Introduction
WHAT IS BRANDING?
My parents like to tell a story
from my childhood. When I was a toddler they would put me in the backseat of
the car in child’s car seat when they would take me somewhere like to the store
or to a friend’s house. When we would drive down the highway, I would see
golden arches through the car window and yell, “Donald’s!”
Now, I was only two or three
years old at the time. I wasn’t old enough to read. I could barely see high
enough to see through the car window. But when I saw those arches it meant
something to me.
My parents would sometimes take
me to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. I would associate the burger and fries with
the golden arches.
That is branding.
A brand is anything—a symbol,
design, name, sound, reputation, emotion, employees, tone, and much more—that
separates one thing from another. In the case of McDonald’s, the golden arches
became part of the brand. Those arches separate their product from all other
fast food restaurants and they’re a recognizable symbol even with kids.
Branding on a business-level is
common, but today branding is becoming just as important on a personal level.
After all, you might work for a business that works with other businesses, but
it’s people working with people and that’s what makes business relationships
valuable.
WHY SHOULD YOU BUILD YOUR
PERSONAL BRAND?
Building a recognizable personal
brand opens professional opportunities.
Creating a vision for your
future and implementing that vision can lead to:
- A better job
- Better contacts and clients for your company
- Industry recognition
- And more
If you’re looking for a better
job, you want your potential boss at your ideal company to associate your
personal brand with something that she needs on her team.
If you’re looking to grow the
sales for a company, you want potential clients to associate your personal
brand with a feeling of trust and long-term success and satisfaction.
This guide will take your through
all the steps you need to take to create a your unique personal brand. In
today’s job market and entrepreneurial landscape, there is no room for being
another face in the crowd. You have to separate yourself from the competition.
You have to be more appealing to your target audience and you can achieve it by
creating a recognizable personal brand.
NOT EVERYTHING IN THIS GUIDE WILL
APPLY TO YOU
This is an advanced guide to
building your personal brand. There is a lot of information covering many
different steps you can take to build your personal brand.
However, not everything in this
guide needs to be followed to reach your goals. Not everything in the guide
applies to everyone so if you notice something that doesn’t fit your vision or
your goals it’s okay.
The purpose of this guide is to
cover as much as possible about the process of building a personal brand. In
the final chapter, we discuss why it’s important to be yourself. You can take
the information here as a guide, but use the information in your own way.
Follow steps exactly or use certain information and create your own steps for
finding success.
Expert Roundup: Quotes From
Successful & Influential Individuals
For this guide we wanted to
include quotes from well-known individuals in the online world. These are
people that have been the reason for the success of some of the most successful
brands in the world. They know what it takes to succeed and that includes their
feelings on building a personal brand.
We asked three questions:
- What one action, decision, or choice has had the
single biggest impact in the growth of your personal brand?
- If you were building an online presence from
scratch today, what 3 things would you consider to provide the biggest ROI
on your time and money?
- For those looking to create a strong online brand,
which 3 online influencers would you recommend they follow?
Throughout this guide you’ll find
the answers along with actionable steps you can take to follow the advice of
these experts.
- CHAPTER ONE
How To Create Your Personal Brand Vision
Businesses create vision and
mission statements. Creating a personal brand begins much the same way by
creating a personal vision.
Only you can determine how you
want your life to unfold. You can’t control every aspect of your life, but you
can create a long-term vision and develop steps to achieve that vision.
Your life’s vision should include
how you see yourself in 10, 20 and even 50 years. Consider the elements in life
that would make you happy—a family, a beach house, a challenging corporate job?
There are no right or wrong
answers and in this chapter we’ll guide you through the steps necessary to
create your personal vision.
- CHAPTER TWO
How To Define Your Target Audience
Once you have your vision, it’s
time to determine who your target audience is. Most professionals are selling
something to someone. If you’re looking for a job, you’re selling yourself to a
potential employer. If you want to start your own business, you’re selling
yourself to potential clients.
But your target audience goes
beyond an employer and customer. You’re looking to build a community of
people—employers, peers, influencers, etc.—who can all be assets in different ways.
In this chapter, we’ll show you
how to define your target audience. Knowing the exact person you’re selling to
makes it easier for you to communicate your brand message.
- CHAPTER THREE
How To Build Up Your Online And Offline Assets
Thee are a number of assets that
require attention when you’re building your personal brand. You’ll need to secure
domain names and websites to help control your personal brand on search. You’ll
need to secure social media accounts to control your personal brand on social
networks.
And you’ll need to know how to
build these assets so you can build your overall network. In this chapter,
we’ll go over the most important online and offline assets for building your
personal brand and give you step-by-step instructions for securing and building
each up with a strong community.
- CHAPTER FOUR
How To Build Your Brand Through Outreach
When you start building your
personal brand it’s difficult to get exposure. It’s necessary to get exposure
in the places where your target audience is spending time.
In this chapter, we’re going to
explain how you can gain exposure through earned media, advertising and a few
other strategies. Following the steps in this chapter will give you formulas
for creating content that is appealing to your target audience while
establishing you as an authority.
- CHAPTER FIVE
How To Get Free Press Coverage
Another way to gain exposure is
to get free press coverage. There are a number of tools that make it easy to
build connections with journalists, bloggers and moderators. Building these
relationships and understanding what the press wants gives you the power to get
free press.
- CHAPTER SIX
How To Connect With Mentors
One key to success is continued
learning. Even the smartest people in the world can become smarter and more
skilled in certain aspects of life.
Mentors are great assets for
professionals looking to build a personal brand. You can learn how they became
success or how they view the world and use the strategies to build your own
success.
In this chapter, we’ll show you
how to find mentors and how to approach them so they will help you with your
personal brand.
- CHAPTER SEVEN
How To Monitor Your Brand
Once you’ve established what you
want personal brand to be and you’re working to grow it you’ll need to monitor
the growth and the perception. It’s important to see how your target audience
associates you with your industry and how they feel about you in general.
In this chapter, we’ll share
monitoring tools with you and we’ll show you how to use those tools so you know
what your audience thinks about you.
- CHAPTER EIGHT
Be Yourself Because Everyone Else Is Taken
We’re going to close the guide
with an important chapter on being unique. You want to take influence from
others including your mentors, but it’s important that you be yourself. That’s
how you’ll separate yourself from the competition.
In this chapter we’ll give you
steps for further identifying why you’re different and how to embrace
differences to attract people to you in a positive way.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar