Stand out from the crowd

/ 01 July 2009

In an increasingly competitive world, the strength of your image is crucial in marketing what you have to offer. So how do you go about creating a powerful personal brand? Scott Beagrie explains how to promote Me Incorporated

Easily 20 years have passed since Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister but the Iron Lady’s identity and personal style are so distinct that if a group of disparate individuals were asked to define her qualities, there would be a high level of agreement. In short, she has a personal brand. And although you may not know it yet, so do you.

‘Everyone has one, whether you are charismatic and successful or a nobody,’ says Diana Soltmann, CEO of public relations consultancy Flagship Consulting. ‘In business, if no one has heard of you, that is your brand. So that’s the worst kind of personal brand to have.’

The concept of personal branding is thought to have emerged 12 years ago in a magazine article written by management guru Tom Peters. Likening individuals and their careers to consumer products that can be bought and sold, Peters marked a shift in thinking from the self-help, self-improvement route to success to one of self-promotion (he called it ‘self-packaging’), where you alone are in control of the way you are perceived by others.

Today, masters of the personal brand watch over how they are perceived as zealously as the likes of Marks & Spencer, British Airways, Coca-Cola and Disney. But Soltmann stresses that it is not an easy ride and to do it effectively requires hard work and constant monitoring. ‘You have to take the view that you are CEO of your company, Me Incorporated,’ she says. ‘Your most important job is to be head marketer for Brand You, so it’s nobody’s fault except your own if it goes funny.’

It’s ironic that at a time when the world of business is at great pains to appear more human, people are increasingly behaving like companies. Nevertheless, your career progression could depend on it. So where do you start in creating a strong personal brand and how do you manage it?

As a starting point, Peters advocates adopting the same approach as brand managers at major corporations. This means summing up, in 15 words or less, what it is you offer that makes your products and services different. If the description is unlikely to wow a prospective employer or client, your brand needs some development.

‘You need to have a clear picture of who you are, what you represent and why anybody else should be interested in what you can offer,’ says David James, executive professor of marketing and growth management at Henley School of Management.

Size up your status

You also need to be aware of how others see you as a brand. Tessa Hood, founder and principal consultant at Changing Gear, a personal branding and change management consultancy, adds: ‘It’s how you are perceived as a brand. Are you a tin of baked beans or are you a Rolls-Royce?’

To find out what your brand standing is, conduct an analysis of your strengths and weaknesses. Solicit feedback from friends, family and trusted colleagues to find out whether they see you in the same light as you see yourself, and whether they would add or detract from your summation. If there’s broad consensus among your network about what they think of you, what you are known for and good at, it’s an indicator that your brand already has some strength.

If it results in a mixed bag of perceptions and opinions, there’s a disconnect between your promise and delivery.

‘Great brands are true to themselves, authentic and represent what their core values are,’ explains James. ‘The same is true for personal brands.’

The genuine article

Apart from being someone who is interesting, challenging and who can make a difference, brand experts stress the importance of being consistent, genuine and likeable. This means remaining true to who you are and what you represent. ‘Personal branding is about everything you do in life so it has to be authentic,’ says Hood. ‘It’s making clear how you can be trusted, that you have integrity and are a professional person of some substance.’

Those who try to project a certain image or model themselves on something other than their real identity will inevitably come unstuck. ‘Sometimes it’s a bit too easy to become beguiled by what you think people are looking for,’ says Ceri Roderick, partner and head of assessment at business psychology consultancy Pearn Kandola. ‘But at some point you have to live out that brand and if it’s always just bluster and front you will be caught out.’

As an example he cites Ben Clarke, the trainee stockbroker and self-proclaimed ‘best candidate’ who was fired in week nine of the BBC’s hit show, The Apprentice.

‘He thought the personal brand was all about being upfront with lots of braggadocio and self-credentialising, when in fact it grated because he didn’t have the self-awareness of how to deliver those messages sympathetically.’

James also questions the wisdom of appearing on a programme like The Apprentice. ‘Why expose yourself and all your weaknesses for the world to see?’ he says. ‘You do pre-judge them and on first meeting they have to start on the back foot. It’s all about making the right choices and thinking about the impact of your behaviour on the brand.’

While The Apprentice has given us plenty of excruciating examples of when to keep your mouth firmly closed, there will undoubtedly be occasions when you need to be more upfront about asserting yourself and your brand. If you know your expertise and experience makes you a good fit for a project or new assignment at work, for instance, push yourself forward and sell yourself.

There will also be occasions when it is perfectly acceptable to overtly promote your brand in public, such as speed-networking or business events where the opportunity arises to give a 60-second ‘elevator pitch’. In such cases, keep your sentences and speech short and make sure you convey precisely how it is you can make a difference. Avoid rambling and, if anything, leave the person wanting to learn more about you.

Flashy, car salesman style self-promotion should be avoided. ‘I would say it is far better to let your solid achievements, knowledge and the goodwill of others build your reputation rather than your mouth,’ says Hood.

Know your audience

Having established your brand identity, the next step is to market yourself. To do this effectively you must first be entirely sure of your target audience and then come up with a focused communications strategy to reach it. Everything you say or do must be relevant and up to date.

Think too about how you can stay ahead of the game and continually look into ways of enhancing your product offering, particularly in relation to the changing demands of your audience and/or markets. If, for instance, your strong point is corporate turnarounds then your brand is clearly going to be desirable during the downturn, so find ways of capitalising on that.

If you have worked in certain roles or at prestigious companies then exploit the kudos of that.

‘The fact that you can get into one of these organisations says a lot about your tenacity, resilience and ability, and that gives you a certain currency,’ says James Underhay, director of career transition at HR consultancy Chiumento.

Spread your word

Both online and offline networking should form a central element of your communications strategy. Put effort into extending the network of people who can recommend you. The emergence of professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, XING, Viadeo and eCademy has made this much easier, and social media websites such as Facebook and YouTube can also help to build your personal brand on an unprecedented scale.

But you must ensure you are consistent when writing and creating your profiles across these networks and apply the same standards as you would to producing a top quality CV. A poorly worded or half-written profile may be enough to enable you to join the network and start building your connections, but it will do little for your brand when people view it, so set aside clear time for the exercise.

Once you’ve launched your brand online, you must manage it properly and ensure your reputation stays intact. While the practice of checking out social networking sites for recruitment purposes is controversial, it does take place and posting what you got up to at the weekend, as amusing as it is to friends, is unlikely to be in the best interests of your brand.

Hood recommends that you restrict your networking to just a couple of sites. ‘Concentrate on those and build up a fantastic profile with a really good network,’ she says. ‘Your network is as important to you as your qualifications. If you make your personal brand a great one and you can develop a fantastic network, the whole world will want to connect with you.’