Personal Branding

Branding yourself is not an option.

You have a"brand" right now; it is either positive, negative or neutral; probably neutral in the marketing world.

 

Your Brand is Your Competitive Advantage

The revenue impact of having a great brand can't be overstated. It is your competitive advantage; and if your brand is stated properly, conveys a potential (or actual) competitive advantage/benefit to your customer – a double win for you. Thomas Kinkaide, Patience Brewster, Ansel Adams, Chuck Jones and Mary Engelbreit, just to name a few artists who have become BIG brands.
 

What is Your Personal Brand?

Creating an effective brand lies in having a clear vision of the response you want from your customer. Branding yourself continues with identifying the qualities or characteristics make you stand-out from your competitors. Things you do well; things you enjoy; authentic aspects of your character and your talents – artistic and otherwise.

Your challenge is understanding what a personal brand is, and then knowing what it takes to define it in a positive way — which means doing the self-analysis necessary to understand what your values are, and learning to state those values in a way that is meaningful to potential customers.

Do you deliver your work on time, every time? Does your customer get dependable, reliable service that meets its strategic needs. Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises? Can your client save money and headaches just by working with you?

To paraphrase an old saying; your personal brand is the "sizzle" that sells the steak. Personal branding much more than pretty window-dressing … It is learning to define and take credit for who you really are.

Once you define your personal brand, you must use it… on your web site, on your emails, on your business cards, on your letterhead, in your conversation and in your dreams. Your brand must become part of you, it is interwoven in how you work, talk, think and act