Company branding is very important in this current day and age. However, a lot of individuals aren’t utilising the importance of personal branding. Personal branding is essentially the practice of marketing yourself and your career as a brand. Tom Peters stated, “to be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You”. Peters recognised the importance of branding yourself, alongside the comparison of branding a corporate company. Each person is an individual and personal branding can allow you to represent this. If you’d like to improve “the brand called you”, here are our top five benefits of personal branding.
- Exploring Individuality
The key word is in the title, “personal” branding, meaning it is all focused around you. Personal branding allows you to showcase yourself as an individual, setting yourself apart from fellow competitors. Online reputation and presence is so important nowadays, developing a personal brand will allow you to discover your authentic voice. Authenticity and originality are key to showcasing your personal brand. This is a way to represent yourself, not just the company you work for.
2. Relatable Consumers
As you’re marketing yourself and not necessarily a company, consumers are more likely able to relate to an individual over a well-branded corporation. Marisa Grimes identified “Ninety-two percent of people trust recommendations from individuals (even if they don’t know them) over companies”. This statistic is outstanding, meaning just from branding yourself as an individual, consumers will relate to you over a company. Adding a personal touch to a brand allows consumers to see a face behind the logo, allowing for relatable customers.
3. Professional Network Expansion
Personal branding is more than online presence and what tweets you post. In terms of reality, this method is guaranteed to benefit your professional network. Along the way, personal branding will help you meet fellow branded individuals. Whether this be through online conversation or networking events, network expansion is integral for your personal brand and establishing yourself in business today.
4. More Likely to be Hired
If you’re looking for a new career venture and/or job, personal branding is an excellent way to make this happen. SHRM identified “eighty-four percent of hiring managers use social media to hire… Ninety-six percent use LinkedIn, and fifty-three percent use Twitter”. Alongside posting jobs on Facebook, LinkedIn etc, companies also headhunt potential candidates via social media. Companies want to see how you’re represented online and incorporating personal branding will improve your chances of employment.
5. Confidence Boost
Finally, developing a personal brand for yourself will certainly elevate self-confidence and how you are represented as an individual. Personal branding will help you discover yourself, your authentic voice, and build credibility in any professional and personal ventures.
After reading our top five benefits of personal branding, we hope you will consider incorporating a personal brand for yourself. Using this method will benefit your reputation online, and set you apart from fellow competitors.
