How Important is your Personal Brand? A brand is a way for companies to let customers know what to expect. A lot of time is spent building a brand and its image so that customers feel that they know what they’re getting. In this way, each person is also a brand. How they present themselves is a good indication of what people can expect from them. Personal branding is becoming more and more important as it is necessary for standing out from the crowd. As more people invest in their personal brands, more people must do so to keep up. The entire image consultant certification industry has become a powerhouse now that so many people see the importance of their personal brands.
The Expansion of Personal Brands
The personal brand has always been important, but never as important as it is today. The expansion of our brands into the online sphere has made it easier than ever to see a person’s persona before you even meet them. A full 48% of employers look at the social media usage of their employees, and 70% look at these accounts before hiring employees. This makes your social media presence a vital part of your image. The image that people cultivate online isn’t just for fun- it has a lot to do with their brand and how they are perceived in the real world. This makes it more important than ever to put effort into creating a brand that conveys the right image for their skills and situation.
It’s important to know exactly what will come up if someone Googles your name. Often, your social media accounts will come up first. However, anything else that you do under your own name can come up. Make sure that you carefully craft anything that will appear online so that it gives the right appearance. A blog, guest posting and being tagged in photos are also ways that your name can come up, so be careful about what they contain. Having your own website is a good way to project a professional image and tie together your online presence. A Google search should bring up information that you have crafted to reinforce your personal brand.
Personal Branding and Communication
Part of the reason for personal branding and its effects on those who perceive them is the communication it does. Your image says a lot about you as a person, so it should never be left to chance. The way you conduct yourself and how you style your look tell people a lot about what they can expect from you. Your brand, when done correctly, builds a stronger communication between you and those you work with. No matter what your personal brand is, it is always communicating to those around you, so it can’t be left to chance. A poor personal brand is one that communicates negative aspects about you to others. Instead, the image should be crafted in order to highlight the positive and give you an air of competence, reliability and more.
The exact communication that it does for a person should depend on the industry they are in and the position that they have. It’s also important to the position that they want. If you are seeking a higher position, a personal brand that exudes the necessary traits can help you to show that you are a good fit for that position.
Brands and Business
To see just how important, it is to have a personal brand, think about the biggest companies that you do business with as well as the celebrities that you admire. What they all have in common is a carefully built presence that calls to mind a number of things about them. A large brand, such as Apple, may have one person who represents the brand with a specific persona. (Diazepam) Celebrities carefully create an image that communicates a lot about them. Whether consumers know it or not, much of the buying they do and the companies they choose to do business with has to do with the image that is created around the brand. The same concept is in force when it comes to personal branding. People want to like who they do business with, and they want to know what they’re getting.
The rise of CEOs and their images is a part of this trend. People are 82% more likely to place their trust in a company when its CEO posts on social media. This has made it more important than ever to use online tools to create an image and to use it to reinforce your in-person image.
Building the Brand
A lot goes into building a personal brand. From etiquette to grooming to choosing your clothing, it’s all a part of the same package, and it all communicates with others. If you are interested in helping others to build and grow their personal brands, London Image Institute can help. With classes available to help you learn to be an image consultant, you will learn the many parts of personal brands and how to craft each of them to create the right image. It’s a powerful way to both help others to succeed and to build your own success.
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