|
|
This year’s annual conference is in busy New York City – lucky you.
The all important two hour orientation starts in 15 minutes and you
reallyneed that grandé cup of java. Dart out the hotel lobby
and you’ve got 5 places to choose from. Come on now, you’ve got to
decide fast – which one do you pick? If you’re anything like me (and
most other folks), you go with the name you know, the one that means
something to you. That, my friends, is a perfect example of one of
the strongest forces in business: brand equity. And just like a
strong product brand that gets you to pick one retailer among a pack
of choices, you can also brand yourself to stand out in the minds of
prospective sales and job contacts.
“Brand myself?
What does that mean coach? Heck, what exactly is a brand anyway?”
Well, as Philip Kotler (the widely recognized guru of marketing and
author of the classic “Marketing Management”) points out “A brand is
essentially a seller’s promise to consistently deliver a specific
set of features, benefits, and services to the buyer.” When it comes
to branding yourself, you’re the seller and your professional
contacts are the buyers. Your personal brand is how you look, what
you say, how you say it. It’s the image, emotion, and thought that
you invoke in the other person after you have interacted with them.
So just how do you
go about branding yourself? Branding yourself is analogous to the
type of branding that a marketing executive performs when they are
branding their company's product and organization. You have to apply
the same methodology, mindset, and approach to branding yourself
because in this case, you are the product that’s being promoted and
launched. The most successful product brands are promoted and
maintained through repeated emphasis and in different mediums.
Your personal brand is formed and strengthened through repeated
communication with your contacts, and at all touch points (phone
calls, networking meetings, emails, presentations, etc.).
The first step is
figuring out just what brand you want to convey. This is going to
involve a little introspection here, but don’t worry, I’ll walk you
through it - (Hey, what are coaches for?). Then of course you need
to think about how you’re going to “advertise” your brand. The
following will provide you with some concrete concepts and
techniques to help you develop and implement your personal brand.
Here are the main points to consider:
|
|
|
-
What is your vision & mission? – Define your values and goals.
Draft a long-term statement about your destination.
-
What is your value proposition? - Define your unique offering to
your desired. Review your personal characteristics, strengths, and
weaknesses to find out the type of professional you want to be.
-
Who is your target audience? - Determine and find the audience
that fit your values. Determine the audience that needs your
unique offering and wants the things you do well.
-
What is your brand promise? - Your brand promise is the consistent
communication to your various audiences that invokes a specific
image, feeling, and thought that you want others to have about you
after you've contacted them.
-
How will you implementation your brand? – You must execute
specific strategies to reach your audience. You must provide a
consistent message to build familiarity.
Remember, the key to a great brand is that the audience has a
developed sense of attributes in mind for a product – they don’t
have to do a taste test. And let’s face it, whether you’re a job
hunter or you’re selling the next “killer app”, most recruiters and
buyers are inundated with choices. Anything that makes you quickly
and reliably stand out will give you the edge in their decision
making (just like that coffee retailer outside your hotel in New
York City). And that’s exactly what your personal brand will do for
you. Don’t think too long and hard about it…Just do it! |
