Personal Branding 101

Personal Branding is a fancy, hip term for knowing what you are good at.  Well, that's where it begins, once you know what you are good at, you publicize it. If you do any reading about job search, you see it a lot today.  To understand it better, read Dan Schwabels blog.  He is the king of personal branding.

It isn't just for the pros, or the pro wanna-bes, or Gen-Y, it is for all of us.

Here are some questions to get you started developing and promoting your own personal brand.

• What do you really enjoy doing? What successes have you had?

• How do you communicate/demonstrate this?

• Who will your audience be, or who needs to know about your strengths?

The main reason for we need a personal brand is due to the "wonderful" information on the Internet.  There are pros and cons, of course. 

It is easier and cheaper than ever to get your name on-line.  For free, you can have a blog, join Facebook, join LinkedIn, Twitter, participate in on-line communities or groups and comment on almost any news article out there.

How you present yourself on all those can also be the drawback if it isn't carefully thought out. 

Employers are using the Internet and all these "tools" to source employees or check "character".  That is precisely why using these could be a good thing. It gives you credibility as being the professional you say you are. 

Getting back to basics, how you verbally communicate your brand/strengths is still the most critical skill of all.  It isn't enough to know you are qualified for a new job, you have to prove it. Make sure that the right people inside your organization know what you have done and know what you are capable of.  You, and only you, can make this happen.  Outside of your organization, you have to be known.  Find things that truly interest you and use those to develop an awareness of your talents. 

By no means am I an expert at this.  Dan Schwabel is.  If you were a product, how would you introduce yourself to the marketplace?  This is another way to explain it... a business model written by Adam Salamon on Dan's blog