Creating a Personal Brand: How to Make Your First Impression Unforgettable
Nike does it. Starbucks does it. Even Nabisco does it. In fact, it’s all the rage. Branding. And before you say that branding is only for businesses, let me clarify by saying that branding is all the rage in career advancement.
When a company brands their products and services they are making a public promise that they will live up to the name, or the brand they have created. The same idea can apply to a person trying to advance is his/her career.
Ten years ago Tom Peters first introduced the concept of personal branding in a FastCompany.com article entitled “The Brand Called You.” He said, “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”
So how do you create your own personal brand? Here are three simple steps:
1. Define Your Brand
Ask yourself, what makes you different? In what ways do you rise above your colleagues and offer more to employers? And don’t confine yourself to your current job description and job title. Consider what you’ve done this month, this week, today, in order to stand out and make a statement. The characteristics that make you different also define your brand.
Peters explained, “You’re every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop. To start thinking like your own favorite brand manager, ask yourself the same question the brand managers at Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop ask themselves: What is it that my product or service does that makes it different? Give yourself the traditional 15-words-or-less contest challenge. Take the time to write down your answer. And then take the time to read it. Several times.”
These 15 words are the start of your own personal brand. Use them to focus your efforts as you move through the next two steps.
2. Enhance Your Profile
Perhaps you feel that your brand could use a little help. Never fear. You can always enhance your profile in order to create a more powerful brand. In what ways would you like to stand out? Define those areas and then take action to enhance them. Volunteer for new responsibilities in the workplace, take a community enrichment course, enroll in a professional training program, or earn a certificate or professional designation. It’s never too late to build a brand of your own. And while you enhance your profile you’re also promoting your brand by letting your current employers and all your colleagues know what you wish to do well. For example, if you enroll in UAC’s Professional Bookkeeper Program, you’re telling employees that your brand has expertise in small business accounting; you’re also telling them that you’re willing to enhance your skills as you enhance your brand. This is a great step in the direction of promoting your brand.
3. Promote Your Brand
Once you’ve determined what, exactly, your brand is, you must take measures to promote it. Like any business, you must market yourself in such a way that your brand takes on a life of its own, becoming memorable and attractive. Consider all the ways you can showcase your brand and all those characteristics that make you a unique employee. Volunteer for specific projects at work, teach an enrichment course in your community, write an article for a local publication, or join a panel discussion. Any of these things would get your brand more exposure as you focus on letting others know what makes you distinct.
As Peters said, “It’s over. No more vertical. No more ladder. That’s not the way careers work anymore. Linearity is out. A career is now a checkerboard. Or even a maze. It’s full of moves that go sideways, forward, slide on the diagonal, even go backward when that makes sense. (It often does.) A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.”
Universal Can Help You Enhance Your Brand
Let Universal Accounting Center help as you consider all the ways you can create a personal brand. Our DVD 4 pack is designed to let people like you discover those skills that can make you a more valuable employee. The DVD 4 pack includes the following DVD’s:
Introduction to the Professional Bookkeeper Program–Learn how becoming a Professional Bookkeeper will improve your accounting skills and help you in your accounting career.
Introduction to the Professional Tax Preparer Certification–Learn how becoming a Professional Tax Preparer will improve your tax skills and help you in your career.
Start Today and Have Your Own Bookkeeping Service–Learn how to make over $80,000 per year working from home while getting more clients than you can handle. Know how to charge your client so you can afford to take that next vacation while they get such a great deal they will be telling all their friends about you.
The Art and Science of Getting Clients–Learn proven marketing strategies designed to help accountants market their skills in order to get more clients.
Each of these DVD’s can help you better define your own brand. Order now and save nearly $25.00 on this valuable set. For less than $20 you can be on your way to a valuable personal brand.
