Branding is the art of capturing the essence of a business in a simple-to-communicate message. In this series, I'll explore the process of creating the professional "you" and your brand.
If you are taking a job or career hunt seriously, you need to discover three things:
- who you are
- what you do well
- how to communicate these points as quickly as possible
Tom Peters, marketer extraordinaire, wrote an article for Fast Company magazine in 1997 that started the whole personal branding idea. In the article, he says: "We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."
Why your personal brand is important
Dan Schwabel at Personal Branding Blog describes personal branding: "Personal branding describes the process by which individuals differentiate themselves by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition to achieve a specific goal".
In other words, you describe who you are and what you can do in a very clear and concise way. This cuts through the clutter of undifferentiated people and gives you a clear and memorable definition in the minds of a recruiter. When a recruiter or hiring manager is plowing through thousands of resumes, a clearly branded person will stand out very clearly.
What is branding?
Branding is somewhat difficult to explain in a few words, but the essence of a brand is "the mental associations that get stirred up when you think about a particular car, soft drink, pair of jeans, bank, celebrity or even country" (Allen Adamson, BrandSimple).
When you think of "Cadillac" cars, you have a range of ideas, images and associations with that car. Same with Clairol's "Herbal Essences" brand. Companies go to great lengths to establish these images in the minds of consumers, and each brand has a different set of associations designed to appeal to certain people - people who drink Diet Pepsi have a different idea about themselves as compared to Mountain Dew drinkers. Canadians have a different reputation (brand) around the world as compared to, say, Germans.
You can create your own brand relatively easily; in fact, it's very important to successfully convincing employers to hire you.
Over the next few weeks, we'll create your brand and talk about communicating this brand successfully.
Exercise #1 - Describe yourself in 5 adjectives
To get started in defining your personal brand, I want you to think about how you would like employers and potential employers to view you.
Write down 5 adjectives you would use to describe "you", and we'll use these adjectives to create your brand.
I will do this exercise with you, so here are my 5 adjectives or phrases I use to describe myself:
- knowledgeable
- creative thinker
- problem solver
- fast learner
- friendly
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