From employment to solopreneurship to launching your own small business, personal branding is important. Competition is fierce at all levels and it’s important to be able to communicate what makes you different and unique.
This is why you can’t be just a “face in the crowd”. You need to be able to connect the dots from extracting to expressing your personal brand
What is there to sell/share about yourself? What makes you unique? What makes you different? Why should a company hire you, and not one of the other hundred applicants?
Being focused
Perhaps one of the most important things you need to do in order to become a successful personal brand is to be focused. Focus on you goal and stay focused in the way you express and extend your personal brand. Remember that less is more. Trying to share hundreds of things that you’re good at can draw attention away from the true uniqueness of your personal brand.
Here are some tips to help you stay focused on your personal brand:
1. Write down your goals and put them in a place you can see them
There’s something about writing your goals down that really helps you focus on them and keep them in mind. It makes things seem more concrete, rather than just have ideas of what should be done floating around in your mind. Also, when you put them in a prominent place where you can always see them, it really helps motivate you to complete these goals.
2. Make a commitment to keep it brief
My favorite outcome of social media is that we now are forced to hone into the core of a message. There’s no room for flowery and distracting additions to a twitter tweet. A text message, 160 characters, is a great focused way to whittle down how you express what makes you unique. Get good at communicating what makes you so unique in the size of a Twitter tweet and people will listen, remember and repeat your message.
3. Keep yourself motivated
It’s easy to get discouraged and start to begin doubting your skills and abilities, especially when you get rejected. Instead, remember to focus on your goals, think about what you want to achieve, and remain committed to your work. Remember what motivated you to head down this path in the first place and recall the excitement and enthusiasm you had in beginning of this journey. You may even consider getting a partner who will motivate you toward success.
4. Have a plan of action ready, but be willing to be flexible if needed
Having a plan of action is important since this is what’s going to help you achieve your goals. You can write down a step by step plan, which is simple to check once you’ve finished. Of course, even the best laid plans can go awry, so be sure that you remain flexible enough to readjust when needed. Don’t get easily discouraged, and make sure you always have a plan B.
5. Giving up is not an option
Rejecting and failure are a part of growth. You may be tempted to give up in less than a month of applying to jobs or promoting your small business. But if you really want your to succeed, focus on your niche (what you do so well that is uniquely you) and your target market (who you do it to). Stay committed to your goals. Take it one step at a time. Remember to gain someone’s attention be succinct, brief and focused and avoid the masses who get spastic over someone’s attention and literally vomit every piece of information on others about themselves.
You have to know how to market and sell yourself. You have to know how to utilize the resources available to you in order to stand out from the crowd. Be unique, be different. Focus on your goals and take things one step at a time. And, always remember that less is more!
Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm. She helps create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is co-founder and moderator of #brandchat – a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.
