I remember briefly touching on your “personal brand” in my CAP 105 class: Technology in Advertising and Public Relations. However, wanted to know more about this as I get more info about Ad and Pr, as I go through classes and learn more. So, I took this opportunity to research what a personal brand is, how to create your own brand, and its importance to you.
When I think of my personal brand, I think of what makes me, me or what I would want people to remember me as or how they even remember me now. What does a person think when they think of me? I know personal opinions and relationships can influence this but the broader image of me is what I think about.
Your personal brand is a combination of skills, experience, and personality. It is how you want to promote yourself and tells your story. Your personal brand can be created on its own if you let it develop as it does, or you can help influence it at let the person you want to be known. Before the internet this was difficult to do, business cards were the biggest way of doing so, as stated in the article. It was difficult to get into the public eye unless you were on tv, in a different source of media or were the face of an advertisement.
Personal branding is important because it is what makes you memorable. If you are memorable you have influence on people and help you to stand out. This can help you in many different aspects of your life whether they be personal or professional. Personally, this can help you be influential in your community, friends, or family, it can also help you show who you are and be your true self. Professionally, if you identify the brand of your company or business you work for it can help you reach the specific target audience you are trying to reach. It can also grow your reach of the company, a brand can help consumers relate to the company and relate to each other spreading the word and essentially advertising your company.
I found a list of 10 Golden Rules of Personal Branding, and thought a couple were important to emphasize or specifically touch on, although they were all good.
The first is be genuine, by doing so you will actually love what you are saying or sharing. It will also make it easier to manage your brand on a day to day basis, and will just amplify who you are, and what you’re sharing. While being genuine you should also be telling a story, the article states that by not having a narrative you can lose half of your potential audience. They recommend staring a narrative so that your audience can interact with your brand rather than blabbing on to whoever will even think about listening.
Being consistent was one that immediately jumped out to me as well. I personally have watched videos on influencers who said they were vegan and their entire image and brand was this great vegan lifestyle they live. However, they were seen eating meat or dairy products in the background of other influencer’s videos. This immediately takes away all of this person’s credibility, and the public’s view of this persons brand becomes unknown or even negative. The article cautions readers to not underestimate how much even simple small inconsistencies can derail the effectiveness of your brand.
After researching personal brand I see not only the importance of it, but I also am excited about being creative yet efficient about creating my own personal brand.
Olivia's Blog 