What is Personal Branding?
Companies and organizations have long known the importance and benefits of establishing their brand and brand identity. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, branding is defined as “the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand.”
The Internet has changed the landscape of how consumers and businesses buy, research and interact with each other. That dynamic has created the need for personal branding to become a part of the marketing mix. Personal branding takes brand strategy to the personal level of relationship building. Now everything is a brand.
Why is Personal Branding Important?
If you haven’t googled yourself lately (or at all), you are not tracking how you are already perceived in the marketplace. Your footprint is already out there in cyberspace, and some of it may not be complimentary. And if nothing pops up in your search, then in today’s climate that is the same as if you don’t exist. The rise of social media has changed the traditional ways of sharing information. Now when someone wants to know about you, they go to the web. It’s your responsibility to promote yourself in the best positive light.
Personal branding means taking proactive steps to manage your professional and personal image. By identifying and communicating your unique value and distinction in the marketplace, you can create differentiation and stand out from others providing similar products and services.
Who Needs Personal Branding?
Personal branding is for professionals and businesses who want to communicate their unique value proposition. This is done by incorporating traditional and social media marketing techniques to reach their target markets. Personal branding allows you to separate yourself from the competition by communicating consistently your purpose, point of view and principles that are uniquely you.