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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

THE BALD TRUTH - Personal Branding

PERSONAL BRANDING

Personal Branding for Professional Success


The idea of a “personal Brand” is something we all understand… at least as it relates to celebrities.  Public figures like Madonna, Lebron James and even Dale Earnhart Jr. craft and maintain their brands as enthusiastically as the Coca Colas and Nike’s of the world.  But a personal brand for you and me?  Absolutely, says personal branding guru Peter Montoya.  The issue, in fact, isn’t whether to create a personal brand, but how to create the most effective one you can, he says.

“Everyone has a personal brand, whether they like it or not,” says Montoya.  In fact, I have worked very hard to brand myself as “Coach Rick” the Executive Coach.   Now where ever I go, invariably someone gets my weekly thought “The Bald Truth” (sign up here: http://bit.ly/1i1sulT ) or has seen/heard me speak.  My goal has been to craft the brand so that it creates a clear and memorable impression about who I am and what I do.  You can do the same whether you are a small business owner, solo entrepreneur or corporate executive.

A personal brand is “the powerful, clear positive idea that comes to mind whenever other people think of you,” Montoya explains.  It’s the values, abilities and actions you stand for, or, as he puts it, your personal brand is “who you are, what you do, and what make you different or how you create value for your target market.”

A critical aspect of “brand building” for small firms and solo entrepreneurs is the old stand-by: growing your network.  A crisply defined brand should make that process simpler – who you are and what you do will be easier to remember if you have done your brand homework – but it still requires getting your brand in front of people the old fashioned way, one handshake at a time.

Here are three tips for making the most of your personal brand to build your business, or to enhance or reinforce your value within your corporation:

  1. Make sure that everything that surrounds your brand (your office, website, customer service group, etc) communicates the same brand
  2. Build and nurture your professional network and ensure that all members understand your brand message.
  3. Establish appropriate partnerships to extend your brand and gain complementary brand value.


A personal brand won’t necessarily turn you into the next Payton Manning – in fact, it probably won’t do a thing to make you and NFL quarterback – but it may be a valuable tool to define and refine what you do and how you tell your customers or employers about it.

That is the BALD TRUTH!    Now Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get To Work!

Coach Rick
if you have any questions please feel free to contact me at rick@coachrick.net



Coach Rick Kolster is an executive coach and thought leader who works with business owners and executives to help them maximize their efforts, gain life balance and learn how they can be the best leader they can be.

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