“Branding gives you an exceptionally effective way to broadcast who you are to your target market quickly and efficiently”. – MultiChannel News.

Branding is essentially the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others about an individual, group, or organization. Its often involves the application of one's name to various products.

Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you and has reached a new level of imperative because of the rise of the Internet.

Company’s brand is one of the most important factors for its eventual success. It's the zenith of your company's identity, packaged and presented in a way that's pleasing, familiar, and attractive to your prospective and inveterate customers.

However, companies and organizations aren't alone in the need for solid branding. Personal branding, the art of building a unique brand around yourself as an individual, is just as important.

Just as so with a traditional brand, personal branding requires you to find a signature image, a unique influence, and a recognizable standard that your readers, fans, and customers can grow to recognize.

Personal branding is becoming increasingly important because modern audiences tend to trust people more than corporations.

Audiences are used to seeing advertising everywhere, and tend to believe corporations and organizations take actions and speak with only sales in mind. Personal branding allows you to establish a reputation and an identity while still maintaining a personal level of trust and interaction, usually through social media.

Today, added emphasis is placed on personal branding, especially in the online world. Employers are now increasingly using social media tools in order to vet applicants before offering them interviews. Such techniques range from searching the applicants Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter feed to conducting large background checks using search engines and other tools.

Amongst job-seekers, this is leading to a shift away from the practice of submitting a resume as part of their job application process to providing potential employers with access to a number of personal brand assets.

Such assets are likely to include a resume, links to a carefully managed LinkedIn profile and a personal blog, evidence of articles which disseminate original ideas on industry blogs, and evidence of having an online following.

Such efforts give job-seekers better odds of being noticed by potential employers.

We see celebrities and politicians building a particular brand, or persona over with the use of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Building a personal brand is a big part of a celebrity's life, and it can help them spread awareness and also provide an outlet to connect with their fans/supporters.

This is made possible through the use of social media and the ability of the person looking to build a personal brand to make their messages heard. Its focuses on self-packaging and self-promotion.

Aside from professional aspirations, personal branding can also be used on personal-level social networks to flare popularity.

The online platform is used as a marketing and promotional tool to brand an individual as a type of person; success on the virtual platforms then becomes online social value to real rewards in the offline world.

As social media has become a vehicle for self-branding, these moguls have begun to situate the maintenance of their online brand as a job, which brings about new ways to think about work and labor.

The logic of online sites and the presence of feedback mean that one's online presence is viewed by others using the same rubric to judge brands: evaluation, ranking, and judgment. Thus, social media network sites serve as complex, technologically mediated venues for the branding of the personality.

Branding offers promises of increased success in the business world. Thousands of self-help books, programs, personal coaches, and articles exist to help individuals learn to self-brand. These strategies emphasize authenticity but framed as becoming "'more of who you are' as well as who 'you were meant to be.

This possibility is exploited by celebrities and politicians, as "marketing individual personalities as products" is an effective way to gain millions of fans not just online but in real life as well.

On the other hand, personal branding may afford potential employers the opportunity to more accurately judge a candidate's abilities and cultural suitability, since blogs, profiles, websites, etc., are pieces of work that can be evaluated. Your brand is a vivid indication of the best you have to offer – the performance, contributions, and value your next employer can expect from you.

The brand you communicate marks your career reputation and is in some respects a promise. When you carry a brand, your unique promise of value precedes you and has far-reaching effects throughout your job search.

Branding in resumes influences hiring decision-makers reviewing them to consider the candidate and can compel them to feel they must meet that person. The best way to land your next great career opportunity or advance your current career track is through personal branding, its still relatively cutting-edge – most job seekers haven't taken advantage of it yet, tap into it before it mainstreams and you can tremendously impact your job search.

Personal/Career Branding is the great differentiator in job search. Successful job search is all about differentiation. When you clearly stand apart and above others competing for the same jobs, you generate interest and are much more likely to land interviews. Personal branding makes this happen.

Showcasing your brand attributes in your resume – your vitality, unique value, strength of character, and passions about your work – creates chemistry with the reader and can pre-qualify you as a viable candidate who will add value and fit their corporate culture.

No one else can claim the exact same brand as you. It is as unique as you are, dig deep and start formulating all the qualities that differentiate you from others doing the same kind of work.

Ask your peers and co-workers to give you feedback about your performance and strengths. A measure of your brand is what the people who work with you have to say about you. Consider their input when building your brand.

Branding is an executive-level strategy that works for professionals at all levels, no matter what kinds of positions you're seeking. Take advantage of this powerful way to differentiate yourself that executives have been using for years. Branding generates interest and opens doors.

It’s the process by which we market ourselves to others. It is using the same principles that you would undertake to build a brand’s presence to build yourself as a ‘brand’.

We do it for our client’s everyday. We position CEO’s as industry leaders using their talents, knowledge and expertise, why not do the same for yourself? Start by imagining you are your own brand. Focus on your strengths, skills and expertise that add distinguishable value.

Then do what you do best and publicize it. Get a website, update LinkedIn, blog – relentlessly inform others of what you are doing. The ultimate goal is visibility. Your branding will give you an edge whether looking for a new job or pitching to a new client. If you are qualified, show people you are.

Furthermore, people want to do business with other people, and companies, putting a strong brand on the frontline will assiduously achieve something. Whether you use your brand to consult, freelance, or drive more traffic and trust to your company, it's vitally important to establish one to stay competitive.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of creating a personal brand is the image that you portray to the world around you. Creating a personal brand that is appealing is essential to rising to the top of your game, and even becoming the champion in the arena of your choice.

Look around you at the successful businesses, be they large or small. What is the one thing that most of them have, especially on the personal level? In all cases, their success depends on how they treat the customers and look out for their clients.

A friendly and engaging attitude can always do wonders for increasing the success and reach of a business endeavor. A friendly face and an attentive person can create a great impression on nearly any customer. So the question becomes how to accomplish this idea of creating a unique brand? Well, one very effective method is to become the expert that everyone goes to for advice and help.

This, of course requires experience and education, and getting your name and word out there through blog posts, interviews, and other forms of communication. Its important aspect to creating an effective personal brand is to have a good marketing plan. After all, it’s hard for your brand to be recognized if no one sees your face or hears your voice.

Therefore, at the start of every fiscal year take a look at your marketing plan and make changes accordingly. Make sure you develop specific goals that are both attainable and realistic. It’s also important to be able to convey what you do- and why you’re the best at it.

Remember that promoting your brand is about building a network of contacts that can lead to more business and more clients. How you act, how you dress, and how you treat those around you is extremely important.

Again, remember that every time you meet someone, you have the opportunity to make a good or better impression. Every chance meeting can turn into something better, so never pass up the opportunity to make a genuine and unique connection. After all, your life, and your business will be better for it.

Writer: Seidu Samad E-mail: samad_seidu@yahoo.com Contact: +233 206653517/+233 541036700 Also on facebook: facebook.com/seidu.samad