Have you ever surfed LinkedIn and felt intimidated by someone’s profile? The first impression that you get from the owner’s profile is that they can get the job done. You trust them by the virtue of their image, job title and description. Such people, with exceptionally appealing profiles, are aware of the power that lies in personal branding.
But, what exactly is personal branding?
Personal branding is the act of promoting who you are and what you stand for as an individual. It is how you speak, what you wear and the skills you bring to the table. It is what people say about you when you are not in the room. In the job market, it is what makes you stand out in a sea of job hunters.
Let’s take a closer look at why you need to start building your personal brand today.
Why is personal branding important in your career?
Personal branding helps you;
1. Leave a long-lasting impression
In this current day and age, people’s concentration spans are shorter than usual. In fact, you would not be surprised to learn that the person that was seated next to you on the bus today cannot pick you up in a lineup. We are simply a virtual generation, our noses constantly hovering over our devices. It is therefore quite difficult to stand out more so in the business realm where everything always seems to be fast moving.
By carefully building your personal brand, you will be able to set yourself apart from your peers in the real world and online. Heck, you will even leave an impression on your seatmate on the bus!
2. Land competitive opportunities
By now, you are fully aware that everything in this world is competed for. You want a good seat in the theater or club? Make reservations, arrive early or come to the venue with cash. You want to get a promotion? Work hard such that your skills prove more beneficial to your employers than your colleagues.
Having a strong personal brand will help you launch your career by making you appealing to job scouts, employers and potential investors. They will want to work with you because of how competent you are at what you do.
3. Build a foundation of trust
When you are going through a difficult time, is there that specific person you go to? Do you go to them because you have this blind faith that they will somehow solve your problem even if they have no association with what you have undergone? That person you trust has built an image of reliability, kindness, and competence.
How you brand yourself at school, in the job market, and at work can make employers, colleagues, students, and lecturers see you as a problem-solver. This will enable you to grow professionally, as you will grow accustomed to having people rely on you and coming up with solutions to challenging issues. In addition to this, your brand will always be associated with reliability and competence.
No matter where you are, work hard to create an identity that can be trusted. This is how you get excellent recommendations that help you advance in your career.
4. Create a professional online profile
We have already established that this current generation lives online. Nowadays, your social media presence is as important as your handwritten/typed CV. A report compiled this year revealed that annually, there are more than three million people that get hired via the LinkedIn platform.
What does this tell you?
Having a unique personal brand can help you land your dream job, find clients and even get potential investors for your business. If you are a content creator, how you brand yourself online can be a game changer for your career. A strong personal brand can get you endorsement deals and other lucrative partnerships that can lead you to advance in your career.
I mean, which content creator does not want to get that call from big shots like Coca-Cola and Safaricom due to their exceptional brand?
We know why branding is important, let’s look at how it can get you that dream job.
The 5As of personal branding
When you hear the name Pitbull, what comes to mind? What about Oprah, Elon Musk or Kipchoge? These famous people have invested years in building their brands. They are known for their skills and the way they carry themselves.
The moment I hear “Pitbull”, I immediately picture a well-dressed man with a good voice. When I hear “Kipchoge”, I see a gold medal, a track and the Kenyan flag. This is how these men have showcased themselves to the world; these are the images they have built for themselves.
Let’s take a look at the 5As that will help you build a strong, long-lasting brand.
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Authority
If Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly announced that a drink brand is detrimental to people’s health, there is a good chance that the brand’s stock will plummet. This is because when it comes to health, Cristiano has a voice, an authoritative one.
When building your brand you should;
- Identify what you are good at
- Sharpen your skill set
- Align your behavior with your beliefs, goals and skills
When you become an expert in what you do and you live and breathe what you preach, you gain an authoritative voice in your field. Your brand will be known for reliability and competence.
Authenticity
When your brand is authentic, it means that people perceive you as genuine in what you do and even say. Authenticity can help you land a job, opportunity, and promotion. This is because your reputation will always speak for itself, i.e., your fellow students, lecturers, colleagues, clients, and even employers will always have something positive to say about your skills.
