How effective is personal branding? By Rudra Tiwari, Dehradun, India

 

                               How effective is personal branding?

Introduction: Branding become the foremost to promote the products and its meaning is extended now a days. Every product, service, events and also the people are branded which appeal the interest of the customers. But there are few studies about the personal branding. So my research is on the effects of personal branding as it appeals me the most because of few studies as I wanted to do my personal investigation about the effects of personal branding. During my investigation I found about personal branding, its literature reviews. Effects of personal branding are also researched with the tips while doing personal branding. It has been seen that offline personal branding are not having good deals but when I investigated the online personal branding I found that the online personal branding is more effective during my research. So in my research I am discussing about the offline as well as online personal branding. During my investigation I found that offline personal brands shifted to online personal brand after the rise of Web 2.0 but it became difficult to have control over the personal information. There are many personal branding literatures which are mentioned about the rise of personal branding but much attention was not paid.

The main objective of this research paper is to provide the answers of few questions like what is personal branding according to the young professionals. What is the difference between the perspectives given by the people who are engaged in personal branding with people who are not? I took some interviews during my investigation from the experts and the people about the personal branding. I searched many websites, and also read many journals along with the books about ‘how effective is personal branding’. I found the answers of my question after contrasting the views of the people whom I interviewed. The first part of the paper consisted of the literature reviews about personal branding which form the starting point for the research. This is followed by my research of online and offline personal branding through interview and the  effectiveness of the personal branding. Then there are some tips which should be followed while personal branding, methodology of the interview is also given and the actual results of the research with the conclusion with all the answers of the research.

1.     About personal branding and the literature views about it

1.1  Definition and its origin: personal branding is described as “a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service” by Olin (2003) in his article On Brand which is a limited definition as he forgot to add person in his definition. As we all know that a brand not only consisted of the information which is connected to the company, products or service but there should be the information about the person too. However according to (Lair, Sullivan and Cheney 2005: 311) personal branding is “emerged as a movement in the late 1990s at a time when observers of both the corporate communication and employment worlds were making similar but largely independent observations about the increasingly complex and chaotic nature of each environment”. Tom peter is the funding father of the concept personal branding as he was the first person who popularized personal branding (Labrecque, Markos and Milne 2011: 38),but according to (Lair, Sullivan and Cheney 2005: 318) Montoya claims for the concept in 1997. It is accepted that peter who the person who originated personal branding literature as he wrote an article in 1997 the brand called you. He wrote about that success depends upon the glossy packaging of the self and the unrelenting pursuit of attention and not upon the specific skills or motivation (Hearn, 2008).

In my views this definition is not appropriate as personal branding is not just selling yourself but marketing and branding both are important, but they are just creating wishes and not the needs. A heavily marketed product should rely on its quality because if they are not fulfilling the quality then its reputation will be negative which affects the surrounding. So one should be careful about the unrelenting pursuit of attention in an era where communication is so easy that one faux can damage the whole reputation.

Personal branding is for all: anyone can be engaged in personal branding as it become “a generalizable model of profitable self-production for all individuals” (Hearn (2008)).on the other and many people believed that personal branding cannot be practiced by everyone as Lair, Sullivan and Cheney (2005) for instance, emphasize “personal branding does not appear to be for everyone, nor does it send the message that it is”. But I totally disagree with this statement as everyone can be engaged in personal branding. Wee and Brooks (2010) argued that personal branding needs the discipline which is necessary to define the personal brand.

Literature reviews about effects of personal branding: There are many views which focus on the individual’s use and maintaining to continue the personal branding as their career. Personal branding is a commerce brand so in personal branding is the collective representation to attract the audience. Labrecque, Markos and Milne in 2011 also showed “personal branding is to promote and capture the uniqueness and strength to a target public on their audience.” Personal branding makes the individual to establish himself as well as teach them to more determine to learn about becoming an asset. Barnett (2010) also explains “self branding is actually thinking of an individual person as a brand- a specified product that actually cab be viewed as creativity and strategically in job market.”

1.2  Results of the research

Methodology: qualitative research: During my research the targeted group is some young professionals who have just started their profession and the other group who organizes several networking events for this group. I targeted a group who do not have knowledge about personal branding and the other group who is having the knowledge about personal branding so that I can differentiate the perspectives of the professionals of both the groups. I called ‘newcomers’ to the professionals who are new and ‘expert’ to the professionals who are experts. I selected the people whom I knew that they are active on social media but they are not familiar of personal branding. And the other group is a group of professionals who are the experts of personal branding. All were interviewed.

Questions asked during the interview: the questions asked by the groups were same. They were about the personal branding and its effects. The interview started with the general question which was preceded by some specific questions on online as well as offline personal marketing. Finally the two types of branding and its effects were compared of each group.

