The idea of “BRAND” yourself posts came to me after giving a presentation/ workshop last Saturday named ” Empower Women Seminar” that was sponsored by “NOW: National Organization of Women, the Hollywood chapter”. My part of the seminar covered the Marketing part discussing the power of “Brand Yourself” for landing a job or getting a better one.
A brand is not limited to big companies like BMW, Coca-Cola or to artists like Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt & Angelina, we all have our own brands either we are aware of it or not. A brand is how people around us perceive us, what do we transmit as a message to others about us, without even talking.
So let me start by deciphering what is “Brand Yourself” or “Personal Branding”. Personal/ Self branding is simply positively grabbing someone’s attention by creating a unique unforgettable image. Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others.
Imagine if you go to a store looking for a certain product, one is packaged in fancy colors and the other packaged in a simple white blend box, they both have the same functions and usage, the first one is a bit higher in price than the 2nd which one would you get? I personally will pick the one that catches my eye i.e. the colorful fancy package, even if I have to pay a bit more. So Brand Yourself is about “Self packaging” It’s identifying the unique qualities, marketable skills, and organizational knowledge that someone possesses and building a reputation that captures the attention of others (clients, managers, prospects or future employers)
No matter how old we are, what titles we hold, what business we are in, we all need to understand the importance of self-branding, we all are the CEOs, and CMOs of “Me, LLC.” need to be unique in who we are and how we stand out from the crowd.
Each one of us needs to develop their own USP “Unique Selling Proposition” to communicate our brand, and develop “Brand Equity” & “Brand Image” exactly as the big corporations do. Now the question that presents itself is: “How do I brand myself, or how do I find my brand?”
The “My brand” exercise starts by thinking about 3 things you are very passionate about (loving chocolate is not one of them) and 3 things other people think you excel at.
It is a process that has 4 steps: DCCM
- Discover: What is your brand (As described above)
- Create: your USP
- Communicate: Promote your USP
- Maintain: keep adding new content and manage your brand reputation
Your USP should be one concise sentence that best describes you, who you are, how unique are you, your biggest strength and how you can benefit anyone that hires you or your services (Clients or employers).
For example a USP for a Marketing expert would be:
“I am an experienced Marketing expert strong in creating marketing campaigns and developing new business that have resulted in additional revenues of over $ 2.5M for my last company during the last 2 years.”
This sentence demonstrated who you are, your biggest strength and how you benefited your company.
Branding Yourself is all about leveraging marketing and its famous MIX: The 4 Ps
1- Product: YOU
2- Promotion: what to use, which social media networks, which associations etc…
3- Price: How much are you services worth or how should your salary be
4- Place: Where to expand
Social Media tools have leveled the playing ground and have enabled us to reach amazing altitudes, at the cost of our time, but the ROI is way worthed.
I will be sharing in my next posts, the personal branding process, so you can think about what face you want to show to the world and how to brand position yourself to achieve your goals, and land your dream job, and how to become the hunted instead of the hunter
Cheers,
Sahar Andrade
Sahar,
I am fairly new to the social media field and find myself feeling like a “fish out of water.” I am researching social media as a possible career change. I found your postings very interesting and helpful. I would greatly appreciate and welcome any other insights/advise you may have on entering this career field.
Sincerely,
Tammy
I found your blog very insightful. I usually have trouble finding a starting point. Thanks for the recipie.
Thank you very much Sovatha
I see we share the same last name =)
Let me know if I can help any further, I am writing the 2nd part of this blog right now, please come back to visit
Sahar Andrade
I guess this is how important branding a business is. It makes an impression on your customers.
Lea:
Thank you so much for your comment yes branding is crucial for both people and companies it is conveying the image of who we are and what we do.
I am writing additional parts to this blog hopefully you will choose to follow it up
Cheers,
Sahar