You HAVE a Personal Brand Whether You KNOW It Or Not!

So ENSURE it’s a Positive Personal Brand!

No matter who you are, where you come from, what you do, or which direction your life is heading, you are a brand!

I recently came across an article on the importance of building a positive Personal Brand written by Hussein Hallak and decided to share my thoughts with you.

As Hussein has explained, you have a Personal Brand whether you think you have one or not.

Your personal brand is “what people think about you”, whether that thinking is positive or negative. So why wouldn’t you ensure that their’ thinking is a positive one by building a ‘tribe’ of fans that love you and what you do?

People have thoughts about you, even if you don’t know them; and these thoughts may be erroneous as they may not know anything ‘real’ about you!

As Hussein has put it: “That also means you don’t own your brand; people do!”

Hence, it is imperative that you interact with people to build your personal brand, and not work in isolation of people. Interaction IS the most effective way to build a personal brand … with people!

Further more, it is a mistake to commission someone to build your brand for you; you must be fully involved in the process. By doing this, you ensure your personal perspective and authenticity.

So if you don’t actively work to build a positive personal brand, you will most like end up with a negative personal brand. To put it another way, by not being actively involved in creating a positive personal brand, you may be ‘actively’ creating a negative one. If this happens, anything you create will be viewed negatively, possibly rejected, and may even end up failing no matter how hard you work.

Who should create a Personal Brand?

Employees:

These days job security is somewhat over-rated. Whether you feel secure within your job or not, holding onto your job is not a given. In fact, your company or industry might disappear tomorrow. Building your personal brand is a safety net and an investment in your future career. The ‘equity’ of a personal brand is yours; and you ensure it’s value by ensuring it is a strong one.

Bosses:

By building your own Personal Brand you also build your company’s brand. So, educate your customers about who you are, what you stand for (and respectively what your company stands for), your values, and your products or services in a non-invasive manner while establishing trust. Empower your employees to advocate for your brand and allow them to amplify your message via social media. This, in my opinion, is a smart strategy.

Unemployed:

Building your personal brand will help you in your job hunting and in establishing and building a strong career. For example, when potential employers Google you, they’ll see that you have shown initiative by actively creating content, engaging (helpfully) with others, sharing ideas, and contributing to your field of expertise … thus proving your acuity. You are no longer viewed as a clock-puncher; you are now a thought leader concerned with the larger world. That is ‘really’ attractive to your next employer!

Entrepreneurs:

Similarly to above, by building your positive personal brand your target customers will view you as a thought leader. They will connect with your business on a personal level, and you will attract new business, new investors and outside opportunities not previously possible or even conceived of.

Students:

Students, having a strong personal brand can be used to attract the attention of potential employers, to help further define you’re career path, and even to discover an idea that will start you on the path to becoming an entrepreneur! With a strong, positive personal brand, the possibilities are so much bigger and wider.

Warning: What you need to know!

If you’re preparing to generate content through blogging, podcast, video, or other interactions, make sure it’s good, high quality, and well-researched content. This may sound simple and obvious, but if you’re publishing junk, your name will become associated with junk, and people will view you as such … hence you will build a negative personal brand. Once that happens it’s very difficult to repair a damaged, negative personal brand either online or offline.

When done properly … professionally, personally and with high-quality content … you will be educating customers in a professional and human way, and you will be establishing trust with a tribe that adore what you create and do. Eventually, people will view you as a thought leader, and customers will connect with your brand on a personal level.

Employers, customers, partners, investors and opportunities will discover you, instead of you having to work hard to discover them!

If you would like to read Hussein Hallak’s full article, please click on the following link.

Link to full article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-its-more-important-than-ever-build-successful-personal-hallak