This a bit different but totally important in our professional life
PERSONAL BRANDING FOR IT Pros
What is Personal Branding? Personal Branding is a technique that people
practice to market themselves (self-promotion) and their careers as brands
Or
Personal branding is defined as “a fully planned and strategic process
developing action to promote your own brand.
Or
It is a creative and unique way to communicate what makes you special and
distinct.
Note: Today in a highly competitive world, personal branding is an
important tool to success irrespective of the profession.
It is possible only when we understand our creative ideas and unique
attributes including our skill sets, values, strengths, and passions and use
them to stand out of the crowd.
IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL BRANDING
Popularity − Develop your visibility and popularity.
Confidence − Build your confidence.
Status − Stronghold your position in the society.
Determination − Enhance your focus on your business.
Development − Expand your business area/s.
Identity − Increase your earning and fame.
Reputation − Develop your credibility and reliability in the market.
Self-fulfillment − Attain your ultimate goal.
When you groom your profession with personal branding, it helps you build a
strategy. Likewise, it adds unforgettable value to your profession.
IDENTIFYING YOUR BRAND
To setup ones brand, Identification of things you like, choices, and wishes is the most
difficult part.
As such there is no foolproof way to discover setup your brand.
The following a the questions we have to ask our selves in the due process
What is your qualification?
What is your area of interest?
What do you want to achieve?
What is your passion?
How are you currently perceived?
How are you perceived in your personal and professional relationships?
What is your industry/sector?
What is the market and target audience for your brand?
What is your niche?After the above do the following
- Write down five things that you like most;
2 .Write down five points for which you are appreciated more often by the people
around you.
Try comparing all the above from 1 and 2 and find any that you need to improve
while thinking about you and the peoples view point.
Once you are done identifying your brand, now you need to −
Set a goal.
Note down your mission, vision, and personal brand statement.
Build a strategy that is small and in simple steps. Once you complete first only then
move on to the second strategy and so on. A complicated strategy in the very first
instance can discourage you, so avoid it, and choose a simple path).
How to Create Your Brand?
Thoughts and likeness, which will help you to personalize your brand vision. With the
following steps, it will be easier for you to create your brand
Step 1
Note down your values − It could be anything that gives meaning to your life.
Possibly, you are not aware of these values, but in most of your decisions, it plays a
big role.
For example, your value could be −
Community (society)
Work Intelligence (the work you can perform best)
Hobbies (the work that more often you live to do)
Ambition/Goal (the ultimate destination)
However, this is not the conclusive list, it is just an example. If you correctly note
down your values, it will definitely help you develop a successful personal branding
strategy.
Step 2
Prioritize your Values − After listing and categorizing your values, now you need to
prioritize them. While prioritizing, take help of your interest, likeness, and even your
passion. These will help you prioritize your values.
Step 3
Identify your Traits − Trait is the most unique feature of your personality. You might
not notice, but most of your behavior is guided by your trait. Following are the five
most important personality traits −
Conscientiousness − It means, how careful or vigilant you are at your work.
Openness to experience − It means, how open, creative, curious, liberal, aesthetic-
minded you are.
Extroversion − It means, you don’t like loneliness rather prefer to remain around
people.
Agreeableness − It means, how kind, sympathetic, warm, cooperative, and
considerate you are.
Neuroticism − It is a tendency to be in negative emotional state. Normally, this
feature is usually discouraged; so, it is good to cure/suppress this kind of
trait/symptom.
Step 4
Discuss your Plan with your partner and Friends− The last step is to discuss
your plan and strategy with those who know and understand you very well.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT is a very effective exercise that is recommended to be done before creating
your brand. It will definitely help you in revealing your real picture and accordingly
you can create your brand.
Strengths − It is your internal characteristics that helps build competitive
advantages. For example, good voice, eloquence, witty demeanor, etc.
Weakness − Interospect yourself and try to find what are the weaknesses within you
that might be potential hindrance in a career. For example, fear in public, not able to
speak properly in front of people, etc.
