As business owners or senior executives working within corporates, we are often challenged with building the company brand consistently across everything we do – whether it is marketing, customer service, sales or company culture. Big organisations understand the importance of building, managing and maintaining brands.
But we often forget about the fact that each of us individually is a brand with our own value system, ethics, personality, vision and goal.
In today’s digitally connected world, Brand Me is more important than ever. We are all the CEO’s of our own company and that company is ME Inc. You have to be in control of your most unique product – YOU to remain authentic. In today’s age of the individual, personal branding is about finding out who you are and how you want to project your image. Consider the rise of Hollywood reality TV stars that have literally made millions from managing Brand Me strategically and carefully.
We are told everyone can have a website and create a presence on the Internet. With the onslaught of emails, SMS, Facebook and Twitter messages everyday, how do you decide which ones to read and which to leave till later? The need to read is all in the power of the name or the brand.
It is imperative that we all start thinking about ourselves as brands. Do your own personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), identify your vision for yourself and your life and explore the plan and milestones to get there?
What are your personal values and non-negotiables?
What do you stand for and believe in?
What is your personal pitch?
What’s your niche?
What is your feature/benefit model?
What makes you real, authentic and believable?
And lastly, what can you do to manage your personal brand and enhance your brand?
The digital revolution has changed the communication landscape forever. Brands can be built and destroyed in a nanosecond. As with big corporate brands, Brand Me is one that needs to be nurtured, invested in, marketed and looked after over the long term.