8 Reasons a Powerful Personal Brand Will Make You Successful
Opportunity will find you and your business when you have a strong brand.
If you don't have a powerful and visible personal brand, you are
putting yourself at a disadvantage in almost every aspect of your
professional, business and personal life. Personal branding has become a
requirement for anyone looking to grow their business, get a better
job, get noticed by the press, take their career to the next level or
meet new, high quality friends.
Personal branding is the practice
of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands -- the
ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the
mind of others about an individual. Everyone has a unique personal
brand, whether they know it or not. But what we should all be striving
for is a powerful, attractive and visible personal brand. I define that
as an online and in-person authentic display of the engaging aspects of
your professional and personal activities and interests.
In my previous article, 7 Social Media Power Techniques that Build Your Brand and Business, I explained how to use social media to create a personal brand that will bring you success. As someone who speaks on personal branding often, the question I get asked repeatedly is, “Why do I actually need a personal brand at all?”
Here are the eight reasons why I tell people you must have a top-notch personal brand if you want to be successful today:
1. Opportunity finds you.
When
your personal brand is attractive, customers, clients, vendors, press
and even companies looking to hire, will find you and reach out to you. I
am the CEO of a new social media platform, and I had them contact me
for the job. I didn’t even know the position was available. I have
gotten media appearances, writing opportunities and speaking engagements because I get noticed and folks reach out to me.
2. Online networking power.
When
you have a compelling personal brand, people find you interesting and
desirable, so they are willing to connect with you. I get dozens of new Linkedin and Twitter connections every day. People look at my profiles, follow me and want to know more about me.
3. In-person networking power.
When
I'm at a networking event and I engage others, I have many aspects of
my brand to share. It makes me more interesting than the guy who walks
up to you and says, “Hi, My name is Joe, and I sell insurance.” I have
many facets to my brand, both professional and personal. That makes
people want to connect with me and do business with me. I can
demonstrate proficiency and have the online assets to back them up on
many topics like photography, entrepreneurship, my Man-Up Project and fatherhood, blogging, speaking, social media, men’s health, non-profit work and more.
Related: 4 Networking Tips for Introverts
4. Build your business.
When
I had to reinvent and rebuild my photography business in 2007, which
was failing because of the rapid decline of film, it was my powerful
personal brand that drove much of our success. Customers, clients and
vendors are more likely to do businesses with a company when the leader
has a killer personal brand. Good examples are Richard Branson, Elon
Musk, Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Fred Smith, Warren Buffet
and even Donald Trump -- whose personal brand may be bigger than his
business. Where would their companies be without their personal brands
shining on their company brands?
5. Get hired.
According to SHRM,
84 percent of hiring managers use social media to hire -- 96
percent use Linkedin, and 53 percent use Twitter. Many companies post
jobs on Twitter before anywhere else. But the most revealing statistic
is that 66 percent of hiring managers use Facebook to hire. They are
doing that because they are trying to find out more about you than just
what’s on your resume. They want to know you as a person and understand
whether you are going to fit into their corporate culture.
It’s a
logical approach for selecting the best candidates. Candidate A has an
impressive resume. Candidate B has a similarly impressive resume, but
their strong personal brand shows that they have a blog with articles on
topics relevant to the company’s business. They tweet about news and
ideas from the industry. They do yoga, run half-marathons, and they
volunteer for charity. Who do you think is getting the interview and the
job?
6. Make new friends.
A
powerful personal brand doesn’t only benefit you professionally. When
you are interesting and people can find and notice you, they will
connect with you on a personal level. I have had people read an article I
have written or see one of my social posts and reach out to me. I've
become friends with many of them, and I might even admit that I have
gotten a few dates from my “attractive” personal brand.
7. Serendipitous success.
When
you are out there with your powerful and attractive personal brand good
things happen -- sometimes just by luck. There have been
too-many-times-to-remember when simply being noticed for one part of my
brand caused something else to happen. The person who noticed my popular
Facebook account and reached out to me -- she became my executive
assistant. The doctor who found about my upcoming book -- we ended up
doing men’s health videos together and have become good friends. The
senior executive and one of my company’s vendors saw my engaged social
media and decided to give my company an exclusive on a new product
launch.
8. Confidence.
Developing
your personal brand requires you to find your authentic voice. The
process of creating one develops who you are -- the unique you -- the
Me, Inc. When you find your voice, and your audiences start to react
positively, that builds self-confidence and self-esteem and allows you
to find yourself in a meaningful way.
Whether you are trying to
build your business, find a job, get noticed by the press, impress
vendors, attract influential contacts or simply make new successful
friends, a powerful, attractive and visible brand is the key. And it’s
also key to building your reputation, credibility and most importantly,
being successful in your professional and personal life.
Source: entrepreneur.com
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