Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: Work on the image
• Part 2 of 3: Communicating with People
• Part 3 of 3: How to Succeed in the Long Term
• Tips
• Warnings

The concept of "personal brand" is in many ways similar to the concept of "reputation". It means how other people perceive you as a businessman, a representative of an organization or social movement, a bearer of certain ideas. You are a genius? Expert? Can you trust? Who do you represent? What ideas do you support? What thoughts and associations do people have when they hear your name? If you are the owner of a personal brand, then people will recognize your name, they are aware of what you are working on, what you offer, what plans you have. This article discusses tools for creating and improving a personal brand. Start from step 1.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Work on the image

1. 1 Stop earning popularity at any cost. Yes, sometimes going through an unpleasant situation can give you the halo of a strong person, but in most cases it all ends with a ruined image. You are trying to get people to take you seriously, and you also want to have an unassailable reputation. Try not to throw out numbers that can end badly, do not do bad things for the sake of attracting attention. If you do get into history, do your best to rectify the situation. People who managed to neutralize the effects of notoriety, as a rule, had a large initial reserve of trust and a good reputation.
2. 2 Decide on your core values. How do you want your potential customers and customers to perceive you? A personal brand is a collection of thoughts, words and emotions of other people, which are finally formed in their heads into your image under the influence of how you present yourself in society. And you can already control this. You need to decide how you want to be seen, and then act according to the chosen image. Moral values ​​are the easiest thing to convey to people and what will be associated with you, so start with them. Are you one of the people who put ethics above all else?
3. 3 Become the best. If you are going to sell a series of expensive watercolor paintings, then you need to be the one for whom the right to explain to people all the nuances of this direction is recognized. If you want to work for people interested in high quality design services, then you need to present yourself as a professional with outstanding talent. Every good brand implies experience and professionalism. Nike positions itself as an expert in quality and fashionable sportswear. Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear host) is an expert when it comes to cars. Even if you are not going to advertise and promote your services, you still need to give the impression that you are very good at what you do.
   • Constantly improve and deepen your knowledge, especially if you work in the Internet field. This area is changing very quickly, literally something new appears every month. If you were an “expert” two years ago, but after that you stopped developing, then at the moment you are far from an expert.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   

   Archana Ramamoorthy, MS

   
   
   Workday CTO Archana Ramamurthy is Workday CTO (North America). High-profile product specialist, advocate for security, advocate for greater integration on a level playing field in the technology industry. She received her BA from SRM University and her MA from Duke University. Has been working in the field of product management for over eight years.

   Archana Ramamoorthy, MS
   Workday CTO

   Brand building can open doors for you. Archana Ramamurthy, director of technology product management at Workday, says: “If you don't have a brand, building a business can be difficult. Nobody knows you, and even if you are considered a reliable person in your immediate circle, this does not always apply to the rest of the world. Therefore, it is important to have people who will help you achieve your goal and start your business, and in order to get to know people, you need to create a brand, showing your best sides and creating a reliable reputation for yourself».

   
   
4. 4 Sell ​​your persona. Personal branding is essentially selling your identity to people. You need to think carefully about HOW you present yourself. You should have a well-recognizable image that would be easily remembered even by those who have never met you. Your presentation of yourself should be as unique as any other part of your image. This doesn't mean you have to sit down and brainstorm trying to figure out how to stand out from the crowd. If you don't copy someone, then everything will work out by itself.
   • Are you as kind and enthusiastic as Stephen Colbert? Or are you as witty and provocative as Rachel Maddow? Or are you as confident and active as Glen Back? Hopefully not, or at least not to that extent. Because you need to be yourself and not someone else.

