What is Personal Branding?

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon

This quote by Jeff Bezos perfectly encapsulates the meaning of branding, and has been quoted many times on the internet to explain it.  In this article, we will talk in details on what personal branding entails.

A brand can be anything

A brand can be anything; it is basically how you want to promote yourself, whether you want to be seen as a philanthropist such as Bill Gates, or innovative and environmental like Elon Musk. Personal branding does not mean you have to be a narcissist. Personal branding is an attempt to establish your reputation in order to have people trust in you and therefore proving that you are worthy of their partnership and trust.

There are three mediums that you need to pay attention to in personal branding. Make sure to pay close attention that you get the same result that you want on all three platforms. If there is any discrepancy, reassess your execution in the propagation of your brand. The three platforms are in real life, in the media, and on the internet.

One thing to note however is the fact that your business will always be tied to your personal branding, therefore you do not want to position yourself opposite to your company.

Attributes in a brand

There are four attributes in a person that you can apply in personal branding;

• Skills

Skills translate to what you are able to do, or at least what others think you can do. You want to promote positive skills that will contribute to your professional career. You do not want to look narcissist however, so promote yourself in a soft-selling way via online. Instead of saying that you have perfect writing skills for example, you may want to write an article on a reputable website.

• Experience

Your experience is your history. Your experience includes every project you have worked on, partner you have worked with, and company you have been in. Include the ones you want to highlight on your LinkedIn or personal website. Exclude the ones that you think is not up to your standard or may even be harmful to your career.

• Personality

Your personality dictates how your past partners view you while working with you. Be approachable, friendly, value your friendship and be loyal. No matter how brilliant a person is, if he or she is a hard-to-work-with person, he or she is just jeopardizing his or her career. Treat your friends at work differently from your friends at home. Know the difference between work and play.

• Mission and vision

Your mission and vision dictates where and how you are moving forward. Professionals want partners who have the same aim as they are. Having a mission and accomplishing it shows that you are someone who achieves and finishes what you are set to do. Mission and vision shows the progress in you.

This article is part of our lectures on personal branding.

Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash