Stand Out from the Rest

The 6Ps to help you make your personal brand come alive:

Personal
Like any other good marketing plan, you must begin by understanding your true self.
Remember, you are original - there is no one else quite like you.
What do you stand for? What are your beliefs?
Jot down a few phrases that describe your unique value, vision, purpose and passion.
Take some time to discover your strengths, weaknesses and hidden talents.
Ask yourself what impacts you the most and what drives you.

Perception
It is imperative that you be aware of how you are communicating yourself to those around you.
In this area, you will need to know your attributes and how others perceive you as an individual.
Develop a focus group comprising close friends, colleagues and family members to ask, collate responses and consolidate their perceptions about you.
For example, are you seen as reliable, trustworthy or adventurous with a natural instinct for business?

Position
You must know your target audience and business or job competitors.
How can you stand out unless you know whom you are standing with?
When people see your name or face consistently over a period of time, they will assume that you have something special and that you must be successful.
Having your own brand keeps you visible within the marketplace as it sends out a clear message about you that makes you worth contacting.

Performance
Establish yourself as an expert in your field because expertise can bring you increased recognition, allowing you to position yourself well in the hearts and minds of your target audience.
Get good testimonials from your satisfied customers.
As an employee, create an outstanding portfolio of your past accomplishments. Create a personal mission statement and tagline.
Seek out new and challenging assignments that will build your brand.
Write articles to showcase your knowledge and get them published or, better still, give speeches or presentations to share your expertise and achievements.

Promote
You can have an amazing brand, but if no one knows about it, you will not go ahead.
Nothing in marketing is more powerful than a promotion tool called word-of-mouth. What your network of friends, colleagues, clients and customers say about your brand is what the market will ultimately gauge as the value of the brand.
If you do not have a personal website, now is the time to buy a domain (such as myname.com) and let world know about it. Take your personal image seriously because your appearance is the packaging of your own brand. Remember, you are the product, and your packaging will either attract or detract people from your product.

Planning
Make an appointment with yourself at least twice a year to re-evaluate your personal brand statement.
Also, obtain honest and helpful feedback from your focus group on your brand performance, value and growth. There will always be competing brands ready to fill in any gap that you leave, so you must work consistently to close the gap.

Generally, people work with you for three main reasons:

They know you;
They like your character or reputation; and
You create value.

When you know yourself, what you offer and what makes you unique, your business or career will progress more effectively.

[Source:
The Straits Times, CATS Recruit - Wed, May 16, 2007
by June Tan, www.imagecoach.com.sg]