SUCCESSFUL PERSONAL CAREER BRANDING

SAMUEL APPIAH

PERSONAL BRANDING

Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands.

The term branding has long been relegated to companies, but today almost every individual has a personal brand. Though we do not pay attention to guide and nurture it.

Most job-seekers are not proactive in building and maintaining their career brand, allowing your brand speaks for you when seeking promotions or new jobs. It has become very crucial to take time to master some very basic tactics that can help build your career brand and make you a much more attractive employee or job-seeker. Remember, if you don’t brand yourself, others will do for you anyway, and while you may be happy and secured in your job now, you really never know when things will change. In nurturing your personal brand, there is the need to consider these;

See yourself as a brand : Is there a certain subject matter in which you want to be perceived as an expert or are there general qualities you want linked to your brand? Once you understand how you wish your brand to be perceived, you can start to be much more strategic about your personal brand.

Complete Education/Training: For many careers, a minimum amount of education is necessary, but to excel in your career you may need to complete additional education, training, or certifications. Getting additional education can greatly enhance your career brand.It may be hard in terms of time and finances, but find a way to do it. Some employers even offer an educational reimbursement benefit. Self-learning is another option.If you are unsure if you need more education — and you probably do — seek out a mentor, someone highly respected in your field (who has branded himself or herself well), and ask for advice.

Gain experience: Building your brand begins with tracking your past achievements and gaining tactically important new experiences. Your achievements are the basis of your career brand and your brand story.

Before you seek out new opportunities, take the time to plan and focus on what you want your brand to stand for and develop a strategy for gaining experience in areas of your brand in which you are weak. So, besides performing your duties, ask for new and challenging assignments that will build your brand. Use volunteering to gain experience if you’re a student, seek out multiple internships. To excel in your career you may need to complete additional education, training, or certifications. Getting additional education can greatly enhance your career brand.

Create an online presence: You cannot build your brand without considering marketing yourself online. There are a lot of platforms to showcase your brand online; typical is LinkedIn, Google+, tweeter and other professional online apps. Differentiate yourself with middle names from other people who may bear the same names with you.

Securing a personal website for yourself is one of the best ways to rank for your name on the search engines. It can be a simple two to three page site with your resume, link to your social platforms, and a brief bio. You can always expand on the website with time when you gather more experience. You can have an amazing brand, but if no one knows about it, you are not going to have much success with your career development. And no one more than you has more reasons to promote your brand.

Associate with other brands: Your personal brand is strengthened or weakened by your connection to other brands. Find and leverage strong brands which can elevate your own personal brand.

Nothing in marketing is more powerful in building your career brand than what your network of contacts; colleagues, college, clients, and former bosses — say about you and your set of skills, education, and actions. And keeping your network strong involves nothing more than relationship building. Keep in good contact with your network and be sure they know of your most recent achievements.

Once you identify and build your brand, remember to continue strengthening and protecting it. There will always be competing brands (job-seekers) ready to fill any gap you leave behind.

Most importantly, remember that a strong personal brand should be global and ever evolving.

Become an Expert: Nothing builds credibility in a career brand more than establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Start by writing articles that showcase your knowledge — and getting them published (ideally) in noteworthy media outlets. Consider self-publishing. Seek out conferences and meetings where you can give speeches and presentations. Play up awards and other recognition that can help label you an expert. Get quoted by offering your thoughts, ideas, and opinions to journalists and reporters. Consider constructing a professional Website or blog where you can publish all your articles and speeches.

Build Relationships: Nothing in marketing is more powerful than a promotion tool called word-of-mouth, which can be defined as what people say about you. Thus, nothing is more powerful in building your career brand than what your network of contacts — your friends, colleagues, customers, clients, and former bosses — say about you and your set of skills, education, and accomplishments. And keeping your network strong involves nothing more than relationship building. Keep in good contact with your network and be sure they know of your most recent successes. But the best brand-builders don’t stop with their current network; these folks are in constant network-building mode. Search out new professional associations as well as the growing number of online networking communities.