Personal Branding 101: What Is the Point of a Personal Brand?

We live surrounded by brands; there is no avoiding it. From our breakfast cereal to our shampoo to the publishers of the book you read at night, it’s all companies and brands. Some brands are iconic, forever seared into the public consciousness. Think Apple, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and Microsoft. Other brands are more obscure but with cult-like followings. Brand identity is a whole phenomenon, with some companies employing entire teams to cultivate and protect the brand identity. The fact that you can bring to mind all the brands that we just mentioned is a testament to the power of branding.

But what exactly is a personal brand? If you’re studying a Master of Business Administration online, and will soon be looking for work, you may want to invest in cultivating your brand. This helpful article will discuss personal branding, and you’ll learn what the point of a personal brand is. Continue reading to learn more.

 

What is a Personal Brand?

 

Just like the massive corporations we mentioned in the introduction, your personal brand reflects your professional identity. It is also your commitment to a company and its customers or clients.

For instance, Apple has branded itself as an innovative tech brand, with high-quality products and a complete ecosystem if you buy their phone, tablet and computers. Your personal brand works very similarly to corporate branding. It’s your image, but it’s also more than that. It’s your story – your backstory and your story today. Furthermore, it’s your position within the industry that tells your audience about your values, beliefs and work ethic.

 

Who is Your Audience?

 

All brands need an audience – a target market. The people they want to reach and cement their existence within their minds. Your personal brand is no different. However, your audience is your customers, the people you need to impress, make a positive impression on and sway to your side.

When you embark on your career, your first audience is the company or corporation you want to hire you. You build your brand by the impression you make on recruiters or hiring managers. Your CV, cover letter, LinkedIn profile and job applications are the tools that convey your brand.

Once you’re hired, your audience shifts, as you’ve impressed who you need to land the job.

When you commence a job, the importance of building and maintaining your personal brand ramps up. Your audience is now your colleagues at work, the people you work closely with, management and other teams. If you’re in a client or customer-facing role, you also have the people buying the product or service you’re selling as your target audience.

 

What Qualities to Cultivate

 

When thinking about building your personal brand, you should sit down and think about the qualities you want your brand to convey. These are your personal skills, abilities, values, and work ethic. Getting out a notepad and pen could be worth getting out or using a computer to make a list of these. You want to consider what people think about you when you work with them. Consider what compliments they’d give you if you weren’t in the room with them.

Some examples of qualities you may want to cultivate could include:

• Accountability
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Open-mindedness
• Strong work ethic
• Proactive
• Team player
• Ability to work autonomously 
• Organised
• Excellent time management
• Tech-savvy
• If in a technical role, technical ability and knowledge. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list. However, it should serve as a great starting point for you to begin to consider what skills, qualities and personal attributes your personal brand will speak to.

 

Map Stakeholders

 

Once you’ve commenced in a role, and you’re developing your personal brand, it could be useful to map out the various stakeholders that are involved in your work. This helps with a few things. One – it defines your target audience well. Two – it allows you to consider how to convey the above qualities and skills and to whom. And three – it will make your job easier, as you’ll be able to identify who you are working with and where they stand in relation to your personal brand.

The best way to do this is with a mapping tool like Miro, but pen and paper will work fine in a pinch. Put yourself at the centre, then connect each stakeholder to you with a line. It might look like your immediate team, your boss, their boss, customers, clients, other teams you work with, and other stakeholders, either internal or external.

Once you’ve developed your map, sit and ponder how you can make the best impression on each stakeholder, keeping in mind the development of your personal brand that you’ve been working towards.

 

Be Authentic

 

Finally, there is no substitute for authenticity when it comes to personal brand development. Your true self, hopefully one that is friendly and approachable, is key when selling yourself to others. Be yourself, and the rest should hopefully follow. As long as you’re open, friendly, warm and approachable, people should warm to you, giving you the opportunity to begin to make that positive impression that your personal brand conveys.

 

In Summary

 

This helpful and informative article has shared personal branding 101: what a personal brand is, how you can cultivate one, the qualities you might want to include in it the stakeholders at work, and where your personal brand matters most.