Personal branding is no longer confined to celebrities and head honchos. Today, many young, tech-savvy employees are creating their individual brand statement — both online and offline — irrespective of whether they’re looking for a job, networking with associates or building a career.
Naveen K., who works as creative head of an advertising agency, for instance, believes in the mantra of self-marketing and he does it in more ways than one — by using blogs, websites, client meetings and of course, social networking sites. “Your personal brand is your reputation,” explains Naveen. “The onus is on you to develop a sound personal brand that puts across a strong promise of value. This will enable you to control people’s perception of you by communicating the value and benefit proposition that you bring to the marketplace. For instance, if you are job hunting, your brand can often sway decision-makers when they try to assess whether you will fit into their organisation,” he says.
Experts believe that such things boil down to the basic need to be noticed in the competitive corporate rat race. But, the big question is — how do you actually go about ‘branding’ yourself effectively? Image consultant, Sarah Goodall, who guides many youngsters to ‘promote themselves’, says, “Firstly, one should not confuse a brand statement with the run-of-the-mill, boring job description or limit it to one’s job title alone. An effective brand statement transcends your mere qualifications or functional areas to include your attributes like strengths, passions, and expertise offered, soft skills, track record and unique accomplishments. I always tell my clients, ‘you are your own brand manager and it’s up to you to create a buzz about the brand called ‘you’!”
So what happens in this advanced age of technology and online marketing to a company’s brand reputation when their employees have their own personal brand? HR manager, Rahul Singh of the Jindal Group, looks at it this way: “Firstly, it depends on what level the employee is in. If he/she is in CXO roles then it’s a win-win situation, because what works for the particular professional works for the organisation too.”
However, N. Soundarya Rajan, HR manager of Pamtel Solutions, finds it a threat. He explains, “Companies don’t mind employees building their personal brand online. The problem is that, unfortunately, not everyone acts ethically, especially in cyberspace. This puts companies in the position of having to be concerned about their employees’ personal branding.”
Sarah sums it up saying, “One should remember that one’s personal brand image must promise value to all. And it has to be done with a lot of integrity.”