Opportunities − Opportunity is an external aspect for which you have to be vigilant;
if you are not able to recognize it, definitely you are going to miss on something
good. For example, opportunity of a job, opportunity to deal a project, etc…
Threats − It is also an external aspect of your life. Unfortunately, you cannot control
your threat, but of course, you can address and mitigate them. For example, sudden
rise of your competitor, inability to attend a very crucial meeting, etc.
Some other important points that you need to consider are −
List the people whom you admire
Read their success stories
Learn the lessons these people used for their success
Based on these information, you can correct/improve your strategy.
Promoting your brand
its another big question that you need to seriously consider.
follow the following steps −
Step 1
Consider Yourself as a Brand − Start considering yourself as a brand, it will give
you confidence.
Prepare Your Toolkit − Your profile, portfolio with pictures, messages, etc.
Plan Your Strategy − Based on your toolkit, develop your strategy.
Step 2
Decide Your Medium of Promotion − which mediums you want to use for your
branding. For example: Self promotions, events, print media, electronic media, etc.
Make Your Online Presence − There are various social media websites such as
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. where you can create your fascinating
profile.
Have a website built − A website with detailed portfolio is one of the best ways of
personal branding. Google can easily crawl your name through your website.
Update Your Website Regularly − Updating the website is another important
aspect of self-branding. Articles and blog posting is the easiest tool that has potential
enough to increase traffic on your website…
Emailing − Draft a very nice, authentic, small, but clear message and email it to all
those people who can be beneficial for you.
Share Your Updates
Join Online Forum − Join an online forum, which is linked to your profession.
Find Out Your Target Audience − Discover people interested in your profession;
connect with them online, if possible offline as well.
Attend Events and Seminar − Attend all events and seminars of your interest,
meet with different people, and give them your business card. It will greatly help
improve your social networking.
Organize Local Events − If your position is a little strong and you can afford an
event; organize it. Select a nice theme, promote your event almost a month in
advance through social media website as well as print media. It is unlimited and very
effective source of personal branding.
Select Your Clothing − Your personal style, sense of dressing, and body language
are extremely important. Therefore, select the clothing that best represents you.
Further, be courteous enough to convince others.
How to Get Free Media Attention?
Getting media’s attention can make you an apparent brand in your profession.
Having your name published in a national newspaper/magazine and/or being
aired on TV, can make you popular instantly. Grabbing people’s attention through
media can definitely kick start your profession.
But how to get free media attention is a big deal. The following tips though not
foolproof may help you get free media attention −
Step 1
Research Topics of Relevance − First you need to research the relevant topics
(related to your profession), which is the point of attraction for the media.
Step 2
Collect the Detailed Information − Once you come to know the topic in news,
collect detailed information on the same…Step 3
Publish online − Write a couple of articles and blogs on the same topic giving
detailed information with references. Promote your write-up through social media
websites.
Step 4
Collect List of Media − Make a list of TV channels who are covering news on the
same topic. Write to all of them about your views on the same topic and substantiate
yourself with a few reliable links. Discuss some points, those either ignored or no one
paid attention to. Possible, many of them will ignore your email. But it is also possible
some of them might pay attention.
Being patient and waiting for a breakthrough is essential. Once you and your work is
under the media radar, your growth will be exponential.
How to Monitor Your Brand?
This is that last and continuous step that you will often perform for the rest of your
career
Step 1
Make Your Brand Name Distinct − Before naming your brand, you need to
research thoroughly. You need to be sure that you are using a distinct name, which is
not used by any other celebrity or big brand.
Step 2
Manage Your Brand on Search Engine − You need to manage i.e. how your name
appears on search engines’ ranking. Besides Google, you also need to manage your
brand on other search engines, e.g.yandex, etc…
Step 3
Manage Your Brand on Social Media Websites − Keep your profile updated and
compelling on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Step 4
Use video hosting platforms (YouTube) − if possible create youtube videos about
your niche
Step 5
Stay updated − On top of this, always keep your eyes open and see what is
happening around you. If something is related to your profession, acquaint yourself
with it and keep updating your knowledge.