Branding was first used to differentiate one product from the other. The Oxford dictionary defines the word Brand as “A type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name”.
Examples could be: Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Netflix, Amazon and the list is endless. All these products are successful brands that when spoken of, almost 99% of people understand what they are and what value they offer.
The business dictionary defines, Branding as “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumer’s mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme.”
Today branding has evolved and has transcended to professionals, especially those seeking to communicate their expertise and or business value to a particular audience. What you are communicating about yourself and your work on and offline is becoming increasingly critical in helping you land your best next step.
“If people like you, they'll listen to you, but if they trust you, they'll do business with you.” Zig Ziglar
There is a story about you out there somewhere in your network that you currently do not control. That story shapes how people you do not interact with on a daily basis react to you, your ideas as well as your expertise. This story determines how successful your business or job seeking journey is going to play out. Depending on your profile, you are going to need much more than your resume, credentials or business website to succeed. You will need to have a story that people you would be interacting with can relate to or engage with.
“The process of creating a narrative or story about ourselves built on our personal vision, values, convictions, strengths, and weaknesses in order to advance our careers or personal endeavors.”
That is Personal Branding.
One element that remains consistent in every definition of the concept of personal branding is the idea that as an individual, you are unique in terms of purpose, vision, values, strengths, and weaknesses. These aspects about you combined could be used to create a specific message or narrative that will successfully advance either your career, education or entrepreneurial pursuits. A successful personal branding strategy will encompass you finding your sense of style through which you can communicate your true and authentic self. Authenticity will make you unforgettable.
The term personal branding was first coined by Tom Peters in 1997. At that time, few people and companies believed in the importance of having a person or an employer brand. They also believed the concept would never gain any traction as many people were quite secure in their jobs and companies were doing just fine. Twenty years later the concept of personal branding has achieved above and beyond recognition in ways that even early adopters could not believe. With the help of technology and globalisation, personal branding is showing signs of no regression.
Given this success, many professionals have realised that it is, in fact, an important career management strategy and if done well, one is guaranteed success now and in the long run. Companies, in fact, have grasped the concept aggressively by introducing employer branding campaigns as part of their talent attraction and development strategy. Once companies have attracted the best talents, they then offer them the opportunity to put themselves out there on behalf of the company to promote the work they do and where they do it. This is because companies have realised the importance of being spoken of instead of speaking for themselves. This is powerful.