Personal Branding – What is the big deal?

To be honest I am an avid fan of Personal Branding. For one I am crazy about Marketing and Branding to begin with so Personal  Branding is great in my eyes.

I am a recent graduate from the University of Oregon from the college of business with 500 other graduates. When interviewing I had to find ways to stand out and find my own personal brand.

Corporations and companies today spend billions of dollars on branding themselves.  If a company is successful in this process they can boost the bottom line significantly. Branding can give a new product or service instant credibility and value in the market. Wow I really miss my business classes and professors!

When we think of brands we think of logos, fonts, colors, symbols and sounds. But in the mind of the consumer they will develop their own ideas, values and even a persona for a given brand.

This is important to note because branding has nothing about what a company is conveying but has everything to do with how a consumer sees the brand.  For example, Toyota cars for the most part are perceived to be great for family and older men and women, but not something that young adults are interested in. Toyota came out with the Scion to attract this market and they are working to keep the brands separate.

We can apply the same techniques with Personal Branding, we can have logos and symbols but it is not needed unless you are going into the creative services industry. Personal Branding is more about our individual values, qualities, personality and vision. In today’s job market, it is becoming very important for you as your own business “YOU Incorporated,” to learn to promote and market your personal brand. To gain an advantage over the competition, you need to stand out in a crowd.

Here are some of the techniques I have used and encourage others to consider:

1.       Create a personal marketing plan What is your mission statement? What is your Passion? What do you hope to achieve in your lifetime? Come with short and long term goals and plan your timeline to reach these goals. List the strategies and action steps will you take to get there and be sure to revise as needed.

2.       Works towards the development of your  credibility Learn as much you can! I am still working on this myself but I feel it is a continuous process. You are never done learning right?

3.       Develop and present your “elevator speech”Yes this is something that was new to me and I learned from the director at the school I work at. I do think it is important for sure and very helpfully not only for you but the people you come in contact with. Visit this link for more information on elevator speeches http://www.creativekeys.net/PowerfulPresentations/article1024.html

4.       Contribute your time and talent Get out and get involve! Join Associations that are relevant to what you want to do or something you enjoy to do… Take on a leadership role!    You may or may not agree with me please feel free to respond. I think this is a very interesting subject…

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