Have you ever wondered whether you watch a movie just because you know that it has an actor of your liking or follow only certain celebrities on Instagram. What makes you choose only a few of them and leave the rest? What makes you inclined towards certain dealers and spare the rest? All humans are flesh and blood but interestingly each comes with a unique identity card. When we say ‘brand’ we mean a product which has distinguished features capable enough of creating its own space in the market. No two brands are ever same. The same story goes for a human being. Though we may appear as identical products manufactured by a common factory outlet but fortunately, we are endowed with a tendency to become a ‘brand’ by finding our own space and sometimes creating it. This unique imprint which makes us a brand in market of life is what we call as personal branding. The interesting thing about personal branding is that it comes into play behind our backs, when we are not around. It comes in the form of ideas, opinions and critical appreciation by others of our kind. The entire concept of personal branding focuses on “being you”. It is not difficult because it comes naturally to us.
To understand the essence of personal branding , we must know that it does not mean adding some external attributes to yourself or imitating other brands( other humans with specific qualities) but rather being comfortable in our own skin, bring out what is inside us and striving to become the best version of ourselves. In market of life, you won’t ever succeed if you are just a photocopy of the original.
Importance of Personal Branding
The next question which pops inside our mind is that “what is the purpose of personal branding?” let me answer this question by stating an example , suppose you are a business woman or man and wish to get clients , then in a world full of other business people of the same kind , what is your probability of getting a client ? I guess it would be negligible. Here , Personal Branding comes into play where your unique “you” is identified by other people , you are able to stand out from others , it builds up your credibility, make you trustable because you are displaying your authentic side which is one in a million with no imitation. People shall come to you because your power of influence shall increase manifold and you might be look upon as a person of expertise. All these traits shall nurture your business and will eventually make you successful. Personal branding makes you a brand of a kind and once you realize it, your professional as well as personal life may change forever. The art of personal branding will not make you something artificial but it will lead you to your real, authentic self. In a world full of great business people, to make your own space is difficult but not impossible because if you tap the power of personal branding, you will surely become one in a million.
You need to identify your own personal set of characteristics with a powerful copyright. To make it easy for readers, here is a road map to follow
Four steps of personal branding
1. Ask yourself “what legacy you wish to leave behind?”
It encompasses the intangible characteristics that we own like our principles, beliefs skills and the kind of image we wish to create for ourselves. It also includes the vision one has of what people would say when we are gone forever. One must remember that materialistic stuff will not last long, it is the intangible legacy which wins the race. Don’t limit your thought to this world, target infinity when it comes to personal branding. Very often people feel afraid of being themselves but we need to overcome this because to fail in originality is better than to succeed in imitation.
2. Ask yourself “Who am I today?”
The second step is to identify your differentiating factors which makes you stand out from others Identify your skills, evaluate your current knowledge and behaviour. After gathering all relevant information, lets form a brand charter of the necessary behaviour, skill and knowledge. just like for making tea we decide two cups of water, one glass of milk, two table spoons of tea and so on. It is like creating a brand statement for yourself by writing down all about yourself what you are today.
After forming the brand charter, one must not only create a brand statement but also be one, live it each day and walk towards excellence.
3. Ask yourself “What do you think of yourself?”
One must understand that thoughts become reality. If you think yourself as a confident person, then it will be reflected through your body language and if you are lacking confidence or have negative thought patterns then it will manifest itself in your language, gestures and even behaviour. E.g. People who have low confidence seek approval more than a confident person. We must know what are we projecting outside.
4. Ask yourself “What do other people think of us?”
It is a true notion that our experiences create our beliefs. What we see becomes reality for us. Belief further leads to action. So, for instance, if a person whom you have met before treats you in a certain way then his behaviour towards you is the result of his beliefs and his beliefs are formed on basis of their past experience with you. So, one must remember that the way we behave in front of people determine the kind of experience they have of us. People form experience of us on basis of 5 criterion which are
- Appearance-which type of clothes suits us in a certain frame of time and place, for example , if one wears a glittering dress for funeral then one shall become the object of ridicule, so one must choose clothes in which we feel comfortable, add creativity to your clothes , have your own personal way of dressing and grooming, don’t just imitate , create your own statement. Cultural differences must also be kept in mind while choosing clothes.
- Behaviour – check out what my behaviour ought to be in a certain situation and it must remain consistent over time, inconsistency is misunderstood and incomprehensible.
- Communication Skills-Have strong communication skills because speech is the way to your inner self. Choose words wisely.
- Digital presence- In a digital world, one must keep oneself updated, so keep pace with social media, if not completely involved, you must have a taste of it. The type of gadgets you choose, doesn’t matter if they are cheap but they must be kept well.
- Etiquette and gestures-Where words fail, gestures and etiquette speak, so they must be in alignment with your behaviour and behaviour must be in alignment with thought.
Branding is natural, people will brand you either way, they will attach attributes to you, so if the process is unstoppable, then why not do it consciously. Manifest your own reality with personal branding.
We will be probing inside each point in an extensive manner in our next article. If you wish to ask anything about personal branding, feel free to contact us at me@nanditapandey.com. You can also follow us on Instagram (nandita_pandey_) or Facebook (coachnandita)