YAISHWARYAJ: {Awareness} Brand Yourself || BrandYOU

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Brand YOU

Do you know Coke-a-cola has an estimated brand equity value of over $77 M, making Coke the number one brand in the world.

You know why does Christmas Santa wear RED? Santa owes his red robe not to an ancient legend or to an early myth but to the Coca Cola Company.
Amazing for a company that sells sugar and water in a can, but there is actually a brand with a higher brand value than Coke.

What is it? Stand up and look in the mirror — the greatest brand in the world is YOU.

Remember, products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.

A client will usually choose someone they've previously heard of to work on their latest project and if you didn't leave an impression that shows you're quite the guru in your field, you're straight out of luck.

Why Personal Branding?
If you don't brand yourself, you can rest assured that others are branding you. We should have control, as much as we can, in determining our reputation, our image and ideas that other people have about us. Here's a partial list of what personal branding can do for you:
-     Differentiate yourself from others in similar fields.
-     Position yourself clearly in the minds of others.
-     Focus your message and your mission.
-      Develop loyalty.
-     Make emotional, visceral connections.

You know that branding is big business for companies and organizations, but when did this whole self-branding or "BrandYou" phenomenon begin?

BrandYou: A Bunch of Dot com Hubris?

No one ever suggested that you can market or "brand" yourself to make up for short comings in your own skill-set or professional portfolio. Likewise, having outstanding skills is a necessary but not sufficient condition.

We all know someone, for example, who is extremely intelligent, educated, and talented, yet lacks (in a big way) the necessary "soft-skills" for connecting with people and "selling" his/her ideas to the key players who could make a real difference.

Personal branding is not about self-promotion and marketing tactics at all. Promotion and marketing are often short-term endeavors which focus you on short-term results. Branding is more fundamental than that. Branding comes first. Branding is what you build your self-promotion and identity program on.

You want people to believe that you are the BEST (perhaps ONLY) solution to their problem.

For example, there are plenty of people who cut hair for a living. It's a huge category. But I have been with my same barber for nearly 5 years. And although there may be cheaper stylists, more conveniently located, my stylist is the ONLY person I will go to. I trust his "brand." And when it comes to the category of barber/hair stylist, the brand promise of "Trust" is everything.

There are three areas which need to focus on when assembling your "Brand You" strategy:

1. Develop your brand.

2. Package your brand.

3. Communicate your brand.

We will look at these briefly in coming days.