6 REASONS WHY PERSONAL BRANDING MATTERS.
Happy New Year!
I am officially a personal branding coach, thanks to you my followers.
I speak so much about this subject that I have been labeled a personal branding coach, and that title is not bad and so YES, I embrace it. I get a lot of questions about personal branding and that means that I have had to read a lot and speak to a lot of people who are experts in this field so that I can answer all these questions.
But really, it is not that complicated. I promise to answer all the questions you have asked. But let us start from the basics.
What is personal branding and why should anybody care about branding him or herself?
A personal brand is about what you stand for. It is about marketing and promoting who you are, what you are about and what value you can offer.
Personal branding is self-promotion, it is telling the world, “hey! Look at me, this is what I represent and this is why you need me.” Your personal brand is a combination of what you stand for, your unique skills and experiences that make you different from others in your field.
So, instead of thinking only of companies and products, you think of the brand being a person “you”.
Everyone has a personal brand, whether you know it or not, whether you play part in managing it or not. You already have a brand.
A personal brand is what others say about you. Try Google yourself and see what comes up. There is already some information about you out there.
Try talking to 3 people see what words they use to describe you. You already have a brand. This may not be the brand you like or want, this information may not be true or even accurate, but it is there. The job you have is to make the brand favorable to you and to your audience. That is where the work begins; creating your personal brand and managing it.
So, Should you care about personal branding?
Would you care if somebody called you a name that is not yours? Said that you belonged to a particular political party that you did not? Spread lies about who you are and what you did? Would you care if your reputation were damaged? If yes then you should care, before anyone hires you to do a job for them they research about you, before you even appear for an interview, the interviewer has looked into your information, before someone recommends your services, they have either experienced your work, read about you or heard about you.
There is information about you and so you will be doing an injustice to yourself if you do not work to ensure the information is accurate. You should care because personal branding comes with a lot of benefits:
1.You get to advertise and promote yourself, your worth, your skills, and your value.
2.Credibility-When you have a brand you become visible and people trust things they can see. People start viewing you as an expert; they trust you to deliver what you say you will.
3.To build relationships crafting a powerful personal brand makes it easier for you to influence people. People want to relate and to be inspired on social media. Public figures have many followers compared to those that are less known. Both online and offline relationships are easier created when one has a powerful and visible personal brand.
4.For career success -You tend to find that promotion happens more to those who are internationally managing a personal brand. This is by displaying their skills, their uniqueness and their values in the work place.
5.For clarity-A Person who is crafty and managing a personal brand has increased self-awareness, a skill that is very critical. When you start creating a brand you craft a mission for yourself, a vision and core values and this is step to self discovery what you are good at and magnify it as well as improve on what you are not good at if you care about it.
6.For money -I love to be paid. And who doesn’t want to have good money?
A powerful personal brand pays. It take tune, energy and effort to create and manage a personal brand. This is not an activity for the lazy, but eventually it pays off.
With all the good things that come with creating and managing a personal brand, what are you waiting for? Go out there and start doing it.
Remember, you are a brand. Make it outstanding.
Stay Awesome Stay Tuned
Your Personal Branding Coach.
Hannah Muchuki Githuki
