BUSINESS
BRANDING DEFINED
Dating
back to 2700 BCE, branding
referred to the
process of making a distinctive, permanent ownership mark
on an animal (by way of a hot iron) for the purpose of dentification. This process was used to deter theft
and to find lost or stolen animals. To be effective, a good livestock
brand was and still is one that is distinctive,
simple, and readily recognized.
Much
like livestock branding, a goal of branding in business is to create
a brand that is distinctive and can be
easily identified and recognized by others. Of course, modern
branding for business has expanded beyond its
livestock origins. Today, business branding is essential to achieve
business success and growth.
According
to advertising executive David Ogilvy, “The Father of Branding”,
business branding is The
intangible sum of a product’s attributes: its name, packaging, and
price, its history, its reputation, and
the way it is advertised…Successful advertising for any product is
based on information about its consumer.
Business
branding is also…
“…the
process of creating a unique, positive, and recognizable identity for
a product or service”
“…a
promise of the value of a product…that the product is better than
all the competing products…
The
combination of tangible and intangible characteristics that make a
brand unique”
“…the
process by which a commodity in the marketplace is known primarily
for the image it projects
rather
than any actual quality”
“…a
value or core set of values that allow your offer to be identified in
the marketplace”
“…the
actions of gaining a favored view on the part of consumers for a
product, service, organization,
or
experience”.
In
business branding, organizations market themselves to customers and
investors through self-promotional materials
and corporate identity pieces. In personal branding, you present
yourself to the prospective employers in
your field with marketing materials (your CV, cover letter, web resume or online career portfolio, thank
you letters, letterhead, business cards, and/or other promotional
materials) that define your competitive edge
in your industry through content and presentation.
Personal
branding will help you to develop your niche in your market, build
name recognition, and set you
apart
from other job seekers. Just as business branding is essential to
achieve business success and growth,
personal
branding is critical to catapult and manage your career.
PERSONAL
BRANDING DEFINED
There
is no one definition for personal branding.
Personal
branding is an essential career and reputation management marketing
tool that creates a successful,
credible
identity so that hiring managers who view your brand know your value
proposition and
your return on their investment and seek you out.
Personal
branding is also…
“…the
process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. The
concept suggests that success
comes
from self-packaging”
“…a
revolution in career management and an essential tool for thinking in
the new world of work…
being
your best, authentic self and standing out from your peers so you can
achieve your goals. What
makes
you unique makes you successful”
“…the
art of articulating and communicating your skills, personality, and
values so that others seek
you
to help them solve a problem”
“…the
embodiment of your values, vision, purpose, goals, and passions…to
enhance and enrich your
career
success. The message you communicate in speech, writing, online
presence, and appearance.
Your
fingerprint, your DNA. No one else has it or can successfully imitate
it”
“…the
process by which individuals…differentiate themselves…by
identifying and articulating their
unique
value proposition…and then leveraging it across platforms with a
consistent message and
image
to…enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish
reputation and credibility,
advance
their careers, and build self-confidence”
As
Tom Peters puts it, “We are CEOs of our own companies:
Me,
Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is
to
be head marketer for the brand called You.”
Personal
branding is essential to achieve career success and
personal
growth. Because it is a relatively new concept, people struggle
to identify with it and therefore have difficulty applying this
concept to themselves.
There
are two reasons for this difficulty. One, people are
reluctant
to think of themselves as a product with features and benefits. Two,
many people are not used to
comparing
themselves to others in terms of what they do better than the next
person. As a result, people tend
to
underestimate what they are worth.
Whether
you are consciously aware of it or not, you already
have
a brand—it is your authentic, unique self. By defining
and
developing it in writing, including it in your cover letter,
backing
it up in your resume through achievements, presenting it
online, and managing it, you convey your brand—your perceived
value—to others. A
well-defined brand is sought after
and brings opportunities your way.
THE
BENEFITS OF PERSONAL BRANDING
Personal
branding can do several things for you:
✔
Your
cover letter and resume, if branded properly, will instantly and
significantly help you stand out from
the crowd.
✔
Your
cover letter will invite readers in and make them want to read your
resume and call you in for an
interview.
✔
Having
a personal brand will help you sell yourself to prospective employers
and increase your earning
potential.
✔
Employers
will immediately know what position you are seeking and what
distinguishes you from the competition.
✔
Personal
branding will help make you known in your industry. It helps to
establish you as an expert in
your own professional niche and build a solid reputation in your
field.
✔ If
done correctly, branding will compel employers to seek you out! When
you brand yourself, you make
it clear to employers that you can help them solve their problems,
meet their challenges, increase their
bottom line, or otherwise contribute to their firm in a way no one
else can or will.
✔ You
will get many more calls for interviews, take less time to secure a
position, and have a much higher
probability of receiving the position and salary you want. Applying
your personal brand during an
interview and subsequent job offer helps you negotiate a higher
salary because it emphasizes the
value
of what you have to offer.
The
ultimate benefit of personal branding is that once you know your own
unique brand inside and out, it
is
a revelation that empowers you with confidence to go ahead and
fulfill your goals!
