Brand Yourself

Today’s marketplace is crowded with smart, talented executive lookalikes — here’s how to have an extra edge

IT IS time for all of us to turn ourselves into brand names. “Shameless marketing”, teaches you to combine personal branding with entrepreneurship for revolutionary success. It covers everything from generating free publicity (then truly profiting from it) to advertising on the cheap, forming strategic alliances to capitalising on non-traditional sales channels.

Shameless marketing exponents are people who are very comfortable talking about themselves — but in a way that doesn’t put people off.

How comfortable are you about talking about yourself? Shameless marketing means you have the ability to communicate “who you are and what you bring to the table, unashamedly”. Can you talk about yourself, sharing your skills and abilities? Can you say with confidence: “I am the best candidate for the job?”

Imagine that you have a reputation so strong — and you convey it so well — that the marketplace comes to you. It recognises your personal value and seeks you out for your unique talents and accomplishments.

Imagine standing apart from your peers, utterly confident in expressing your distinctiveness as a business leader and human being.

In the new working world, your reputation, or personal brand, is the currency that sets you apart.

Whether you are looking to move up the corporate ladder at your current organisation, seeking a position at another company, making a major career change or starting your own enterprise, a personal brand works like a magnet, attracting all the visibility and opportunity you need to achieve your goals.

Personal branding is a strategy that allows you to shape (or reshape) how others perceive you, create visibility and drive demand for your services. It is about letting your business colleagues — and the world, for that matter — know exactly what you stand for.

Your brand synthesises your business themes and accomplishments as well as your personal attributes in a way that powerfully conveys who you are. It is based on your authenticity — and held in the hearts and minds of those around you.

At this point, you might be wondering if every executive needs a personal brand. The answer is yes, yes, and yes!

If you want to thrive at the highest levels of corporate life and build a legacy of contribution and change, you need to manage your career with the same “mission- critical” mentality that you bring to your business initiatives. A personal brand is an integral part of such career management.

And even if you are happy where you are, and have no plans to “move up and out”, your brand is the insurance that you won’t fade into the corporate woodwork.

In fact, think of it this way: after all of your years of hard work and accomplishment, you owe yourself a compelling personal brand.

The ball is now in your court.

— Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by David Wee, the founder and CEO of DW Associates / Asia Speakers Bureau (ASB).