What is personal branding?Like it or not, personal branding is all about reputation Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You - Tom Peters When Tom Peters said this in 1997, it was not envisaged that this truism would become the hallmark for success, both for business owners and employees, in the way that it has become in this digital century. Today your reputation and your earning capacity has become so entwined and vital that your personal brand should be given serious attention. Weak brands will not survive. Personal branding is often confused by the uninitiated as an ego trip for those that are sensitive to how their personal brand is being perceived and demonstrated by others. This can mean that individuals ignore the fact that having a strong personal brand has become all encompassing for business to be transacted. Inexperienced in the digital age, traditional marketers have not helped the cause of personal branding by suggesting to their clients that they establish a personal brand by broadcasting their brand to potential audiences without considering the impact on their reputation. In my article Building reputation and credibility for your business I advised that brand reputation is becoming the ultimate decision maker and to ignore this trend will put your business and earning capacity in peril. What does this mean for the business owner or consultant?
Everything or nothing depending on your business! If your business includes one or more of the following:
For example how you interact using social media builds your reputation. What you say and do online helps other people understand your character and intent. Their perception is their reality - and whilst you can't control what people think about you or your business you can influence how you are perceived. For example does your online activity (the window that over time shows who you really are) show you as someone that is open and transparent or does it show you as aggressive and seeking conflict? Are you egotistical and spend a lot of time talking about your stuff or do you point your audience to other experts to broaden their understanding? Are you consistent on and offline and is your reputation leveraged across social media? Rightly or wrongly individuals tend to distrust inconsistency preferring to believe the poorest account of who you are or what you do, in the absence of any other information. This means you should try to avoid being inconsistent - when people meet you digitally or otherwise. Having a photo that fairly portrays what you look like is essential if you are likely to be meeting people who will have seen your online content. First impressions really do count and if you lie about what you look like (when it's so easy to confirm the actuality) then others will wonder what else you lie about (for example, on things that they cannot check). Especially now, people will Google you (either before or after they meet you) so do ensure that your online profiles (whilst skewed to the particular nuances of the platform) are consistent with each other. I meet many people who say they do one thing and yet their online presence screams something else. Not only does this have an impact on their reputation it is a shot across the bow of their credibility. Your website helps to establish your credibility as well as your personal and company brands. It is here where you can afford to 'talk' only about 'you', 'you' being your services, thoughts etc, especially if you have been leveraging your reputation across social media. Many business owners believe that if they have a website or blog that builds their credibility then there is no need for personal branding. Effective personal branding is the marriage between reputation, credibility and trust. When people trust you, you have influence. Influence enables you to affect behaviour, whether that means they will follow you across multiple platforms and consume your content or whether they will buy your services.
Reputation and influence is explicitly linked and when people are looking to buy high valued services even from established businesses, they are seeking to find the human face of the organisation. If you run a business and are looking for referrals and advocacy, individuals will seek to know you better before they risk their own reputation in making that referral. When the person seeking the referral is the CEO, they do little to build their reputation relying solely on their credibility. Whilst that strategy can work in large companies, corporate refugees running their own businesses should realise that this strategy is harder to achieve. This is because regardless of your lack of desire to build a reputation, your potential advocates need to see one before they are ready to advocate you. Your very desire to be private may be the thing that's stopping you from getting the referrals that you want. Your personal brand is a promise to your clients... a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability - Jason Hartman Credibility will never be enough - reputation is the key. Business in the digital age requires individuals to not only demonstrate their expertise but be able to leverage their reputation across social media as well as offline. Even individuals need to develop a brand for themselves ...Whatever your area of expertise, you can take steps to make people think of YOU when they think of your field - Accelepoint Webzine When you meet a potential client or when they meet you online they will want to see consistency of message and delivery. Personal branding is not a dirty word; it is an essential tool in your business toolbox.
|
