Sell Yourself! - Personal Branding for Managers

“Branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room” – Jeff Bezos

 

Personal branding is like corporate branding. Your brand identity tells people - Who are you? What do you do? Why you do it? How you do it? What is your worth? Robert Kiyosaki once said, “If you are not a brand, you are a commodity.” Personal Branding is essential to establish yourself as an expert in your field. In the COVID-19 scenario where job security is very low, you need to establish your branding so that it helps you to get a new job or an assignment if needed. Personal branding will give other people a faith that they are hiring or doing business with the right candidate. Search your name on Google and see how search results portray your image. If you are not satisfied with the Google search results, then you need to do something to improve your digital footprints. Below are some tools which you can use to improve personal branding. These are "Do it yourself" but if required you can hire a consultant as well:

 

1. Personal Website

Your website is like your digital resume. It reflects your credibility, capability and value delivery. Content should be short, sweet and to the point. Collect all the positive information about yourself and show it on your website. Add your passions and interests. Don’t forget to add your updated contact details. Use the URL of your website on your business card and social media profiles. This will improve the page rank of the personal website. There are a lot of free online tools available on the internet to develop your website like Wix and WordPress etc.

 

2. LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is mainly used for professional networking and searching for a job opportunity. This is an excellent platform to manage your professional identity. List out all your life achievements on LinkedIn with a proper description. You can request colleagues and friends to give you a recommendation based on the experience of working with you. Update it regularly. Always like and share only those posts which are aligned with your branding. Add your professional picture on your LinkedIn profile and a meaningful background photo.

 

3. Write Blog, Articles, Case Studies or Book 

Invest your time to express yourself, display your skills and share your knowledge. Write on topics related to your area of expertise like Technology, Management, Productivity, Personal Development, and Generic areas. Try to pass on the experience you gained in the years. This maybe your small contribution to the community, but it will be a big aspect of your branding. Book writing is a big task and it requires a reasonable amount of time and dedication. But this will establish you as an expert in your field. You can post your article on Medium or LinkedIn. For Blogs writing you can use Blogger or WordPress. 

 

4. YouTube Video Blog 

Some people don’t like reading instead they prefer watching videos. To target such an audience, you can create content for various video platforms. YouTube Channel is a popular platform for this purpose. For YouTube content creation, you need to learn content conceptualization, shooting and video editing. You can use iMovie to edit movies for free. YouTube also provides free training for content creation. There may be millions of subscribers for a good YouTube channel. You can also record webinars and post it on your YouTube channel. This is a good medium to spread personal branding to a lot of people at a time.       

 

5. Conduct Seminars, Webinars or Workshops 

This is a very effective two-way interaction method. You can share your experience and learnings through Seminars, Webinars, Workshops and Training. Online webinars and training are very popular nowadays. There are lots of tools available for online collaboration like Zoom, Teams and WebEx. You can also develop a small course and host it on a learning platform like Udemy. These activities will not only improve your branding but also help many people in widening their knowledge.

 

6. Networking and Meetups

We all relate to each other to some extent. Networking with other people will improve personal branding. A good network helps you to gain placement at a better place or an assignment. Always try to attend networking events like meetups, seminars and conferences to socialize with like-minded people. Join networking groups like Toastmasters club or hobby classes. Maintain your relationship with existing networks. This will help you gain an idea about what is trending in the corporate, what others are doing and what can you learn from them to improve your profile.  

 

7. Volunteer Services

Volunteer services provide you ample amount of possibility for networking in the community. Most of the big companies have their CSR initiatives, that you can be a part of. Don’t just volunteer to show off on your social media profile. Be a genuine contributor. Volunteer services not only improve your branding but also give you a feeling of contentment.

 

To sum up this, personal branding is essential for professionals. One needs to be consistent and maintain this effort. Personal branding not only improves your visibility in the internal organization but also helps you form a reputation in the community. Personal branding is a big effort, but this investment pays you off in the long-term.