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Do Your Own PR has gathered together a team of experienced business authorities to bring you their expert tips on getting publicity for and growing your business.
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Branding - More Than a Logo?
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by Dawn Winder of www.i-define.co.uk
So you’ve set up your own business – your brand is being established, you have your logo, website, business cards, and things are starting to happen. So do you know how to brand?
Let me introduce you to a new way of branding – a process beyond the logo, a way of getting out of survival mode and turning your business into the business that you know it can be. This is a process that can work for everyone whether you are a copywriter, web designer, freelancer, interior designer, … It is no longer about how good you are – you now have to create what is known as a Personal Brand. That is what influences how potential clients and decision makers perceive you.
Here’s the secret. You are your business. It’s as simple as that. People work with you because of these three simple things.
1. Because they know you
2. Because of your reputation
3. Because you add value
Cold hard facts
The world of work has changed. The way we look at our careers and our businesses has been transformed by social, economic and technical developments within our society. As a result, competition is wider, there is less job security and you now need a competitive edge to succeed. More and more people are starting up their own businesses. Creative Review reports that there will be more than 4 million self-employed people by 2006 – an increase of almost a million on the current figure.
What is a personal brand?
A Personal Brand is an idea and expectation that comes into peoples’ minds when they think of you. It is the powerful way that you communicate and demonstrate what you stand for, your vision, values, skills, passions and attributes. It is what people see of you, what you project to others, and it is their perception of you; it's not actually the whole of you. Personal Branding is always about who you are, what you do and what makes you unique, it is true to the person behind the brand; it is not false.
You can use personal branding as a powerful business tool to consciously create a strong, authentic first impression that will clearly convey your value to people you want to work with, and influence others to work with you.
Personal branding is designed to turn people's perceptions of you into opportunities, by influencing how they perceive you. This is achieved by communicating who you are, what you do, what makes you different and how you can add value to your target market.
Why build a personal brand?
Getting used to treating yourself as brand may seem strange, even controversial, overly commercial, cynical or manipulative. Like it or not, it is your Personal Brand that will win or loose you the job or business. The fact is we are all using the basics of Personal Branding already. Every human being uses their instincts to make immediate judgements about people, situations, products and services. Whatever you may think of the idea it is basically part of who we are.
To be successful, a Personal Brand has to be authentic; it has to reflect the person behind the brand, their values, characteristics and visions.
Is personal branding selling?
As Personal Branding is a tool that is new for many people and it is easy to get branding confused with selling, marketing and even image. Personal Branding is not selling or marketing. It is not about creating or moulding yourself into someone you think you should be. When you are selling either yourself, a product, or service you are convincing, maybe pressuring, pushing or creating a need where there might not be one. Selling is what you do when you want to close a deal. This is after your personal brand has done the hard work for you. Personal Branding is pre-sales, pre-marketing, it is what the prospective employer or client sees first.
Personal Branding gives you:
• greater visibility and credibility
• distinguishing yourself from your competitors
• confidence to clearly communicate the elements that make you different
• creating strong user loyalty - gaining more business
• evokes the correct perceptions in the mind of your target market
• allows you to thrive during a economic downturn.
Dawn Winder is a Personal Branding Strategist who helps her clients using coaching techniques and personal branding strategies. Dawn also writes for www.handbag.com.
To find out about how i-define living develops personal branding, and how it can help your career or business, take a look at i-define living limited: www.i-define.co.uk, where you can sign up for Dawn's newsletter - or contact her via 0845 225 2923.
Would you like to read more articles on promoting your business?
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| Posted: 03/03/2005 16:58:00
Last Updated: 07/03/2005 12:28:06
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