When we say ‘Brand’ for a product, we mean a product which has distinguished features capable enough of creating its own space in the market. No two brands are ever the same. Each brand has its own uniqueness by which it is identified. The features of the product may be the same but the way it is positioned and perceived will never be the same. The reason for a brand recall is always a connect – a value proposition of the brand, an emotional connect, reliability or anything else. Hence each product can have a market, it depends on who you are targeting and what positioning you want. What do you want the product to be known?
The same story goes for a human being. Though we may appear as identical products manufactured by a common factory outlet, fortunately, we are endowed with a tendency to become a ‘Brand’ by finding our own space or niche and sometimes creating it. This unique imprint which makes us a brand in the market of life is what we call as Personal Branding.
The interesting thing about personal branding is that it comes into play behind our backs, when we are not around. It comes in the form of ideas, opinions and critical appreciation by others of our kind. The entire concept of personal branding focuses on “Being You”. It is not difficult because it comes naturally to us.
To understand the essence of personal branding, we must know that it does not mean adding some external attributes to yourself or imitating other brands (other humans with specific qualities) but rather being comfortable in our skin, bring out what is inside us and striving to become the best version of ourselves. In the market of life, you won’t ever succeed if you are just a photocopy of the original.
Importance of Personal Branding
The next question which pops inside our mind is that “What is the purpose of personal branding?” let me answer this question by stating an example, suppose you are a businesswoman or businessman and wish to get clients, then in a world full of other business people of the same kind, what is your probability of getting a client? I guess it would be negligible. Here, Personal Branding comes into play. The brand that you have created in the mind space of your clients will help you acquire a client.
How ‘Your’ unique “You” is identified by other people and how you can stand out from others, builds up your credibility will determine your profitability. People do business with you because you are authentic, credible and trustworthy. You may be a good and authentic person but you need to also project that image or persona for people to believe in that. So, when you are genuine and authentic, it makes you trustworthy because you are displaying your authentic side which is one in a million with no imitation. Remember, no two people are the same – each one is born unique and somewhere in our growing up years we forget this.
Once you have established credibility and expertise in your area or niche, people shall come to you. The key here is that you should be able to add massive value to people. This would further increase your influence you might be looked upon as a person of expertise. All these traits shall nurture your business and will eventually make you successful.
Personal branding makes you a brand of a kind and once you realize it, your professional, as well as personal life, may change forever. The art of personal branding will not make you something artificial but it will lead you to your real, authentic self. In a world full of great business people, to make your own space is difficult but not impossible because if you tap the power of personal branding, you will surely become one in a million.
You need to identify your own personal set of characteristics with powerful copyright. To make it easy for you, I will share a roadmap in the next blog.
