MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Just as Paris Hilton is a brand, so are you. Paris is associated with certain things, shoes, cars, money, clothing, nightclubs… you get the drift. How she conducts herself and what she does affects her reputation and the way outsiders see her as a brand.

Personal and corporate branding are very different but equally important. Corporate branding is a lot easier as you can have a group of brand ambassadors looking after one brand. Personal branding is a little trickier . You should always pay attention to personal branding. At the very least, you want to make yourself easy to be found via Search. People used to call and check references. Nowadays, you get Googled.

Your personal brand is you, it’s who you are. It’s your skills, the way you carry yourself, your individuality, your traits, your personality. It’s what sets you apart from every other Tom, Dick and Harry and it’s what you can do better than they can. Personal brands are built on being real and letting other people see you as you really are.

As Randfish mentions in his video on personal branding, there are several pros and cons to personal branding. For starters, it’s important to identify your skills and those aspects of yourself that set you apart from the rest of the world. These are the traits you are going to capitalise on so be smart and ensure that you have a strategy. There’s something that you do that no one else can compete with, figure out what it is and Maximise!

Personal brands are easy to identify, it stays with you long after you have moved on. For example, if you build a reputation as a ruthless attorney and encourage the view that you are not to be messed with, even when you leave the firm you were working at, you will still take that reputation with you. Its apart of your personal brand and how people see you.

This is a pro and a con as there may be negative attributes that you do not want to be associated with forever. There are also a few transitive benefits that Rand mentions: personal brands are easily relatable, you can associate with a person a lot easier than a corporate brand. But this too has its down side; it could happen that when a person with a negative brand image moves from one corporate to another corporate environment, the negative associations with the person could be imparted to the corporate brand.

This will take a great deal of reputation management to fix but it’s not impossible. There are ways to positively mould your personal brand. A good start is to use your strengths to give back to the community and help those who have helped you. Whether blogging, speaking at conferences or events, or volunteering, there are several ways to communicate your knowledge to others in a manner that will help them, and in turn help change the perception of you from negative to positive.

It is a good way to increase the value of your personal brand and also grow your network. This has a knock on effect because if you do give something to others, they will be more likely to sing your praises, and this is invaluable in personal branding. Blowing your own trumpet is only going to achieve the opposite effect. You need others to spread the word and tell the world how brilliant you are. Your personal brand isn’t dependent on what you say about yourself, it’s a combination of what everyone else says about you.

To achieve praise, you need to be visible; you need to be heard to be followed. No one is going to pay any attention to you if they don’t know who you are or what you can do. Be everywhere, blog, mark your territory and be active on the social networks like Facebook, Stumble Upon, Linked In and Twitter. Contribute to sites that are your industry’s equivalent of Sphinn or Digg. Make sure your profile is consistent and ensure that you use the same photo throughout so people can recognise you across all platforms. In this way, you will keep your brand image and association in users’ minds.

Another point to note is the importance of being authentic, original and to stand up for what you believe in. Your brand is strengthened every time you speak out and let your opinions be known. Don’t let people walk all over you, but tread lightly when on the defense.

People are attracted to confidence. They would much rather associate and work with people that they like and trust than someone who follows the flocks and has no individuality or personality. Trust is crucial , without which you will never build a positive personal brand for yourself.