Results: this interview showed the discrepancy between the newcomers and the experts. According to the newcomers personal branding is something that we should live and can do all the time, they also responded that they were not engaged in any personal branding or any networking. The only thing which they did was excepting the invitation on the social networking sites. On the other hand the experts said that personal branding is putting you in the market in all kind of ways. They also confirmed that everyone is having their personal brand consciously or not. Newcomers describe personal branding in limited ways but the experts described as the tool for searching a job. They have totally different mentality from the new comers as they stressed that they enjoyed helping people which automatically resulted in helping in return who make the mutual relationship with the people which benefitted the personal branding and opens the door for new orders. One newcomer said that personal branding is not spreading news but making it. The experts answered that it is full time activity to give attention to personal branding action.

Online personal branding: according to the research there are three main social medias for personal branding that are face book, twitter and LinkedIn but there are also some more online media like blog and a website like in the Google⁺ there are lots of interviews and search engines, videos, photos, comments which can be used as a tools for the personal branding.

Offline personal branding: offline personal branding is often forgotten and also overlooked in literature but it is as important as the online personal branding. The different aspect in which I focused are the possibilities for promoting yourself on networking events , CV , motivational letter and the elevator pitch with job interviews.

My research showed that the new comers are less aware of the facts about the personal branding about the offline personal branding and their preference goes to online personal branding only on the other hand experts do realize about the online as well as offline personal branding and their importance. They also concluded that offline personal branding guarantees more qualitative connections than online personal branding. But on the other hand online personal branding is much faster and easier for the centralization of the information about you more quickly.

Effectiveness of personal branding: Develop a personal brand ensures that a person I actually not left behind within the process of job selecton and that he is developong the competon benefits that actual position him for the actual opprtunity of the career which he deserve (horton. 2010)

personal branding become an important part for hiring process as many companies are using opportunities of social media and the search engine as a tool to hire the employees for the company. According to Labrecque, Markos and Milne in 2011 explain “tool which are online have actually allowed the personal branding to become a crucial marketing work for everyday people.” According to the personal brand premises every person are allowed for the personal branding and have the opportunities to brand himself. There are many other benefits of personal branding as

1.     Leadership quality: Personal branding also provides a clear focus on the personal development as a leader. This quality works for the career success which allows the individual to pursue his passion. The new bonding of mutual understanding becomes the potential for the person to the new height of success. Creating a strong brand benefit the person as a natural leader which makes the people look to you as a firm leader. This boosting opens the doors of unique opportunities that would otherwise remain in dark. In the same way when the person finds success throughout the career naturally pushes him to take a strong decision. These leadership qualities naturally resulted in success and the branding will interest every  act with one another which can be launched as a career in new directions which will be very exciting.

2.     Overall standards increase: the standards and the success is increase with the increase of the improvement in brand just about increase. The direction is conductive to the progressive mindset which the people find through branding is the one which raises the expectations. The mindset is the most powerful thing which characterized the entrepreneur. So it is not acceptable about the status quo but it is necessary to move forward to think outside the box. Leaders are the one who never satisfied with the current state, they always determined to the personal branding which comes to raise their standards and dives their team move forward to more growth.

Stand in front of the pack: there is a requirement of degree in something which understand you need that what do you want to do as it is not possible for anyone who can establish himself without credentials. The only thing in this is that everyone’s thinking has the same extend looks to establish themselves. There is nothing unique about a business degree. But when we are talking about the personal branding we should think about unique which fulfills the demand if the targeted audiences. The parking app passport – Daniel Bliley says, “Branding today is as much about consistently delivering on your promise as it is about differentiation. You have to position yourself in unique ways in order to stand out from others. You have to meet all of the subconscious expectations and go beyond the mundane to truly impress. If we have the unique personal and professional history with the natural ability to enhance the culture of the company and we can look better than any other people. So it depends upon the unique thinking of the individual. So First of all, the individual should have power statements positioning statement before doing personal branding like

·       Who is the target audience?

·       Who are the competitors?

·       How different I am?

·       What are the befit which I can bring?

·       What are the proofs which support my offers?

There are some tips which the individual have to follow to build a strong brand. They are

1.     Know your target audience: the most important factor in communication and branding knows about the targeted audience. We should know every minute things about the target audience which is fist step of personal branding so that we cabin figure out to which our brand should speak. They are recruiters or the hiring managers, or the brand leaders, or single men who are living near you so the main target is to target the target audience which requires goods listening skills as well as lots of patience and patient observation with research about the audience.

2.     Authenticity: one should be true to know themselves to resist the tendency to be too humble. One should be confident and aspiration but not arrogant. He should set the stretch goal for him to make sure that you are promising the same things which you are delivering and presenting the work as you are. There is no problem if the individual is not a market expert but you should be resourceful and can do learners and workers. It will not fit for the personal branding if you are unbeatable and shares the serious nature of the approach. Knowing the target is good for you. So one should understand the importance of authenticity as it is the key reason of the success of the personal branding. if the product is authentic to what the company promised to the customer hen it will result in positive reputations and good reviews in the market but if the product is not fulfilling the demand of the customer which the company promised then no matter how good the product is but this one mistake will spoil all the reputation of the product as well as the company and it is very difficult to gain the trust of the audience again. so one should understand the importance of the authenticity.

