You already know about how important the brand is for your company. But just as important as your “personal brand.” This empowers a person, his qualities and aptitudes in a certain professional field, while company brands are the ones who promote the characteristics of the company itself, goods or services, mission, and vision, etc.
The personal brand is what we project of ourselves in the eyes of others, and it is very important to work it to achieve our personal goals. It is the set of ideas, feelings, and perceptions that our environment adopts because of our actions.
Why is it so important?
Before, not so long ago, when we seek to position our personal brand, we could only do it through our most direct environment: family, friends, colleagues … Now, social media profiles simplify this idea by making us more visible to anyone’s eyes.
The first thing to keep in mind is that currently, we cannot talk about the personal brand without referring to social networks, which increasingly define us more, both personally and professionally. Therefore, having a good image in networks is essential for any entrepreneur, especially for those who decide to develop a startup. Frank Patrick Delgadillo, the founder of DECO 86, clarifies: “Your personal brand is open access to yourself for the rest of the world.”
But do not believe that it is so easy, the personal brand of each one is not created overnight. It is the product of the job of an attitude; that leads us to project the image we want. Delgadillo believes that it is important to follow a roadmap or strategy and ask ourselves these questions:
- What do we want to achieve? What personal and professional objectives will we consider?
- Where will we do it, and how will we do it?
- What makes us different from the others? What makes us unique?
- How to generate empathy with our environment?
When we have defined the strategy, we think about how we will execute it. The basis of personal branding is made up of three key aspects:
What we say: We must define the message we want to transmit from our own image.
What we do: Let’s be clear about what design/image we are going to establish. Projecting a good image at first glance is essential to achieve an effective personal brand.
How we say or do it: Select the channels or means by which we are going to project our image. How we will communicate it. For example, having a blog or a website that defines how we are or how we think can be very different.
It is not about presenting yourself to the world as a unique, arrogant and self-centered professional, but rather that the characteristics and aptitudes that make up the professional profile are consistent with the type of good or service that we are going to offer and seek to maintain the reputation, customer loyalty, and a job well done.
There are several aspects that we must consider to properly build our personal brand:
Self-assessment: doing a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of ourselves is essential to know our strengths and enhance them.
Market analysis: if I want to be different from the rest, I must investigate how my competition is. Look at the industry benchmarks and why they succeed.
Values: every brand has values and more if it is a personal and not a corporate brand. Defining and defending these is important to give our brand personality.
Transmit: everything that is not communicated does not exist. Therefore, we must transmit our brand. Also, as I already mentioned, today, it is essential to do it through the RRSS. If we are not in these and we do not use them, it will be as if we did not exist. In addition, they will help us in creating our brand and reaching out to our community.
Image: if you are going to show yourself to the world, it is important that it sees your best profile. It is important to have quality photos, a good logo, and even make a video to make ourselves known.
Arouse interest: it is not enough to be there, we must generate interest in our personal brand and act as references for members of our community.
Constancy: knowing that it is not achieved overnight. It takes time to enter the market and arouse interest. In the same way, we cannot create it and ignore it. We will have to work on improving it and making it last over time.
Authenticity: the personal brand must reflect ourselves. There is no point in creating a character that has nothing to do with reality. Create your best version.
Differentiation: you must offer something differentiating and original for them to notice you.
Consistency: it must have homogeneity, be consistent. We cannot call ourselves in one way in a field and change our names in our social networks, and all our profiles must follow some guides, tutors.
Search for opportunities: social networks can help us consolidate our personal brand. But also, conferences, debates, fairs, training, are great events where you can “network,” learn how to improve our personal brand, make yourself known, and make new contacts. Don’t forget to make personal cards.
In short, a personal brand should be the initial step to launch an entrepreneurial project. Companies are nothing more than ideas, objectives, and projects of one person or a group of people, so the establishment of the personal brand is consolidated as the starting point to start any project.