Many people think that personal branding is just for so-called celebrities or stars. Yet, each and every one of us ‘has’ a brand and ‘is’ a brand, says Brian Gardner, principal consultant at Right Management, as quoted in The Boardroom Report, Volume 9, Issue 6 dated 6 April 2011.
He says personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market or position ourselves to others. “From the corporate brand to the product brand and down to the personal brand, branding is a critical component of a customer’s purchasing decision. That customer may be someone looking to buy a new car, or, in the case of the professional director, the board chairman or executive search firm tasked to find a suitable director,” says Gardner.
[I would add that what is said here could be equally true of any professional executive, consultant, coach or other business services supplier.]
“Therefore, as a brand, we should be leveraging the same strategies that make well-known ‘gurus’ or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them. This is true whether you are a mid-level manager wanting to take that next step up the ladder or a very experienced non-executive director, looking to add more board roles to existing directorships – or even that elusive first, paid directorship.”
Gardner says, fundamentally, your brand needs to reflect your credibility, your value proposition and what differentiates you from other directors and candidates, and needs to focus on the value of the brand, as opposed to the features (previous roles, education, etc).
However, he says the key difference between today and August 1997, when the concept of personal branding was first raised by Tom Peters in a seminal article, is the rise of social media that has levelled the playing field and made branding not only more personal, but key to achieving one’s objectives. “As such, the professional director needs to carefully consider the role that social media, in particular Twitter and LinkedIn, might play in building and reflecting their personal brand.
“Engaging a professional career strategist, who also understands social media, will pay huge dividends in assisting the director through the process of understanding one’s personal brand (who am I?), considering possible outcomes (where am I going?) and then devising an appropriate strategy to achieve the desired outcomes (how am I going to get there?), which would include the use of social media.”
Gardner provides the following tips for directors to keep in mind when harnessing social media: Read more of this post
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