This has also contributed in the work place, friendships and political arena that people we relate to should be Personal Branded. Personal Branding is therefore a manner in which one builds himself or herself to attract opportunities in life. This happens even in sports, that is why teams pay Millions to players who are catogorised as the Top Players to give their teams value. But the uneasy thruth about this is that it takes those individual players to work hard in Gyms, Lifestyle and more. I have seen talented people fail to make it to mark due for being brandless.
Why is a goal by Beckham enjoyed more than a goal by any other player?
Why do we have people build temples for Amitabh Bachchan (a famous Indian filmstar) and not for any other equally successful movie star? Does the answer lie only in the talents possessed by these individuals or something beyond that? Do these personalities “brand” themselves and consciously do or refrain from doing things that affect their brand image?
A BRAND may be defined as a name to which a set of associations and benefits has become attached in the consumer's mind. This name could be that of a product, a service, a corporate entity or even an individual.
There are numerous examples of people who have become brands.
Internationally, numerous names across industry sectors and occupational profiles come to mind including Madonna, Armani, Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Richard Branson, Mother Teresa and so on. In the business arena it is a widely accepted fact that dynamic CEOs become intrinsically linked to the companies they represent. (Eg. Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca). As such it is important not only for a company to brand its offerings but also its people and its leader.
Various authors have different views on the need for personal branding.
However, all of them agree that a personal brand plays the same role as any brand does – of differentiating a product, service (or person) from others.
Steve Van, author of Get Slightly Famous, points out the following advantages of branding oneself:
• Differentiate yourself from your competition
• Position your focused message in the hearts and minds of your target customers
• Confers “top of mind” status
• Increases authority and credence of decisions
• Places you in a leadership role
• Enhances prestige
• Attracts the right people and opportunities
• Adds perceived value to what you are selling
• Earns recognition
• Associates you with a trend
• Increases earning potential
Peter Montoya however says that a personal brand does not:
• Cover up incompetence
• Make you famous
• Get you to your goals and suggests that an individual should develop a Personal Brand:
• When you feel unrecognized for accomplishments
• When others are achieving goals you set for yourself
• When you feel you have gone as far as you can conventionally
• When you want an edge over your competition.
How to create a personal brand
Creating personal brands is very much like creating any brand. We must decide the brand elements, give meaning to them, position them, communicate the meaning and manage it over time. According to marketing consultant Kristie Tamsevicius, an underlying assumption of personal branding philosophy is that each of us has unique gifts and a distinct purpose in life.
There steps to Personal Branding
Determine Who You Are
Since personal brands have a direct reflection on the person, to identify our personal brands we must ask ourselves – what do I do that makes me different (Tom Peters). We must identify our greatest strengths and most noteworthy personal traits.
Personal branding is about determining who you are at your core authentic self, rather than inventing a brand that you would like to be perceived as.
One’s personal brand emerges from the search for identity and meaning, out of which comes an awareness of personal strengths and talents.
It also involves determining ones brand elements - making conscious choices about the people to associate with, the clothes to wear, the food to eat, the place where to stay, the way of speaking in public and in private etc. It is essentially telling the world who you are through visible cues.
Determine What You Do
This involves writing down ones greatest area of professional interest or passion. This reflects the kind of work one wants to do in life. It involves asking oneself - What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value? What do I do that I am most proud of ?
Personal branding is not applying an attractive mask, it is understanding what ones values are, and learning to make these values relevant to other people. Much of developing a personal brand centers on identifying personal values.
Position Yourself
By identifying the qualities or characteristics that make a person distinctive from his competitors or colleagues, one can create a positioning for himself.
What have I done to make myself stand out? What would my colleagues or my customers say is my greatest and clearest strength?
While promoting brand You, everything than a person does or chooses not to do communicates the value and character of the brand. Everything from the way of handling phone calls, to the email messages, to the way of conducting business in a meeting is part of the larger message that is sent about a personal brand. Just like it is true for products and services, good personal brands stand apart from others and create strong favourable and unique associations. The aim of every personal brand is to be clear, distinctive, and be easily understood, and to expresses a unique, compelling benefit that people believe in.
Manage Your Brand
According to Montoya, the key to any personal branding campaign is "word of- mouth marketing." The network of friends, colleagues, clients, and customers is the most important marketing vehicle that a personal brand has got. What they say about the brand is what the market will ultimately gauge as the value of the brand.
The personal brand must establish a place of trust and relevance in the prospects minds. The more it is believed by people, the more it will spread throughout the market without pushing.
To evaluate how is brand You doing it is necessary to obtain honest, helpful feedback on the brand performance, growth and value. The next step is to work to close the gap between what the brand is today and how it wants to be perceived by others.
So to determine how far you can go you need to set yourself as a Brand that will attract people to you, that will attract funding to your ideas or projects. Remember that is how people like Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Vusi Thembekwayo, Sboniso Mtshali started. Ask yourself who are you in the Nutshell and usee the above steps to Add Value in Your Life.
For more assistance on this you can contact me here, sibusisombhl327@gmail.com and Facebook: www.facebook.com/sibusiso.mbhl or Twiter :Sibusiso83
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