Personal Branding – the brand called you

Lots of people claim expertise around personal branding. I’m one of the few people in the UK to have studied with William Arruda and to qualify as both a REACH personal branding strategist and social media analyst. I re-certify each year to keep my skills up to date.
More of my clients are seeking my expertise to help them stand out so, as an advocate for continuous improvement I’m reviewing all my material to enhance my service.

This is the first of a series of posts around personal branding but to go deeper we will want to talk to see how I can help you to stand out and get noticed.

I remember reading this article:  the brand called you – 21 years ago!

With companies understanding the importance of brands, Tom Peters wrote of the need to be CEO of Me Inc and to focus on the brand called you
Key, relevant points from this article – the brand called you:

1. Identify the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors or your colleagues. What have you done lately to make yourself stand out?
2. What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength?
3. What is your most noteworthy personal trait?
4. What is the feature/benefit of the brand called YOU?
   • Do you deliver your work on time, every time?
   • Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises?
   • Do you always complete your projects within the allotted budget?
5. Forget your job title – instead focus on
   • What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value?
   • What do I do that I’m most proud of?
   • What have I accomplished that I can unabashedly brag about?
   • What do I want to be famous for?
6. The need for visibility. Every company markets itself. Tom Peters suggests you take on freelance projects to get in touch with new people or an extra project within your organisation. Perhaps you could teach a class at college or write a column or opinion piece? Get on a panel discussion or give a talk. And one thing leads to another …
7. Think about how you answer the phone, speak up in meetings, sign off emails – they are all a reflection on who you are.
8. Take the power – offer to write the agenda or the post project report. It gives you a chance to influence what is written and people will remember you volunteered
9. Act like a leader – you are, you are leading you!
10. You can be selfish – you need to put in the time to grow yourself, promote yourself, and to get the market to reward you
11. Get feedback from others on your performance, your growth, your value. This helps you understand what you would be worth on the open market.
12. Seek out a series of more interesting, challenging and provocative projects. Be willing to reinvent yourself and learn something new.
13. Measure yourself against these 4 areas – Being
    1. A great teammate and supportive colleague
    2. An expert at something that has real value
    3. A broad gauged visionary – a leader, teacher, far-sighted imagineer
    4. A business person obsessed with pragmatic outcomes

More hints and tips will follow over the coming weeks. Let’s move you into the Autumn much clearer on how you stand out.
Brought to you by Denise Taylor, Chief Inspiration Officer at www.the50pluscoach.co.uk and Career Psychologist with Amazing People. Let me help you to achieve your career goals.