The trend toward personal branding–as opposed to corporate brand development–has been evident for at least the past few years, if not longer. However, many people still have not paid much (enough) attention to it. If you are one of those who believe personal branding is a flash-in-the-pan fad, I urge you to give the concept another thought. I do not see personal branding as a now-you-see-it/now-you-don’t aspect of savvy career management and well-planned job search campaigns.
Ditch. Dare. Do!–Personal Branding
One of the career-oriented newsletters I receive regularly is “Reach Personal Branding Newsletter – YOUnique.” Today’s edition highlights the upcoming book Ditch. Dare. Do! by Reach Personal Branding’s William Arruda and one of my highly esteemed colleagues, Deb Dib, a CEO coach.
I saw excerpts from the book in a presentation Deb gave at a professional conference I attended last fall, and I am definitely planning to read the book as soon as it becomes available (I’ve put my name and email address on their advance notification list to make sure I don’t miss it). Even though the book is pitched as being of particular relevance to executives, I’m pretty sure you would find it intriguing and thought-provoking even if you’re not at that level–yet.
The concept behind the book is called 3D Branding (you can see the connection with that in the book’s title). To give you just a teaser about what you can expect from the book, here’s a snippet from the conference presentation:
“What is 3D Branding?
- Personal Branding rEvolution.
- You as a whole 3D person.
- You in your world/work world.
- You as your business/career manager.
- You as a DITCH. DARE. DO! daredevil.”
Note: The apparent mis-capitalization of rEvolution in the first item is actually intentional on the authors’ part. They consider personal branding as an ongoing process and 3D branding as a natural but also amazing outgrowth of that–in other words, an evolution that is really a revolution.
Personal Branding’s Role in Career Management & Job Search
We’re not talking about manufacturing an image that you want to present to the public (employers, in particular), even though it really isn’t “you.” Genuine, effective personal branding has to be based on uncovering the reality of your strengths, your unique value, and other similarly distinctive aspects of who you are.
I’m not a branding expert like William and Deb, but I understand the importance of the concept in today’s environment and do help clients with some aspects of it when we work together. You are probably always going to have competition for the jobs and careers you want to pursue; that’s a fact of life. Other people are bound to find them just as desirable as you do.
What gives you the edge in that competitive employment environment? It starts by identifying your unique message to employers, deciding how to communicate it compellingly to the right people, and having a plan for doing that consistently throughout your career management, including a current or anticipated job search campaign.
If you don’t know “who you are” and what makes you special, you can’t expect employers to figure it out for you. They’ll just move on to whoever is next in line. Your job is to make it difficult–preferably impossible–for them to bypass you without at least agonizing over doing so!
P.S. To find out more about 3D Branding, you can check out the 3D Branding video and sign up for notification about the book’s launch. (Personal note: I don’t get any “payment” for recommending this–I just believe it’s something you should know about.)
