A key principle of marketing is to find something unique about what you offer as
basis of your sales message. Even if what you offer is a commodity, there is always one thing unique in your business -- you. A big error made by many Real Estate Agents and Brokers is to try to develop an institutional image like most big companies. People do not like to do business with institutions; they like to do business with people.
In advertising terms, branding is "image" created in minds of people when they see or hear a name, product or logo. Companies invest a lot of money in creating and maintaining their brand, but Internet has sparked a new trend called "Personal Branding".
Personal branding isn't only important for promoting a product, business or political cause, but also for promoting yourself for advancement within your own organization. It involves developing your personal reputation.
Branding can be done to any product, or any person. Before undertaking an exercise in personal branding, however, consider your distinctive strengths and abilities and what they offer market place. Traditionally personal branding was for sporting celebrities who gained enormous coverage and following through their sporting prowess. Movie stars have also had celebrity status and association since movies began.
A personal brand is about creating strong, favorable associations in minds of people that you encounter. If you don’t actively do this, they will still make associations. Therefore, it may be better to be proactive and undertake branding exercise for yourself, you cannot control what they think but can give them some information to assist with associations.
WHY BRANDING OURSELVES?
- Places you in a leadership role
- Enhances prestige
- Attracts right people and right opportunities
- Adds perceived value to what you are selling
- Earns recognition
- Associates you with a trend
- Increases your earning potential
- Differentiate yourself from competition
- Position your focused message in hearts and minds of your target customers
- Confers top of mind status
- Increases authority and credence of decisions
HOW DO WE BRAND OURSELVES?
Like any branding exercise, key to personal branding is having a good product, one which you understand and pitch to right market. The first step in personal branding is knowing who you are, find out what strengths your brand possesses and how these strengths can help you. Personal branding is not about presenting a façade to public; a poor product will not stand up to market scrutiny. This is also a choice of brand elements, people you deal with, look that you have, and how you conduct yourself. Once this has been done, determine what you are going to offer. As a product what do you do, what need does product of you satisfy in market. Next figure out position you will take in audience of your mind. What unique space do you wish to occupy and what unique associations do you want people to recall when they think of you?
Finally, once you have established first three steps, manage your brand over its lifecycle. That is keep visible, be consistent and be yourself. According to Montoya, well-known personal branding guru, key to managing your personal brand is word-of-mouth (WOM), most trusted form of communication.
How does one go about building a personal brand? Recognize your personal strengths and gifts! Think about how you best connect with people, consider what your target audience needs and wants, identify value you deliver to meet those needs and wants, and communicate in a way that reaches your constituents in their hearts and minds and via channels that work best for you
