Discover the power of a personal brand
posted 10 Jan 23
In today’s competitive job market, personal branding and sharing your values and ethics is becoming increasingly important to employers. It’s not only a way for employers to identify your expertise, knowledge and influence, it’s also a way for them to establish whether you might be the right cultural fit for their business.
In this article we’ve crafted some useful information to educate you on what a personal brand is, and how you can cultivate yours.
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What is a personal brand?
A brand is something that is no longer just for companies. Think of some of the biggest names; Coca Cola, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, etc. What do these companies have in common? They’re all instantly recognisable and the reason they’re instantly recognisable? Because of their brand.
Personal branding is doing what these top brands do, but doing it for yourself. It’s about cultivating your personal image and reputation, to make yourself instantly recognisable in everything that you do.
Why do I need a personal brand?
You don’t necessarily need a personal brand, but by cultivating yours, you’ll stand out from the crowd and show yourself to be indispensable to your company, and to other potential future employers.
Personal branding is a way of being recognised as an expert, as a go-to person in your area. For example if you work in FinTech, you may curate your personal brand around cloud technologies. What this means, in simple terms, is that you’re an expert in cloud technology for FinTech, and everyone knows this. If they have questions or queries about cloud technology, or are looking for up-to-date market information, they’ll come to you first.
Personal branding is about showing everyone who you are and what you do and then using it to promote your skills, experience and values.
How do I create my personal brand?
There are a few quick steps you can take to begin to create your personal brand:
- Be honest
To be seen as an expert, you must be an expert. It’s no good just doing a bit of Googling and pretending to be well versed in a subject. Talk about what you know – if you want people to rely on you for information, you have to know the information!
- Use integrity
One of the biggest misconceptions about creating a personal brand is that people think you need to create a persona. You don’t! The easiest way to be consistent in your brand is to be yourself. Your personal brand is in many ways your personality, values and ethics – be yourself and people will appreciate it and respond to it.
- Be consistent
Creating and growing your personal brand is about regularity and consistency. In order for people to rely on your information, you need to present it! By sharing your expert knowledge regularly, for example writing blogs and posting on social media at the same time on the same days, people know where and when to find your opinions and expertise.
“We’re seeing more and more candidates with strong, well-developed personal brands. It really can make the difference – if you have two candidates with similar knowledge and experience, but one has a strong personal brand, a large following, and great feedback from previous employers and colleagues, they’re the one who will make you sit up and take notice,” says Alex Hampson, Senior Consultant, Marketing.
Where can I learn more about personal brands?
To support your development and help you achieve your career goals in 2023, we’ve created a toolkit with hints and tips to help you stand out from the crowd.
Access your free 2023 Career goals toolkit now.