3.     Stand out: the individual have to do the SWOT analysis with any strategic exercise in which he can understand the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the company. This analysis is very important for the competition so that they can focus on the weaknesses as well grab the opportunity to increases the strength of the products. The person should ask others about the competitors and other research as personal branding can’t be done alone. Entrepreneurship is the art of the pitch which can be developed as an intro-mercial.so one should understand the weakness and the threats very well during making the strategies so that the strategic planning is done in such a way that these weaknesses can be controlled to compete the market competitors by making the strong personal branding.

4.     Purpose: every personal branding brings the matter to the targeted audience for the profits for the company. So one should have an ideas of the main purpose of the branding so there should be a sight of an idea of WIIFM( what’s in it for me). The brand is established for both for yourself as well as to win over the others. So the person should connect to the level which satisfied the personal message as well as the demand of the targeted audiences. The best ability of any interaction and communication can be demonstrated by the own feeling during the branding which has the benefits for all. The authenticity of the brand comes out naturally with these feelings. The personal brand should be flexible with the changes as the ideas grow which bring the different capabilities and approaches to whatever the person do.

5.     The call to action: there is call to action whatever you have prepared and planed during your personal branding. This is very important for the branding. So a call of action is what you want to do with your planning. I order to get your plans executed you must know the answers of some questions like what you want, do you want a job, or the personal branding relationship, in which area who are expertise and how can you raise the capital? So the greatest first step in making a strong branding is the setting of the stage for this. One should share his personal brand by connecting and asking for the dates, funds and the jobs or the sale for the personal branding.

Developing personal brand: There is suggestion given by Morton (2012) to develop personal branding. He suggested that it is necessary to develop a biography as processional in which there are statements which includes about the personal branding’s mission, vision and passion

Which is then assisted by the emplyers in making the decisions for what they actually are looking for. After poreparing these statements then come to the profile of the brand which expands the concept of the branding according to the established statements. After focussing these two thngs a curricular vitae is prepare on the possible chances of the personal branding efforts which have proven succesfully.after all these an interviwe will be conducted to show about the personality of the individual which is matched to the personal branding.

Maintaining a personal brand: bitti, (2007) expalined about the comments on other and also craeting a blog to start an individual consideration among the people’s brand as one of the rcongnizedcpersonality pr autority.

Personal brand for career success: Schawel (2010) explained that a consumer is linked to a specified product having a particular business or corporation then he actually tried to tent of the business and the corporation o the positive aspects. The effective personal branding not only reflect the value which are set by the corporation but also the individuals also.

Conclusion: so it is concluded that the vast majority of young professionals are aware of the recruiters and the potential employers through internet but some professionals do not understand the potential of the concept of personal branding that the recruiters are also checking them out. This research gave the answer of the question which was asked, “What is personal branding according to the young professionals. What is the difference between the perspectives given by the people who are engaged in personal branding with people who are not?”by the interviews and the views of different professionals throughout the research. The answer of the question about the effects of the personal branding is also given in the research with some tips which should be followed by the personal branding. According to the interviews the expert explained about the importance of the versatility of personal branding by the personal information as well as professional information. It is not only differentiate yourself in a job context but also promote you to distinguish yourself from others by sharing knowledge by showing your different capabilities with to think different and exercise, humour and other things liking helping other which resulted in help from others In return which is benefited during personal branding as they gives you the consumers for the brand. Experts also explained that it is important to be visible and identifiable maintaining the authenticity of the product. New comers focused on in general about the personal branding literature on the other hand experts regarded as the online as well as offline personal branding are equally important.it is conclude that the main effect of the personal branding is the leadership quality as Personal branding provides a clear focus on the personal development as a leader. This quality works for the career success which allows the individual to pursue his passion. The new bonding of mutual understanding becomes the potential for the person to the new height of success. Creating a strong brand benefit the person as a natural leader which makes the people look to you as a firm leader. This boosting opens the doors of unique opportunities that would otherwise remain in dark. In the same way when the person finds success throughout the career naturally pushes him to take a strong decision. These leadership qualities naturally resulted in success and the branding will interest every act with one another which can be launched as a career in new directions which will be very exciting. It is also concluded that the use of knowledge or information to the development and personal branding lays an important role in controlling the target audience point of view of their personal brand. Establishing a desirable image of the source of themselves to their audience is equally important. audience and public point of views are very important for personal branding. So studying abbot the tactics and strategies which is used to maintain and create a personal branding will be benefit for the jobseekers that actually wanted to maintain an image of their target public as well as assist them in their successful career.

References:

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