Developing a Personal Brand

Corporate businesses recognise the correlation between a strong brand and a successful business.

These successful corporations recognise that their branding is not just a ‘logo’ but rather the heart of the business – core values and beliefs that relate to their audience, often leading to consumer loyalty.

Continued Learning is key to a successful brand that evolves over time. Mentors are a great asset for aid in building and maintaining a personal brand. 74% of hiring managers prefer potential candidates to have a mentor, while only 40% actually do. Finding mentors can be a daunting task, but before you approach a potential mentor you should research them thoroughly, but above all else show interest in them – attend a lecture, build a rapport. Finally, convince them you’re worth mentoring. Share your goals, your intentions and your desire for help.

Once your brand is up and running, you’ll need to monitor its online presence. Your personal brand revolves around your name, and this is what they’ll search when looking for information about you. Having anything but your brand appear on the first page when they do so could be detrimental to your brand’s reputation. You can use Google Authorship to boost your name and relevant websites to the top.

Getting publicity for your brand is all about getting involved. Press coverage is often pricey – but it doesn’t have to be, you can acquire publicity for your brand for free, if you know where to look. You’ll need to read – if you haven’t already – the most popular books written about your industry. Once clued-up offer to give free one hour seminars at your local college or university, you can record these and put them on your profile and use these to access interviews and introduce yourself as an expert in your field. You could also write articles for trade magazines.

This article is accredited to Ellie Bridger