Regardless of whether you are in a large, midsize or small firm or a solo practitioner, you have a brand.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/Freedigitalphotos.net
In fact, you ARE a brand. And personal branding is becoming more and more important in the second decade of the 21st century.
What your personal brand is: Your personal brand is what people think of when they think of you. It is how they would describe you to others.
What personal branding is not: It is not how you perceive yourself, but how others perceive you.
These can truly be two different ideas. It, therefore, becomes important that you control how you want others to perceive you and what you want them to know you can do.
You need to begin to answer the following questions in order to control your personal brand:
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- How are you different from others?
However, when you are contemplating these questions, you have to determine who the “you” is that want the world to see.
This will help you determine what personal brand you want to begin to develop.
Once you have answered these questions, you need to begin to market your answers to your prospective clients and referral sources – social media and blogging are two of the best methods for your personal brand to get noticed.
Please understand that personal branding requires authenticity. If you are a “jerk” in real life, you can never be the “good guy” as part of your personal brand. People will find out the difference and you will lose the credibility needed to create the trust you require for people to connect with and contact you. So, if you are jerk in real life – own it in some way in your personal brand. Think Howard Stern, for example.
Personal branding is basically marketing your personality and knowledge to others. Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust.
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