Guest blogger Katy Goshtasbi is a Personal Branding expert who works on translating your personal brand to your business brand in order to increase revenues, productivity and morale. Learn more about Katy on her website, www.PurisImage.com.
What is “personal branding”? Personal branding is the process of distinguishing your relevant attributes and communicating them consistently to your audience and then it is how your audience takes in this information. In short, personal branding is about your perception value to your audience. People buy people before they ever buy your product or service. So what are you “known for” or what do people say about you when you are not in the room? That is your personal brand. In a sea of people all doing the same thing (doctors, lawyers, accountants, sales people), how are you unique and different? To be effective it has to stand out and be memorable.
How does that fit in with your product or service? No one buys your product or service. 50% of what you do is your substantive work (ie, your product or service). The other 50% is what I perceive of you and your product or service. Personal branding is about relatability and making a personal connection with others so they “get” you, a genuine YOU. Then they’ll buy anything you sell them.
Is it different than internet marketing? There is no comparison at all between internet marketing and personal branding. Personal branding has to be done first, as it is the foundation for your business brand and internet marketing. Only when you have established a strong personal brand (knowing who you are, staying true to who you are and relaying that consistently and concisely to your target market) will you be able to effectively translate that into internet marketing. Otherwise, internet marketing comes across as scattered, vague and non-descript and blends into the background.
How do you know when you have a good personal brand? You know your personal brand works when you look good, feel good and produce results for others genuinely. I want for others what happens to me as a result of my strong personal brand: people come up to me and want to do business with me because they sense that I am self-confident, put together well, and know my “stuff” and “own” it.
Can you have a personal brand even if you work for another company (and should you?)? You can absolutely have a personal brand and work for others. We work with lots of employees in corporate America. The key is: 1) knowing who you are and what your personal brand is, 2) knowing what the corporate/business brand is and 3) blending your personal brand well to represent the corporate brand well.
Katy Goshtasbi, JD
Founder
Puris Image
Read our Blog: http://purisimage.com
