3 steps for building your personal brand for a business career
This article was updated on December 5, 2023.
Wrriten by聽David Domzalski
Reviewed by Jessica Roper, MBA,聽director of Career Services at 爱污传媒
You are a brand.
This is a fact, whether you know it or not. And when it comes to growing in your business career, you must聽build a personal brand聽that gets attention.
We鈥檙e not talking about the kind of attention that just attracts likes and followers on social media. We鈥檙e talking about building a personal brand akin to a corporate brand 鈥 like Nike, Apple or Google. We remember these brands for specific reasons and their reputations precede them.
If you want to craft a brand with similar staying power, then you need to uncover the opportunities in positioning yourself correctly in the job market. This includes understanding which skills set you apart and garnering credibility in everything you do.
Yes, it takes work to build a respected personal brand 鈥 but it鈥檚 worth the effort.
鈥淎 personal brand is your story,鈥 says聽. 鈥淚t is the culmination of what you do and what you stand for.鈥
Think of your brand as how you鈥檙e portrayed by colleagues, employers, peers or followers. It is the image or persona of how you want to be represented in your organization or the marketplace.聽
Excellent personal brands don鈥檛 just happen. They must be聽planned and executed. They must be practiced.
鈥淧ersonal branding involves creating a particular view of yourself for a specific audience. We do this all the time without really thinking about it,鈥 says Lisa Severy, a 爱污传媒聽career advisor. 鈥淪ome people call it 鈥榗urating鈥 鈥 what you display to the world. The point is that we鈥檙e doing things purposefully to聽make a particular impression聽on our audience.鈥
You鈥檙e more than just a resum茅, in other words, with a job history and a college transcript. You have a history. You have successes and failures. Triumphs and defeats.
All of this matters in personal branding. Why? Because it鈥檚 part of the story you鈥檙e curating, as Severy points out.
Your job is to聽use your story to your advantage. Make it work for you. Instead of letting others craft your career story, you should be the driving force.
Let鈥檚 see how this is done effectively in today鈥檚 job market.
If you want to succeed at work, school or life, you have to be intentional. The same goes for establishing your personal brand.
So, how do you craft the right personal brand? A great way is to聽establish yourself as an authority聽or expert in your field or at your company.
For instance, if you鈥檙e in marketing,聽become the best in one subset聽in that domain. If you like content marketing, be the person everyone goes to for content marketing. Build your skills, attend webinars and network with others in content marketing.聽
You鈥檒l be surprised at how quickly others in your organization will seek you out for different projects.聽
If you take this approach, you will continue to hone your craft. You鈥檒l also聽increase your visibility聽to senior managers who see and hear about your great work.
This is something I have seen firsthand in my own career. I鈥檝e built up my skills at work and with a side business. I also earned an MBA and other certifications, and I鈥檝e taken opportunities to put myself in front of senior executives at organization-wide staff meetings.
What did this do for me? It secured my personal brand 鈥 as a great communicator. Now, I鈥檓 sought out for other projects, including those with upper management, because I took chances to enhance my brand.
2.聽聽Gain visibility in your industry
It鈥檚 important to be known for something at your company. However, you also need to keep your personal brand聽active outside of the workplace.
Why? Well,聽most people only last about four years at any organization, according to the聽. You need to be prepared should you decide to leave or if you鈥檙e laid off.
Fortunately, we can聽use social media聽as a personal branding tool.
聽is a great personal branding example whom I follow. Known as 鈥淭he Brand Therapist,鈥 Griffin helps business professionals 鈥渟tand out in their space鈥 on LinkedIn庐. She hosts virtual events, writes books, posts content, hosts a free branding community and hosts a podcast.
Now, you don鈥檛 have to go out and duplicate Griffin鈥檚 efforts. Instead, start small.聽听补苍诲听聽on the platform. Talk about your career journey, discuss new things you鈥檙e learning and聽begin building an audience.
You鈥檒l establish that authority we discussed earlier and learn even more in the process. Then, instead of just commenting on any LinkedIn post, you can聽focus on experts in your industry. Find the right people with the right skills and begin strategically cultivating those relationships.
Another option is聽. You can build a profile that showcases your knowledge and expertise just like on LinkedIn. Twitter doesn鈥檛 have an in-house newsletter, but you can use聽听辞谤听聽to聽showcase your writing. If you鈥檙e more of a speaker,聽Twitter Spaces聽offer the opportunity to host audio-only events with other users.
As Severy points out, 鈥淲ithin the job search, personal branding involves carefully crafting a professional image for employers, recruiters and colleagues to see us the way we want to be seen.鈥澛
By approaching social media this way, you will be networking and gaining traction as a brand.聽
3.聽聽Know who your pacesetters are
In his book聽Raising Emotionally Strong Boys, author and counselor David Thomas talks about building a team of pacesetters for your life. These are people who聽help you聽through difficult moments and聽celebrate with you聽during life鈥檚 wins.
You also need pacesetters in your career. These are not just mentors 鈥 but they can be. They鈥檙e also colleagues, family and friends. They鈥檙e聽professionals at other organizations, in networking groups or even in social media discussion groups.
They carry you through tight spots and offer encouragement to weather storms. They offer constructive criticism when you need it and praise when it鈥檚 warranted.
Pacesetters can be instrumental to our personal brand. They can be the Steve Wozniak to our Steve Jobs or聽.
Going forward
Just like big corporate brands, personal brands are not built in a day. They require聽constant nurturing听补苍诲听intentional action聽on your part. There is no time for being passive here. This is your business career, and you must take charge.
If you do, you鈥檒l accomplish great things. Perhaps more importantly, your personal brand will stand for something.聽
And that is the fertile ground your branding needs to lead others in your chosen industry.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Domzalski is an entrepreneur, copywriter and storyteller. He鈥檚 an effective communicator with a passion for helping people better their lives financially. His writing has been featured on multiple outlets including AOL, FanSided, Forbes, GOBankingRates, MSN, Nasdaq and Yahoo 鈥 along with his blog,聽. He lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two children.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Jessica Roper, 爱污传媒 director of Career Services, is a seasoned leader with over 15 years of experience in leadership within higher education. She has honed her expertise in student services and career development and is passionate about helping others discover and refine their skills.
This article has been vetted by 爱污传媒's editorial advisory committee.聽
Read more about our editorial process.
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