Building a brand isn’t just for companies. As this recent article from Entrepreneur.com states, you need to build your personal reputation as well.
So many names are synonymous with their brand:
- Zappo’s – Tony Hsieh
- Ford – Lee Iacocca
- Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg
- Apple – Steve Jobs
- Motorola – Guy Kawasaki
- Time2Mrkt – Dee Reinhardt (while I am not on this list yet, I am striving to practice what I preach)
When you are building your company brand and you ARE your company, you are building them simultaneously. But if you work for a company, how can you build your personal reputation without taking away from the company? If you are currently unemployed, how do you build your personal brand to promote yourself?
1. Promote thought leadership – share useful opinions and information regularly. Share your thoughts on an article that you have read. Share your views on making a “hot topic” situation better. Ensure that your opinion or expertise is sought after even if it is hyper-local instead of national or international.
2. Stand out – this may be more difficult for some than for others, but find your niche “thing”. One colleague uses bacon as his “thing”. Another colleague’s “thing” is that is all about the other person. What was your 15 (or 30, 60, 90) minutes of fame? How can you incorporate that into your introductions to people you meet?
3. Internet – At first I was going to start with social media, which is a huge driver of how people will discover your personal brand, but it is so much more. LinkedIn is a fantastic tool to develop your personal brand. Because your profile represents you and what you have done with your career, you have the ability to highlight those aspects that will help you express your expertise. Remember you need to post to be seen, and that means on all of your platforms. Blog articles, LinkedIn updates, Google+ live hangouts, webinars, your website, and all the other tools and platforms where your voice can be heard.
How have you built your personal brand?
