As public relations and corporate communications professionals, we have always focused on building our clients’ image and perception. Isn’t it important for us to do something for ourselves too?
Very much like our profession, even building a personal brand is the practice of creating and promoting a unique image or identity for oneself, intending to establish a reputation and a presence in a particular domain. This involves identifying and highlighting one’s strengths, skills, values, and personality traits, and leveraging them to create a compelling and memorable image that sets one apart from others. In our cases, our specializations may apply to almost every level of the hierarchy.
Depending upon the roles and hierarchy, one is having personal branding may require a variety of activities, such as creating a professional website or social media presence, and developing a unique voice and style in one’s communication and content creation. Besides, things like networking with peers and industry professionals, and actively managing one’s online presence also become key initiatives.
The ultimate goal of personal branding is to establish oneself as a trusted and influential authority in one’s field and to create opportunities for career growth, networking, and personal development.
Let’s look at the corporate side first. For corporate professionals, personal branding involves building a unique identity that reflects their professional expertise, values, and achievements. It can be especially important in highly competitive industries where individuals need to stand out to advance their careers.
By Identifying your unique skills, strengths, and expertise that differentiate you from others in your industry you can take the first step toward creating your personal branding. Defining your unique value proposition sets the tone for your future initiatives.
If you can create a consistent brand message that communicates your value proposition and reflects your professional identity across all your communication channels, including social media, personal website, and email, you are on the dot. Develop and disseminate a consistent brand message about yourself.
If you can create a professional website or LinkedIn profile that showcases your skills, achievements, and experience, it will help you a lot. Use social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram to share your ideas and insights on topics relevant to your industry. Ensure that you are building a strong online presence. Be mindful of your online presence and manage your reputation by consistently demonstrating professionalism and integrity in your interactions with others.
Personal branding is also important for public relations (PR) professionals as they are often tasked with building and managing the reputations of their clients. By building a strong personal brand, PR professionals can establish themselves as credible and trustworthy experts in their field, which can help them attract clients, and foster a strong and meaningful relationship with the media.
Most importantly, you need to identify your specific area of expertise within the PR industry, whether it’s crisis management, media relations, or social media management, and focus on developing your skills and knowledge in that area. Getting a step further you can build expertise in a specific domain such as technology, banking & finance, healthcare, or the social sector for that matter.
It is best to start writing blog posts, articles, or white papers on topics relevant to your industry and share them on your website and social media channels. This will help establish you as a thought leader in your field and demonstrate your expertise to potential clients. Any published content helps you establish your thought leadership.
Networking is another extremely good tool, which can be exploited by attending industry events and conferences. This will allow you to network with other PR professionals and stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices in the industry.
Nevertheless, your strong relationships with your clients, colleagues, and industry influencers by consistently demonstrating professionalism, integrity, and expertise are still going to be the most required activities. Keep them going.
All professionals who focus on building a strong personal brand, are surely going to be able to establish their credibility and expertise in their field, attract clients, and advance in their careers.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Praveen has been closely associated with many national and international events related to cinema for children, art and culture. He has a well-rounded experience that cuts across all key sectors of PR & Corporate Communications.
He started his career with URJA Communications, an advertising agency specialising in technology brands, where he was instrumental in developing the PR division. Post this, he had a stint with Horizons Porter Novelli, a global public relations consultancy. Thereafter, he was heading the IT & Telecom division at Clea PR, a leading Indian public relations and communications company followed by a fairly long stint with Omnicom Group agencies viz. TBWA\India and Brodeur India.
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