Medusa

4 Tips For Boosting Your Personal Brand

<p>Author and cultural arbiter Tom Wolfe designated Baby Boomers as the &&num;8220&semi;Me Generation&&num;8221&semi; in the 1970s&comma; casting the ambitions of these coming-of-age adults in the most self-serving of lights&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nowadays&comma; career-minded professionals and entrepreneurs of any age not only accept this mindset but use it as a strategy for advancement&comma; known as &&num;8220&semi;personal branding&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Personal branding is the crafting of an outward persona in such a way that it matches the individual&&num;8217&semi;s career goals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Movie actors&comma; athletes&comma; and politicians have long had to pay attention to such trappings to attract publicity&period; &lpar;Even Wolfe had his signature white suit&period;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But as online technology and social media has expanded opportunities for direct marketing to a niche audience&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>so too has the need to manage and cultivate a personal brand in order to differentiate oneself from his or her competitors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Who would have thought just a few years ago that solo professionals like musicians and artists would need business cards&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But in today&&num;8217&semi;s interconnected world&comma; they absolutely do&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignright" alt&equals;"personal branding" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;myblogguest&period;com&sol;forum&sol;uploads&sol;articles&sol;2013&sol;4&sol;id-100142040&period;jpg" width&equals;"350" height&equals;"350" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here are four steps for helping you develop and promote a personal brand&comma; no matter what your profession is&comma;without breaking you bank account in the process&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>1&rpar; Start in the inner circle&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong>&&num;8220&semi;Your closest personal contacts likely will be the people helping your business the most initially&comma;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>says Epic Media&&num;8217&semi;s Mike Sprouse&comma; &&num;8220&semi;In fact&comma; your personal brand is the best capital you have amongst your network of people&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This may feel at bit uncomfortable at the onset because most people don&&num;8217&semi;t really like asking others about themselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But you&&num;8217&semi;re trying to find out what you bring to your career that is unique&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Only the people who are closest to you can help you find the answer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>2&rpar; <&sol;strong><strong>Keep channels uniform&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong>As Micha Kaufman writes in <em>Forbes&comma;<&sol;em>&&num;8220&semi;Our &&num;8216&semi;selves&&num;8217&semi; are now digital and are spread wide and far across the Internet&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>living and breathing in the social spheres of Twitter and Facebook to our personal websites and Tumblr blogs&period;&&num;8221&semi; Sojust like a business has a logo&comma; slogan&comma; corporate colors&comma; etc&period;&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>that go on everything from print ads to ballpoint pens&comma; you should adopt a consistent identity for all external communications&comma; right down to professional-looking headshots&comma; email signatures&comma; and info boxes used in blog comments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking of which&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>3&rpar;<&sol;strong> <strong>Engage your audience on their turf&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong>It&&num;8217&semi;s much easier for you to visit other blogs or websites already frequented by prospective customers than get them to come to a new site&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Once you figure out which ones are the best&comma; you can garner attention with insightful comments&period; See if the site administrator&&num;8217&semi;s welcome submitted articles&comma; webinars or other content&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It can turn into a mutually beneficial partnership for both you and the host&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>4&rpar; <&sol;strong><strong>Network offline&comma; too&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong>It&&num;8217&semi;s easy to get fixated on the online interactions&period; But your personal brand is best displayed&&num;8230&semi;well&comma; in person&period; Join organizations that have like-minded individuals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Attend professional conferences and trade shows&semi; or better yet&comma; apply to be a presenter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These opportunities that blend professional and personal interactions can cut down on the time it takes to develop the kind of relationship that will lead to long-term success&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h5>Featured images&colon;<&sol;h5>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"license">License&colon; Creative Commons<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"source">image source<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chris Lenois is a small business owner and freelance journalist who writes for Vistaprint&comma; a leading provider of custom marketing products for solo professionals across the globe&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>such as business cards for makeup artists&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chris has contributed articles to many renowned publications&comma; including the <em>Times-Picayune<&sol;em> and <em>Wired<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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