This is how people land good jobs through word of mouth.
So, how do you build an authentic brand?
- Always strive to be honest in everything that you do. It’s okay not to know something. Don’t lie as an attempt to save face.
- Be knowledgeable about your field.
- Clearly communicate with those around you.
- Be consistent in what you do i.e., if you are a trainer with a social media presence, share healthy content consistently. This will breed trust between you and your audience.
- Take advantage of our society’s virtual reliance to connect with people by sharing your knowledge and expertise on the internet.
Aspiration
Why do you enjoy going to popular and chic restaurants? It’s because you want that prestige that is associated with these famous restaurants. You want to see the approving smiles of your friends when you tell them where you ate your lunch or dinner. You want to feel power and success.
This is the same reason we prefer buying one brand to another even though one is considerably cheaper than the other.
This principle applies to people as well. When you associate yourself with a successful person, their success starts rubbing off on you. You start working harder, you become more ambitious and you learn from that person’s experiences.
Building an aspirational brand means that people will want to be associated with what you do and who you are as a person. Students, friends and colleagues will want to work on projects with you so that they can thrive at the task and learn from you. To build an aspirational brand, you should;
- Become exceptionally good at what you do
- Have a clear vision for what you want to become
- Communicate your vision to those around you
- Live and breathe that vision
When people believe in you and what you can achieve, you become indispensable. Build your brand in such a way that people, including employers, want to go along with you on your journey to success.
Artisanat
Artisanat is French for craftsman. To build a strong brand, you need to turn your skills into art. This basically means that every day, you work on adding to what you currently know and can do.
Even after winning grammys, musicians go back to their studios to write lyrics, record songs and play their instruments. They do not stop practising and sharpening their skills even after receiving global recognition for their amazing skills.
When you love what you do, your passion will depict itself in every task and project that you work on. A personal brand associated with artisanat allows you to stand out in the job market. It places you in a unique position to get hired for your dream job. This is because passion is what keeps an employee going through a company’s hard times and employers are aware of this fact.
What are you waiting for? Practice! Practice! Practice!
Affinity
Brand affinity occurs when a brand builds an emotional connection with a consumer. This means that a customer genuinely believes that a given brand shares the same values that they have.
When it comes to personal branding, affinity means that those around you trust that you have the same vision and goals as them. For instance, if you want to work for a tech company and you consistently share insightful content via the internet on tech topics and you have also invested time and energy into tech projects in the past, employers of tech companies will immediately be drawn to you because they believe that you believe in the power of tech and innovation.
You can build your brand affinity by;
- Always having a hunger to learn something new in your industry.
- Sharpening and broadening your skill set.
- Sharing content on the internet about fields you're passionate about i.e., this can be in the form of blogs, social media posts, videos etc.
- Attending events within your industry and talking about your values with the attendees.
- Being vocal about your vision when you attend job interviews, trainings or when you land a job.
Remember, above all else, employers want to know what it is you can do for them. What value you can bring, and how your skills can help realize their ultimate vision. By letting them know that you share the same vision as them, you are forming a connection that will help you land in and advance your career.
The truth is, even with this knowledge, it is not easy building a strong personal brand. You shouldn’t worry though, The Bridge has your back!
How can The Bridge help you land your dream job?
The Bridge is a career accelerator program that helps 3rd year, 4th year and recent graduates translate their in-class learning into practical skills required to thrive in the 21st century.
This rigorous, hands-on four-month online program is designed to help you launch your career, develop a growth mindset and execute your skills in the real world.
By the time you graduate from this virtual program, you will be able to stand out from the pool and position yourself better in front of your potential employers or investors.
You will also become self-aware and know how to tell your story by focusing on your strengths and advantages. In short, the skills you learn through The Bridge will make you more visible to employers.
It is worth mentioning The Bridge offers a thorough class on personal branding and storytelling. So, what are you waiting for? Your dream job awaits you!
