How to succeed in developing a strong personal brand

Each person has a brand but the strength of them differs from person to person.

Some people have managed very well to develop and maintain a strong and interesting brand. Other succeeds to strengthen them, but unable to maintain them strong (one example of this are people from reality shows). Some persons are not even aware of the fact that they have a personal brand, but still they seem to do everything right to develop and maintain it.

The question comes, what is the determinant factor(s) of who is going to succeed with developing a strong personal brand and who is not?

A personal brand on the other hand is something that every person has. It is not something that you are, but something that you have.

A personal brand is those values that a person stands for and communicates to the surroundings.

Everything that a person does will contribute to the picture that the surrounding has of that person.

A strong brand, both corporate and personal, needs to be clearly defined and the people around it should be able to quickly grasp what it stands for.

A strong personal brand is well-known and it has good values connected to it.

It belongs to people that are known among more people than just their friends. You do not have to be a ‘celebrity’ to have a strong brand, you can have a strong brand at a company or in a school.

There are three key components that determine the strength of a personal brand. A strong brand must be distinctive, relevant and consistent.

Distinctive personal brand is when you believe in something and act on those beliefs. Your brand is separate from the crowd when the brand stands for something.

As the beliefs are not always shared by others, it is important to stand for and hold on to the beliefs.

Your values are your beliefs and principles by which you live your life after. The values distinguish you from the crowd and people observe your actions and make judgments after them.

A personal brand grows strong when meeting the needs of others, without sacrificing the beliefs and values that the brand stands for.

A relevant brand stands for something that is relevant for other people. What you believe in and stands for is important for them.

The more relevant a brand is for someone, the stronger the brand becomes to them.

A relevant brand is a process that is built by determine other people’s needs and interests and then connect those needs with your own abilities and personal strengths.

A consistent brand is to repeat the same thing over and over again. People believe in relationships that are based on the consistency of behaviors that they observe and experience.

People around you know what to expect from you since you have been doing the same thing over and over again.

Every time that you behave in the same way that the people around you expect you to do, your brand becomes stronger to them. The trust grows in the relationship. If you behave in a rollercoaster way with inconsistency, this can easily destroy the trust that people have for you and your brand.

To be consistent demands courage since it is important to show your true values.

To be able to develop a strong personal brand, it is important to make sure that the brand resonate and is distinctive - that it is relevant for those people around you who you want to develop strong relationships with.

The shape of the brand is the ability to make what you do relevant, distinctive and consistent to people around you.

To base your personal brand on inconsistency and ever-shifting values is the “wrong way” to develop a personal brand.

Peter Sabuni is the Marketing & Brand Consultant. he can be contacted through Phone +255 689 616 035, Email. [email protected] IG @peter_sabuni