What is a Personal Brand?

In a nutshell, your personal brand communicates:

1. Who do you serve? What group of people is your audience?
2. What do you do best?
3. How are you different from your peers? What makes you the only choice?
4. Why do you do what you do? What motivates you and gives you meaning?

Personal branding has three main stages:

1. Uncover your brand. (Read More...)
   
   

   Identify your passions, skills, values, purpose, goals and sources of career energy. You leave this stage with a crystal clear understanding of what drives you, where you want to end up, and what qualities differentiate you from your competition. You know precisely what you have to offer, and who would benefit most from your skills.

2. Articulate your brand. (Read More...)
   
   

   Articulate what you found in the first stage ("uncover") in a way that's meaningful to others. You know exactly why you should be hired, but nobody else does. You must develop your career toolkit (resume, cover letter, bio, email signature, web presence, etc.) and a compelling way to talk about yourself so hiring managers, co-workers, bosses and peers can immediately understand what value you offer. You leave this stage ready to promote your brand's touchpoints.

3. Promote your brand. (Read More...)
   
   

   At this point, you've fully articulated your brand but nobody knows about it. Now you must establish visibility (make yourself known in your field), establish credibility (foster trust in your ability to deliver), and get involved in your niche (build relationships with those connected to your ideal opportunities).

Your personal brand is held in the minds of others: how do they feel when they hear your name?

Strengthening your personal brand helps drive home to hiring managers: Why are you the absolute best choice for this particular position?

A strong personal brand communicates a clear, consistent and compelling message that attracts the kind of people and opportunities that make your life fulfilling.

Personal branding is self-marketing based on what you stand for, what makes you unique, and what your purpose is. It is NOT creating and marketing a made up image - that's the exact opposite of personal branding. Personal branding is 100% authentically, you.

Next: How to brand yourself >

The Single Most Important Article on Personal Branding

If you want your personal branding efforts to have a serious impact, you need to understand the fundamentals of what a personal brand is, how to build one, and the consequences of establishing one. What's the best way to learn? Directly from the father of personal branding himself: management guru ...

Read more

How Well Branded Are You?

How well branded are you? One way to find out is to put metrics in place - something you can measure your brand against. The easiest way to start analyzing your personal brand is through Google. First, do a Google search for a leader in your field. Try searching for their name, ...

Read more

Ask one family member, one friend and one co-worker how they would describe you to someone else. This is how your external world sees you. Take note of the adjectives they use. If you think they're accurate, build upon their language when figuring out how you want to market yourself.