4 Steps to Building a Stronger Personal Brand
In today's market, a well built and properly maintained personal brand will open doors for you, expand your network, give you a leg up on the competition, and most importantly, bring job opportunities to you. Here are 4 essential techniques for building a stronger personal brand.
Create Your Brand Label
Start by deciding what your brand will communicate about you. Whether it’s “Web Analyst Extraordinaire”, “Link Building Ninja” or “Czar of Flash Creativity”, defining what your personal brand will project and promote about you will make building it much easier. Take an inventory of your most valuable skills and assets and create a memorable, unique brand label.
Get Involved
Your impressive personal brand will not be very effective if no one knows about it. The best way to expose others to your personal brand and build it at the same time is getting involved in your professional communities. Share your thoughts on LinkedIn, retweet articles and comments from industry leaders, and comment on blogs that are relevant to your field. Get out there and be seen and people will start noticing you and what your personal brand is all about.
Help Others
Nothing offers a personal brand boost quite like being on the receiving end of a public "Thank You." Helping others is a great way to build a team of promoters, gather professional karma and show off what you’re good at. The next time you see a SEM question or an iPad app design issue online that you can answer or help solve, don’t hesitate to offer assistance. Your generosity will come back to you by way of recommendations and a shining reputation.
Make Yourself Accessible
Your personal brand should be like Starbucks: one on every other corner. Give your brand ample connection to the online world so you can be reached and researched easily. Beyond your LinkedIn profile, a professional blog, twitter account and even a YouTube channel are excellent ways to broadcast your personal brand. Setting them up and maintaining them doesn’t take very long and the return on your investment will be more than worth it.
Give these techniques a shot and your stronger personal brand will make your job search easier and more effective. Just reach out, broadcast your brand and watch the job opportunities come to you.
