You know a lot of brands. Think of a few.  Pepsi, Audi, Nikon...you.

Each brand conjures up certain attributes in your mind. For a business, no stone is left unturned when it comes to the perceptions of a brand. The color and shape of the logo, the design of the website, and the text printed on the products all carefully shape the brand.  Companies spend enormous budgets crafting their brand in the minds of consumers.

 The same branding concepts are important for individuals. A personal brand will dictate how you are perceived in the eyes of your consumers (recruiters, human resource people, and hiring mangers). Luckily you don't need a personal branding budget, however, you will have to be diligent in how your personal brand is built.

1. Opportunities have a way of finding you. It is hard enough to go out and find a job if you are unemployed. You certainly do not want to give up on any opportunities for a job to find you.
2. You will have an audience to validate your opinions and expand your horizons. Part of creating a brand is establishing a professional network and displaying your expertise to your network. 
3. Your credibility skyrockets. The more people begin to experience your brand they begin to value your opinion.
4. Google and Yahoo become your friends - your personal brand is usually built through various online outlets such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other blogs/forums. Over time these pages are shown on the search engines. People see your name on a search query and recognize your expertise.
5. You can gain more promotions (and more money) than you otherwise would have. You will be differentiated from your peers. Supervisors and hiring managers will take notice.
6. You get an opportunity to shape your own brand instead of letting others cast your brand for you.
7. The more people you meet and the more relationships you strengthen, the more you will grow as a network. 
8. Your self-confidence sores! There is nothing like it. 
9. Success, however you define it, will come much more quickly if you have a network of people who recognize you as an expert in your field.
10. A friendly network gives you something to fall back on when required. Your network is there if you need advice for your career, help ending your unemployment, or just a group to debate a topic.

OK, so now you care. But how can you build your network? It is not very hard, you just have to know the tricks. You find out all the tricks by reading Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, a great personal branding book by Dan Schawbel.

Tags: PersonalBrand

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Comments (2)

I was reading a lot about 'personal brands' but I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. Now I think I get it. It's a little abstract but it makes sense. I guess I have a lot of work to do.

Timothy , June 03, 2009

I could use anything that gets my self-confidence to soar. I need that right about now.

Ben67 , June 19, 2009

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