Professional branding is an intentional effort to create an identity around your personality and your career. It is a process of developing and building your reputation combining your strength, skills, experience, and personality into a brand that is memorable and authentic.
This allows you to develop strategies and craft messages to communicate with your intended audience whether online or in-person. Professional branding positions you as an authority in your industry while elevating your credibility as an impactful professional.
Whether you’re an employee or an entrepreneur, cultivating and investing in your professional brand will bring long-lasting benefits to both your career and your personal life as well as help open opportunities for you in the future. It will also enable you to make decisions that are in line with your values and save you from wasting time on activities that do not resonate with your brand identity and overall purpose.
Merits of building a professional brand:
- Helps you Stand out – Professional branding is what separates you from your other colleagues in the same industry or the rest of the people trying to make it in your field of work. Building a professional brand allows you to be different from the rest and gives you added advantage.
- Builds Credibility – A professional brand is what makes people want to listen to you. This is because you’ve communicated your skills, experience and values and people know what you represent and have authority to speak on.
- Attract your Ideal Audience – Through building an authentic professional brand either online or offline, you would attract the kind of audience who would be interested in learning from you and more importantly you would be making an impact on their professional life too.
- Ability to Influence – When you build a brand for yourself and your career, you gradually become an influencer in your field. You establish authority and grow an audience for yourself. By creating a strong brand, you are able to build a level of trust and connection that would make you influence people’s decisions.
- Open to Bigger Opportunities – When you are perceived as a professional brand by your client, employer, followers, and others, you attract opportunities such as promotions, jobs, new clients and grow your network.
How are you building your professional brand? Share with us in the comment section below.
