How to Build Your Personal Brand
William Arruda, a personal branding guru, was the keynote speaker for this evenings’ Cisco Partner Velocity conference in Paris. Here’s a recap of Arruda’s keynote, which focused on how to build and manage your personal brand.
Among Arruda’s key points:
1. A brand is the unique promise of value.
2. Brands are not created, they’re uncovered.
3. When people see you what words would they use to describe you?
4. Your brand separates you from your peers. It’s authentic to who you are and you commit to delivering on it every day.
5. The benefits are of a personal brand are:
- Self-awareness.
- Increased visibility and presence.
- You differentiate yourself from everyone else who has the same job title.
- Increased likelihood for wealth.
- And most importantly, you achieve your goals in a fulfilling way.
Getting Started
The three-step process for understanding your brand are:
1. Extract: You need to understand your own internal perspectives plus external perceptions. Document your personal goals at the start of each year and then read them everyday. You also need to know your vision (how you see the world), your purpose, your values and your passions. Next check external perceptions and find out the top three words people use to describe you.
2. Express: After you’ve unearthed what makes you exceptional, now you need to be visible to the right people. Do things that build your visibility and your credibility. It’s about demonstrating what makes you incredible. All strong brands exhibit:
- Clarity: Be clear about who you are and who you’re not.
- Consistency: Are you delivering on that clarity all the time?
- Constancy: Always be visible to those who need to know about you.
3. Exude: Finally, you must reflect your brand in everything you do — from your personal network, your use of technology, office surroundings, your identity system, your appearance, your volunteer activities, etc.
Hmmm… Does The VAR Guy fulfill his own personal brand?
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