Face competition through personal branding

You may think that personal branding is only for celebrities, yet every one of us is a brand but the question is, is it our desired identity?

Personal branding, by definition, is by which we market ourselves. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make these celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others.

As much as product and service brands your organisation markets, face competition, you too face competition as professionals in the job market and are forced to compete to succeed.

Competitive environment

Think about what image you want to portray to your target audience and how you want to position yourself for success in the fiercely competitive environment.

Your brand is how you project yourself to the world. There is an element of choice here. You can decide on what to say or write to convey a certain image. Your projected image will influence what others think of you and how they might choose to interact with you.

External image

You may stumble upon this image accidentally or you can deliberately target a specific type of image to be perceived by your stakeholders. You also have an internal brand. This is what you think of yourself - the question is, is there a difference?

Paying attention to your external image needn't become an ego trip. Really it's just the opposite. Becoming aware of how others see you helps you identify blind spots within yourself.

You can then work on those blind spots to become more internally congruent. Have you ever thought of using this philosophy to create a demand for you, to have an edge over your competition in the job market or be recognised and admired by others for what you are?

If you have not, you have allowed others to pass judgment on you which may not be to your satisfaction. Do you hold on to conventional beliefs such as - * If you are good there will be a natural demand. * Marketing yourself is a dirty thing to do. * You can't control what other people think about you.

Define yourself

You can shape other people's perception of you, by defining your strengths, values, goals and personality and presenting yourself in a compelling, persuasive manner.

Express yourself and what you stand for to everyone you interact with - clients, colleagues, family and friends, neighbours and strangers. Do this constantly and consistently and you will create an effective, powerful and lucrative personal brand.

You can manage and control the way you're perceived by the people you deal with. Look around the world - Donald Trump, Barrack Obama and Bill Gates are a few of the successful people who used personal branding to achieve great things in life - be known and admired globally.

Discover the myth and truth about personal branding over the next six weeks when I present to you the six elements one by one, Product Quality, Packaging, Communication, Positioning, and Performance, Sustaining brand equity to build and sustain a personal brand with pragmatic perspectives on the subject to help you differentiate to win in the modern world.