Guest Article: How to Sell You: Building a Personal Brand

“If no one is sold on you, no one will buy from you” Olatunji Ladi Adejumo

Welcome to the world of personal branding.

This is the era of the brand. A lot is said about product and corporate branding but human beings are part of the interface between brands and the product or company. The inescapable result of this fact is that you must also begin to look at and work on yourself as a brand.

Let’s get this right, the choice you have is not to have a brand or not but what kind of brand to have. Why? Simply because everyone has a brand: bad, good or somewhere in between, knowingly or unknowingly. The difference between you and the person who has consciously built a virile and vibrant personal brand is that the person has taken control of his/her personal brand. The result is one of someone who radiates all the attributes and qualities which s/he has predetermined to exude.

The concept of personal branding is closely related to that of leadership and at the heart of it is passion. The professional who takes his/her personal brand development and management serious is bound to rise to the top and act as a path for others to follow.

One fundamental purpose of branding is to differentiate one product or service from another. The same purpose underlies the process and outcome of personal branding: to differentiate you from the others in your field. A personal brand is therefore a definite combination of expectations and associations which are nurtured and projected over time.

In a world which is in constant need for professional services, success can only belong to those who can stand up and stand out of the crowd, those who can prove that they have something to offer before being given the opportunity to sell a product or service, those who have developed a rounded, viable, virile and vibrant personal brand.

A personal brand is not a result of laboratory alchemy or rocket science. It involves and is all about you. It however, takes time to build, maintain and sustain. It must be nurtured carefully as people’s perception of you is what determines their level of involvement with you.

Your personal brand is not a quest for a holy grail but the result of a planned and sustained programme which has a definite outcome.

You personal brand stands you out and elevates you above the mass realm preventing you from being bogged in the swamp of sameness and avoiding the ‘me too’ impression. While it will not confer upon you the status of a movie-star when you are an accountant, it will make the critical connection between you and your target market. A personal brand is a must in contemporary society and a key factor in your success.

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