'You are your own product.'
If you think marketing and branding
are concepts only relevant to businesses, you are wrong. What
companies like Virgin, Nike and Coca-Cola do on a global scale,
you can apply to your career.
The high achievers in the world of business, entertainment
and sport see the power of corporate branding strategies and
apply them to their careers. You can do the same. In the words
of marketing and branding guru Tom Peters, ‘we
are CEOs of our own companies: Me Incorporated. To
be successful, our most important job is to be head marketer
for the brand called ‘you’.’
You may be thinking that this branding stuff
is all very well for the likes of Madonna or David Beckham,
but it has nothing to do with me. Do you make a special effort
with your appearance when you are going out or going for a job
interview? Most people do because they want to make a good impression
or to be accepted by their peers. What you are doing is actively
working on your brand, as you want to create a certain image
so people will think of you in a certain way.
Personal Branding is the process that takes
your skills, personality and unique characteristics and packages
them into a powerful identity that lifts you above the
crowd.
The reality is we are all branded by other
people whether we like it or not. It can’t be avoided.
It just depends on whether you proactively create your own brand
or leave it to chance and are branded by others. In other words,
‘brand or be branded.’
Read
on to discover 6 questions that will help you to conscioulsy
create your own brand
'In an age where the ‘job for life’
concept has been replaced with career mobility, the ability
to determine your own brand is vital in terms of your career
success.'
