Personal Branding is NOT Image Management

Breaking some myth: 

Personal Branding is not a very talked about subject in India yet, though this is a huge thing in west. Unfortunately, the few so called Personal Branding “companies” in India are primarily into Image consulting while calling it personal branding. This is not only fueling the misconception around it, it primarily amounts to deceiving people with a very wrong notion.

Personal Branding is based on personal goals of individuals which are tuned based on individual strengths, experience, expertise and knowledge for a long term purpose, with a Roadmap and timeline as well as skill-set adjustments.

This also defines the potential  Customer Group the individual might be addressing (example a mid level executive’s CG can be the CEO of the organization; an artist’s CG can be the gallery owners, or a start-up entrepreneur’s CG could be investors or end users ) as well as the positioning that one should take given the above factors (GOTO person, best in the industry, great story writer, etc)

Imagine two beautifully wrapped boxes. One is covered in attractive wrapping paper, but contains only scraps, while the other has unique and excellent gifts inside it.

Image Management is like the first box that deals with your ‘image’ or appearance alone, whereas Personal Branding is essential life or career strategy to make you Unique and Influential in the area of your work or specialization.

Tell The World Your Worth.

A lot of entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals struggle with self-promotion as well as personal brand building.

Most of them struggle because of 2 very costly limiting beliefs - not because they are humble or introvert.

The first is…

“I’m ‘just’ a small operation / one person. No one’s interested in what someone in my position is up to or has to say.”

The other is…

“I know I need to promote myself and build my own brand and influence, but I have no clue how to do it and it seems like a huge job that I’m not up to handling.”

Now think hard : The way things work in the “New Media Age”, you DO ABSOLUTELY have a voice, and people absolutely DO want to learn from your expertise.

And second: Yeah, it can be difficult if you’re trying to build influence from scratch without a solid step-by step plan.

But starting today, let's change that. 
Let's create that plan...

Simplifying Personal Brand

Think of a work situation. Whenever there is a problem with creating a brilliant presentation for any key meetings, everyone goes to Priya; or if everyone gets stuck with some technology at work, the first person they think of is Rahul. And many a times both Priya and Rahul’s KRA doesn’t even include these skills! Yet they do it – because they love it and they have become experts in these skills!

Now, both Priya and Rahul has got something special  – Priya is remembered for her skills in making absolutely killing presentation; and Rahul is the problem solver all things technology.

Both of them are known for these skills and have become the “Go To” persons in their respective fields.

So, what is that special thing that they have? They have something called a Personal Brand! 

What happens when you have a Personal Brand?

First – you become a GO TO person, so your value increases tremendously.

Then, you become a problem solver – that means people will wait outside your door to hire you.

Three, your Prestige goes up in the industry. 

However, in most cases, either people do not understand the importance of a personal brand – because they don’t know yet what makes them the “GO TO” person; or they keep themselves busy in a career which is not their true calling and therefore, cannot utilize the true value of a personal brand!

It is also to be remembered that a Personal Brand doesn’t work if you do not know how to articulate it and communicate it to your target audience.

Therefore, Personal Brand needs lots of effort, planning and sincere execution to arrive at the result that you set out with in the first place.

 So, How to build a Personal Brand? 

Well, write to me atsusmita@thesmartideas.in and we can begin this wonderful process.

Personal Branding - Summed Up

Personal branding describes the process by which individuals, professionals & entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message to achieve a specific goal.  It is also a process of self discovery of your strengths, capabilities, passions, likes and interest – that contribute positively to your professional, social and personal life.

In this way, an individual can

• enhance their recognition as experts in their field, 

• establish reputation and credibility,

• advance their careers, and

• build self-confidence. 

Personal Branding is NOT Image Management.

The term personal brand is believed to have first appeared in the August 1997 issue of Fast Company Magazine, in an article by management guru and author Tom Peters, who wrote,

"We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."

13 Things that You Didn't Know about Personal Branding

Personal Branding…

1. Personal Branding is the expression of your values and how you deliver them to others
2. Personal Branding is how you define yourself and the work you do
3. Personal Branding is what people experience when they meet you face to face
4. Personal Branding is your virtual piece of real estate in the minds of others
5. Personal Branding is what others say about you when you’re not in the room
6. Personal Branding is the process of how we present and market ourselves to others
7. Personal Branding helps generate chemistry and allows decision makers to assess whether to hire or work with you
8. Personal Branding links your strengths, passions, and key attributes with your value proposition, in a crystal clear message that differentiates your unique promise of value from your peers and resonates with your target audience
9.  Personal Branding is your “golden ticket”, allowing you to do the work you were meant to do
10. Personal Branding is your foundation in business, in personality, and in life
11. Personal Branding is about standing out, not blending in
12. Personal Branding is a promise
13. Personal Branding is the CORE of YOU

Let's get started with Personal Branding

Personal Branding is the continuous process which when properly executed can help individuals differentiate themselves by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition (brand promise) in the minds of their target customers in order to achieve a specific goal.

Therefore, Personal Branding involves 4Ws & 1H:

•        who you really are (your skills, values, passions and personality),
•        what do you do (your offering, expertise)
•        who do you do it for (your target market or audience), and
•        why you  ( how you differ from the competition through your unique promise of value, experience, knowledge).
•        how do you do it (articulation, communication and positioning)

A successful Personal Brand creates a consistent, targeted positive impression that helps you achieve BOTH your personal and professional goals. Most importantly, it also allows you to live and work authentically, since a successful brand can’t be faked.

