In a talent war environment it is essential to create a brand for you, to focus on personal branding, in other words, create Brand You.
Personal branding is about personal differentiation, ensuring that one stands out, including in the workplace.
It is important to realise that you don’t have to be a company or celebrity to build a brand. Personal branding is about packaging oneself. It is about marketing oneself to the rest of the world, including your current employer and even future employers. It is about building brand equity for oneself.
Personal branding is the process of developing a unique label that is created around your personal name or your career. You use this label to express your skills, characteristics, experience and values.
Much thought and careful consideration needs to go into creating the brand. The process entails goal setting, writing a personal brand statement, a mission statement and a personal development plan. It is important to bear in mind that Brand You, also has to do with the way in which you dress, the things that you say and do, and the way in which you communicate, even via email.
It goes without saying that one should be authentic. The image that one projects must be the real you, warts and all. Having said this, it is important to always focus on the positive, while at the same time, accepting the need to work on the negatives, particularly, if these can potentially damage your personal brand.
Do you have a personal brand? Have you started branding it to the rest of the world?
