IN OUR HEADS
November 14, 2022
As a marketing professional, you are used to looking after other people’s brands. You take on other voices and other styles, camouflaging to the needs of a particular campaign. But what about you? Could it be time to prioritize your personal branding?
It makes sense that marketers might not prioritize their individuality when it comes to branding. That’s often the job; we associate the need for branding with organizations, not individuals like you and me. But a strong personal brand is a powerful tool, especially in a world dictated by social media. With 90 percent of employers using social channels to screen candidates, a personal brand could mean the difference between a name in the crowd and an engaging human being — who would you want to hire?
No matter what your goal — whether it’s to find a great job, network, attract new clients, or just build trust — learning how to express individuality is a wise move for marketers. It could enable you to create and control your narrative, decide what your name stands for, and become recognizable for those values.
After all, you do have a brand, whether you think you do or not. Your brand is how you appear to and interact with the world; your brand follows you. You might as well get deliberate about it by taking time to value yourself and carve out a strong personal brand that others can recognize and trust.
How can marketing professionals enhance their own careers through branding?
The good news is that marketers already have the knowledge they need to create a personal brand and benefit from it. What you need to do next is to figure out what you can learn from your job that will help you. How can you transfer skills and knowledge from your daily work to help plot your own career trajectory?
- Know “the client”
You’re used to doing a lot of homework on the clients you work with. You get to know them, how they sound, what their values are. You can do the same work on yourself. Who are you? What do you want to showcase about yourself, your values, and your approach? Make this self-assessment as you would to get to know a client.
- Know your audience
Who are you talking to when you send out messages into the world? Great branding doesn’t just talk about who you are; it acknowledges what your listener might need. Who will experience your brand? What will they get out of it? How might your story help them? Researching your audience can help you understand what impact your personal brand could have.
- Know your purpose
Branding is all about messages. You can communicate your story more effectively if you know what your purpose is. Make choices in the way you communicate that align with your purpose. If you’re trying to inspire your audience with a personal story, maybe choose a long-form social post. If you’re trying to make connections to help you with a project, maybe LinkedIn is the most purposeful channel.
To prioritize your personal branding is not to make things all about you; it just means that your audience can see and relate to you as a real person. Every person you meet could connect you to your next opportunity. Showing up to every conversation with your full self and carrying your values with you is worth the risk.