Part 2 of 3: Communicating with People

1. 1 Communicate with people constantly, and be open. Take the current age of social media as your allies and let everyone have a little glimpse into your life. Start a personal blog or create your own website. It doesn't really matter if they are not your main method of communication, because this way you provide people with the opportunity to become closer to you.
2. 2 Make acquaintances constantly. Try to get to know as many people as possible. Think about what you can do for others and what they can do for you. Make many friends among a variety of people who are really worth something. And the next time you need professional help, you will have someone to turn to.
   • It is necessary to learn as much as possible about people: full names, biography details. Thanks to this, they will see you as a friendly, serious and caring person. Plus, the more you remember people, the more impression you make when you interact with them. Those whom you know well and with whom you communicated closely will definitely tell their friends about you, thanks to which your personal brand will grow significantly stronger.
3. 3 Find your "allies". These can be stars, active public figures, public people, in general, those persons who have an audience similar to yours. You need to get into their inner circle of friends. Comment on their posts, follow them on social networks, offer your help if necessary. If any of them blog, try writing a guest post (it should be really pretty good!). Not only can you learn a lot from these people, but they can also give a mind blowing recommendation for your product, or simply retweet your link so that thousands of people will know about you.
   • A very important note: try not to bother or ask for more favors than you did yourself. If you are useful and you do not go too far, the "allies" will definitely remember you. Think of it as a long-term process. It is impossible to make friends with famous people in a week.The process can take months. Try to use non-aggressive forms of communication. Don't blog things that require them to answer in the comments. There's email and Twitter for that.
4. 4 Communicate with people even without direct contact. This means that if you physically do not have time to respond to more than ¼ of the letters you receive, then why not post information about this on the contact page (along with an apology). The surest way to evoke negative emotions in people is to disappoint them. If you warn in advance how you will behave in this situation, they have less reason to be offended.
   • Create your own FAQ on your website, which will collect answers to the most frequently asked questions you receive.
5. 5 Make sure people can see you. They need to feel like they know you, especially if your business is directly related to your online presence. For that impression, people need to be able to see you. This is done with the help of photos and videos, if possible. Add a good photo to your avatar in your profile. Take some high quality shots of what you do best. Upload a video on YouTube where you explain the professional nuances of your work or talk about your future plans. Thus, you will be able to enter the personal space of your viewers.

Part 3 of 3: How to Succeed in the Long Term

1. 1 Create your own content. A strong personal brand will not provide as many benefits as can be gained by complementing it with something of value: high-quality service, an interesting blog, a useful app, great public speaking, or something else. It may take as much time to create this content as it does to establish friendly relations with media people.
2. 2 Come up with original ideas. You must be an active actor in your chosen field of activity. You need to constantly change, be innovative, make a significant contribution to the development of this area, otherwise, over time, your brand will simply sink into oblivion. Decide what your role is, what you do best or what no one else has done before you, and find ways to change the state of affairs in the chosen area for the better.
3. 3 Speak. Take every opportunity to speak publicly or present your work. Take the initiative in your own hands during all kinds of meetings and discussions, do not hesitate to express your opinion. It is important for people not only to see you, but also to hear you. You need to actively participate in the events taking place in the world and in your life.
   • Listen to and respect other people's opinions. They need to feel involved in your success.
4. 4 Keep your brand relevant. You don't want people to think of you as outdated and disposable, or boring and repetitive. No matter how good your content is, you run the risk of sounding boring and repetitive if you don't constantly update it, add something new to your look, or take on new challenges. It is impossible to procrastinate on the same idea forever. Constantly add new layers to your look.
5. 5 Aim for a long game. Think of your personal brand as an investment: its life may well be longer than your own. While your projects may be either profitable or just dying out, your personal brand will continue to exist and (hopefully) add value to your endeavors. If people feel a sense of ownership of your brand, they will follow your every project. Thus, when starting a new project, a personal brand guarantees that you do not have to start from scratch every time.So if you are planning to gain a foothold in this business for a long time, be it online services, art or car sales, then a good personal brand is invaluable.

Tips

• To be successful, you don't have to be successful at everything all at once. There is a whole list of so-called top bloggers and web persons who have a rather weak personal brand (relative to the size of the existing audience), which is due to the behavior of these bloggers and the manner of communication with people outside the blog (they are very arrogant), as well as the transparency of their motives ( more often than not, it's just a desire to make money from readers). At the same time, there are quite a few people who have a strong brand that far surpasses their projects in terms of level, and despite this, they have a rather small audience. Nevertheless, this situation is an excellent launching pad for development and growth.

Warnings

• Never be a hypocrite. Avoid actions that run counter to your image or your promoted values. Try not to advertise failures in your professional field. Failure in new areas is normal, because at least you don't claim to be an expert there. This is the difference between when and when not to talk about your failures. The exception is when your mistake becomes public despite your best efforts. If this happens, in any case do not avoid answering, as you will seem like a liar. In this situation, it is better to meet the problem face to face and explain the reasons for what happened. It is better to let people learn about it from you than from third parties who, moreover, may be hostile to you.