Wednesday 4 May 2011

Your Personal Brand




First of all, it may amaze you to know that every human on planet earth is involved in a personal branding activity, knowingly or unknowingly. In our walk, talk, appearance and even in our direct or indirect association with events and circumstances, we constantly create a label that people will always remember us for. Personal branding is the (conscious or unconscious) art of marketing yourself to the world; it is an identity associated with your name that can prove to be an asset or a liability, depending on what your personal brand is. It can be associated with a person’s character, skill or talent.
To begin with, a personal brand can be a plus or a minus; an asset or a liability, depending on what the brand is. A personal brand is a plus or an asset, if it secures you business opportunities or gets you favors with your colleagues, employers or even loved ones. This is in fact the concept behind “human” networking. It is simply getting to know people in your area of interest in order to position yourself to receive favors from group members when the need arises and depending on their strengths and abilities.One’s personal brand in a group becomes very necessary if for instance, a team leader vacancy arises for a company; personal brands associated with members of the team will determine which individuals will be considered for such a position. And obviously it’s most likely for management to choose someone whose brand suggests that they can handle leadership responsibility, even if it means they’re going outside the team to find a leader for it.  Management will not elect someone who has no initiative or ability to handle the responsibilities of a team leader. So people naturally will only create opportunities for people they can trust and entrust with responsibility.On the other hand, someone’s personal brand can also be a liability for them. In say a situation where people generally cannot associate one’s brand with trust, faith or even ability, they may never be given any responsibility of essence. In a more detailed example; if an employee’s brand is associated with sloppy work, and it so happens that (for purposes of cutting down operating costs) a company decides to lay off some of its workers then the person who is known to be most unproductive is most likely the first to be sent packing. Why….? -Because his brand has become a liability.
Personal branding defines who you are and the same one’s character. Then also, character is the opinion you help create in people’s mind about yourself. Character is what you say, do and even fail to do habitually. Character is essentially a sum total of who you are. In other words, Personal Branding is the reputation you create for yourself and what you portray to people to be true about you. If a person spends his time doing good works, then pretty soon people will associate his or her name with good works, and the person is branded as good. If on there other hand a person is involved with bad activity then he or she becomes branded as bad. Mother Theresa is a good example of how one can build one’s personal brand through deeds. She is often described to have had a strong and independent character .The nun of Loreto Convent was certainly not the only missionary in Calcutta, but she, as a result of unusual dedication to helping the poorest in society, managed to win support from the Catholic church to begin her own religious venture outside the walls of the convent. What’s more, she continues to win the hearts of men and women all around the world. And as far as charity and helps are concerned, her impact will always be felt on many different levels. -Thanks to a well natured reputation. Like wise, when someone becomes addicted to alcohol, it doesn’t take long for people to refer to this person as being alcoholic, and even worse a drug addict if he or she tends to abuse un-prescribed drugs. One’s character is very important if one’s trying to build a personal brand for one’s self. Just like they say, you are what you do and not just what you say.
Personal branding again is what is associated with your name. Many of us have heard and perhaps even followed certain musical, football and fashion brands on twitter and other social media. These icons made a name for themselves through their talents, skills and natural abilities. It’s all about using your gifting to solve societal needs such as: the need for clothing, for entertainment, the need for companionship and so forth. Well, taking Maradonna for instance, most people identify this name with football talent, and as such Diego Amando Maradonna definitely needs no introduction wherever he may go. His name creates opportunities for him to do what so ever he may legally want to do. So what ever you’re good at, or what talent you have, or even what you’ve mastered skill in, you can surely be recognized in your field without being part of a general mass of people. Brands associated with talents or natural abilities are just as good as brands associated with skills. You can use them to your advantage in a big world that needs specialists to solve human problems. But remember that what ever you may do, you are creating a brand for your self. The brand will be created inline with what society needs as well as with what society dislikes.
Creating a personal brand is much simpler than general product brand creation. Personal branding doesn’t always need any special marketing or publicity. Our character    (consisting of our habitual activities) as well as our skills and natural talents can on their own get the word about us around such that the moment our names are mentioned, we are automatically associated with what we are accustomed to .Personal branding is thus very crucial and we cannot afford to be ignorant about it. We can plan our activities in line with what we always want to be remembered for. It doesn’t matter what field, from producing good music to being good team players in our jobs and communities. We can endeavor to have and maintain a good personal brand. Whatever the brand we create, we indirectly create assets or liabilities for ourselves. Personal branding is the future to being and remaining in business.  

15 comments:

  1. ABBA....will keep this in mind....thanks for sharing....

    Sarah

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  2. Quite revealing. Everyone Needs to position him or herself well in the minds of other earthlings. No one would do it for you. As the saying goes: "If you don't happy yourself no one will happy you"

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  3. Dats splendid. Am in luv with it cos its d truth. Tanks 4 sharin dis.

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  4. Thanks for your comments,do keep them coming in much appreciated!

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  5. This is a great master piece.Thanks for sharing.
    Am encouraged and more, impressed!

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  6. I guess most people are not really aware of the impact of their actions in the society. Thanks for putting this across.

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  7. Thank you Akan for your comment.All the best!

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  8. i think this is a great thought through writing, is classic i love it.

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  9. Good One.. Definitely you will achieve you goal... All The Best.......

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  10. Thank you Ernest and Sudha for your comments, I wish you all the best in your endeavors.

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  11. i think when you find the road to success, it definitely drives you crazy. pls keep it up.. God is with you..

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  12. I definitely agree with you Justice. Thank you for your comments, and for your continued support. I wish you all the best and God be with you too.

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  13. Adding to CEO thought of writing,You may think that managing your image at work is a no-brainer, but my experience is that people do not take this as seriously as they should. How people perceive you and how you choose to leverage your personal capital (i.e., your advantages at work) are important to your success, but also to your ability to get the right experiences—all of which impact your career progression.

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  14. Adding to My CEO thought of writing,You may think that managing your image at work is a no-brainer, but my experience is that people do not take this as seriously as they should. How people perceive you and how you choose to leverage your personal capital (i.e., your advantages at work) are important to your success, but also to your ability to get the right experiences—all of which impact your career progression.

    ReplyDelete