BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRADING
BE YOURSELF, BECAUSE YOU ARE YOUR BRAND!
There's no doubt that branding is important. Every corporation in the world, big or small, spends money, manpower, developing and building a distinctive brand. They know that branding their products returns big dividends on this investment. It is also the best type of advertising, since most brand recognition is instantaneous and subliminal. With the rise of the internet and social media, the importance of corporate branding has only increased. These new media allow any organization with a brand to extend the reach, as well as the power, of that brand with relative ease and for a fraction of the former cost.
Branding is a big business, but did you know that personal branding is as important to individuals as it is to large corporations? Personal branding is based on the idea that the internet gives every individual the potential to reach any other individual in the world. Prior to the widespread use of the internet, people's ability to contact other people was greatly limited by geography and time.
Time, because it takes a great amount of it to become familiar enough with another person to have them trust you enough to call you a friend. Geography, because there are only so many people who live within a convenient distance from any single person.
In ancient times, the vast majority of people never ventured farther from the place they were born than a circle five to ten miles in radius. The only people they knew were the people around them in this circle. As technology grew, so did the size of this circle. Today, the radius of this circle excompasses the entire Earth. Given this fact, personal branding allows nearly everyone to develop their own particular specialty niche in a market. Furthermore the reach of social media and the internet allow that personal brand to find followers and customers, no matter how small or specialized this market niche might be. It's somewhat ironic that such a large and encompassing technology allows for such an exceptionally particular connectivity. This means that you, yourself, are you own best brand. There is no one else like you. Your personality and talents are unique. The people you have actual, physical contact will recognize this. So be yourself with the people who you connect with through social media and the internet, as such, others will see the value in you. They will also see the value of your products and/or services.
