success. 
The basis which guides the development of a brand, also applies to individuals as well as to products and organizations. 
To get you started on your journey of ongoing individual brand development, contemplate these three concepts, which form a similar acronym: 
Dependability
A good brand is consistent. With a good brand, there are never any unpleasant surprises. You can count on a brand to help you quickly sort through an unlimited list of options to identify "a sure thing." In the old days, there was a sales adage that went something like this: "Nobody ever got in trouble for purchasing IBM." If you aren't old enough to recall exactly what that meant, it alluded to the fact that IBM was not always the "best" or "most innovative" or "most anything" for that matter, but it was a dependable brand.
When applied to you, the question becomes: What can others -- your customers, employer, and colleagues -- depend on you for? What kind of "sure thing" are you exactly?
Whatever you decide distinguishes you in the marketplace of talent, make sure consistency is the bedrock of your brand.

Novelty
OK, so what makes you different? It's not enough to be as dependable as everyone or anyone else. Brands always have substantive identifiable differences -- perceptually if not in fact -- in the mind of the marketplace.
Being a generalist isn't a bad thing, but being a generalist without any discernible specialized skills, abilities, or talents isn't a great thing, either.
What makes you different (or better)? While weird may work for celebrities, it is seldom a desirable attribute for the world of commerce. For a difference to be valuable to the brand, it must be valuable to the customer.
Attitude
This is the most nebulous part of a brand. It is more than a combination of novelty and dependability. I call it the brand's predisposition to the world. It is about the vibe a brand puts out. It's about the demeanor and flavor and orientation.
Attitude is how the brand -- "you, inc." or "organization, inc." -- presents itself to the world. I believe that all brands have a boldness about them. Even if a brand is quiet, dependable, and safe, those attributes are expressed to the marketplace boldly and definitively.
What is your attitude? Have you considered it and identified it? Is the attitude of your brand something that draws others to it, or puts them off?
DNA. Dependability. Novelty. Attitude.
As a first step toward marketing yourself better, take some time soon to write out the DNA of your brand.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Dan Schawbel29/6/07 5:50 PM

    These are good points. How about authenticity and relevance to a particular field?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Ravlani29/6/07 9:36 PM

    Dan,

    Absolutely. Those two are few of the important things one should take care of while intending to make themselves a personal brand.
    Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous30/6/07 9:24 PM

    Great... but isn't a Personal Brand just a Reputation? If that's all we're building, then it's half-assed. We haven't then tapped into the full power or leverage of our efforts. My blog - aimed at self-employed professionals - explores the 3 differences or Powers of our Personal Brand:

    ViksMarketingBlog.com

    Great post Deepak. Thanks for adding value. Hope I helped.
    ~ Vikram

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Will Automation make human work obsolete?

Will Automation make human work obsolete? Robots now build cars and power mechanical diggers and other "dumb" jobs. What will surprise you is how quickly "mechanical minds" are making human brain labor less in demand. Still think robots can’t do your job? Automation and robotics will eventually take over most of the tasks, especially the labor expensive ones, as computing gets smarter. Talk of robots making humans obsolete is generally a topic that is still laughed off as science fiction by most, but this video could get you to rethink the future human work. It lays out a compelling case for why almost half of those currently in the work force could struggle to find work once automation takes over in the near future. Unlike "the singularity," in which artificial intelligence takes over the planet in rapid and dramatic fashion, this paints a picture, backed up by statistics and current developments, indicating that the true singularity will occur gradually,...
19 comments
Read more

How do you think & act?

At work & at home, each of us has been & again will be in communication. Our personal communication styles will dictate to a great extent our success in coordinating action & in relationships. It's unfortunate that we usually enter into communication situations without an awareness of our personal styles of communicating. We just do what comes naturally to us (but not necessarily to others.) One thing is certain every communicator anywhere continually THINKS & ACTS. This is where we begin our exploration of communication styles: how we Think & Act? In the Communication Styles , there are two thinking styles, and two acting styles, Acting Style 1: The Stimulators as you might guess, people with this acting style strive to implement new actions quickly & intuitively, without structure. On teams & in meetings, stimulators will speak up to suggest easier ways to accomplish work & will be the first to embrace new approaches to old problems. Because they ...
18 comments
Read more

A World full of VR and AR

How your futuristic life could be in a world full of VR and AR. The overnight success of Pokémon Go has left many wondering whether the smash-hit mobile game is merely another passing fad or the harbinger of something much more momentous – a widespread integration of augmented and virtual reality technologies into our daily lives. If you wonder about the ways in which these technologies are shaping the world to come, ‘Hyper-Reality’ is about to blow your mind. It’s a futuristic concept video that envisions a world where AR and VR technologies have been fully incorporated into our surroundings and daily routines. Our physical and virtual realities are becoming increasingly intertwined. Technologies such as Virtual Reality(VR), Augmented Reality(AR), wearables, and the internet of things(IOT) are pointing to a world where technology will envelop every aspect of our lives. It will be the glue between every interaction and experience, offering amazing possibilities, while also cont...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is code? Why is everyone talking about it these days?

What is code? Why is everyone talking about it these days? We know that when we enter code into a computer we get software.  And we know that software is part of the fabric of our lives - from the computers in our cars to the ATMs that spit out our money, and to the switching channels on our cable boxes, our lives are run by software. But how does all that actually happen? Not everyone knows how code actually works and why it’s so important. This video takes the confusing subject of coding and makes understandable, while offering fun exercises throughout to demonstrate each point. Whether or not you are interested in coding yourself, it’s worth learning how software and technology work, since they’re eating the world . This might be the most entertaining, thorough, and easiest way to do so. #softwareeatingtheworld   #softwaredriven   #coding    #yearnandlearn https://youtu.be/P86w6CHhmQ4
5 comments
Read more