Very simply put Personal Branding is about understanding who you are and what you stand for. And then blending this with personal aspect of you with what you do (the professional you).

Nothing can be more unique than that -  because you are unique and so should be your offerings.

Therefore, your Personal Brand is what separates you from everyone else in the world – and your Personal Brand is the thing that helps you stand out from the competition.

Ready to work on your Personal Brand now?

15 Simple Tips for an Awesome & Memorable Personal Brand

1. Find one thing that you do really well or you want be known as the Master of.
2. Put A Roadmap: Write down your Objectives in terms of where you want to reach with this expertise of yours. Do you pick up a new skill? or relearn some old ones? Do you need to unlearn some of your old baggage to move forward?
3. Get Visible – talk & write about your skill as often as you can. Keep stock of your accomplishments.
4. Build Relations (and Not Networks) and help others first without asking for help.
5. Have a Smart Plan for your Social Media -  Think well what you want others to think of you if everyone of them is your potential customer.
6. Look Successful – Wherever you go, look your best. It is said that to be Successful, you MUST look successful.
7. Stay Curious – Keep Learning as much as you can on your field of interest; and some more. You want to be able to strike a smart conversation with others even if they don’t know anything about your field of work. That makes you interesting.
8. Be a Problem Solver – When offering your services, try to find out what kind of problem can you solve for your customers. Now, can you become the only solution to that problem?
9. Create an apprenticeship – If you are just starting your career, find someone who can guide you on your dream career. Make this part of your objective (point 2)
10. Invest time in people who invest in themselves  - These are the people who shall someday change the world. Be in that club.
11. Ask for help – Be shameless about it. Ask and you shall get. If you don’t, no one knows what you need.
12. Partner with others – Does your career dream need help from others? Seek them and partner with them.
13. Check Milestone – Keep a close tab on where have you reached on your career milestone.
14. Show Gratitude – Send a Thank You note whenever someone has helped you in your path to your dream career.
15. Build Your Story:  Craft your story so well that your story is better than anyone else’s. And practice your elevator pitch.

Brand Yourself Tips : 1

1. Give everything your all. If you don't put your full effort into your work, you will regret it later. What you get out of life is directly correlated to the effort you put in. This is why it's so important to choose the right type of job and company to work for in the first place. You will naturally gravitate to work that relates to your strengths and interests. 


2. Be ethical. Always do the right thing, even when you think no one is watching. If you aren't honest, it will come back to you and bring you down. You can't fool anyone these days because they can just search online and find the right answers. If you're trustworthy, your network will multiple and you'll be able to sleep well at night. 

What is Personal Branding?

If you Google yourself now, what will you find?

Whatever appears on the Google page, is your Personal Brand.

Personal Branding is not about wearing an expensive suite or having an impressive degree. It is about who you are and what makes you – You.

When you understand what makes you unique, it shall help you to stand out in a crowd  and when you can communicate about your uniqueness rightly to your target customer – the boss, the next hiring company, the investor, your life partner, etc.  – you have built your Personal Brand.

Through Personal Branding you become the GO TO person for your skills, provided you become the only solution to someone’s problem !

Personal Branding is also a way of diminishing the gap positively between what you think of yourself and what others think of you. 

Personal Branding is an internal process where you take stock of your strengths, expertise and capabilities and put them in context to your life’s dream or ambition (The Objective) either in career or otherwise; and then putting up a road map with timelines and deliverable that you need to accomplish to reach your objective.

Personal Branding is an intense process and needs a lifelong commitment. But if done well, it would not take time to see the results happening for you.

Some of the things that Personal Branding can do for you: 

Some of the things that Personal Branding can do for you: 

• ·          Recognize you as an expert in the field
• ·          Establish your reputation and credibility
• ·          Improve your self-confidence
• ·          Gives you Leadership opportunities
• ·          Get you greater mindshare
• ·          Get you higher value for your skills and experience
• ·          Improve recognition and prestige
• ·          Help in Commanding Higher Perceived Value

Embark on your Personal Branding Path now!

Grab your limelight, stay in focus, 24x7!

For your one-to-one Personal Branding session, write to me at susmita@thesmartideas.in

What is a Personal Brand?

Think of a work situation. Whenever there is a need of creating a brilliant presentation for any key meeting, everyone goes to Priya; or if everyone gets stuck with some technology at work, the first person they think of is Rahul. And many a times both Priya and Rahul’s key result area doesn’t even include these skills! Yet they do it – because they love it and they have become experts in these skills!

Now, both Priya and Rahul have got something special – Priya is remembered for her skills in making absolutely killing presentations; and Rahul is the problem solver of all that has to do with technology.

Both of them are known for these skills and have become the ‘Go To’ persons in their respective fields.


So, what is that special thing that they have? 

They have something called a Personal Brand!

What happens when you have a Personal Brand?

First – you become a GO TO person, so, your value increases tremendously.

Then, you become a Problem Solver – that means people will wait outside your door to hire you.

Three, your Prestige goes up in the industry.

However, in most cases, either people do not understand the importance of a personal brand – because they don’t know yet what makes them stand out in today’s competitive market; or they keep themselves busy in a career which is not their true calling and therefore, cannot have a personal brand!


It is also to be remembered that a Personal Brand doesn’t work if you do not know how to articulate it and communicate it to your target audience. It’s about showing the world who you are and what you are best at.


Therefore, Personal Brand needs a lot of effort, planning and sincere execution to arrive at the result that you set out with in the first place.



So, How to build a Personal Brand? Follow us here to learn more…