What's Your Brand

The Definition of Online Personal Branding

Personal Branding is the art of attracting and keeping more opportunities by actively shaping public perception. You can control the way you’re perceived by the community you serve. Oprah, Tiger, Madonna – they realized early that talent alone would not take them to the top of their fields. So they created and promoted unique Personal Brands. And now, you can too.

Personal Branding Works for Businesses, Professionals and Entrepreneurs Alike

You don’t have to be a celebrity to reap the rewards of Personal Branding. Whether you are a professional ready to catapult to the next level in your career or an entrepreneur embarking on your first business venture, we will work together to bring your goals into focus. We’ll begin by analyzing your unique strengths and differentiation, your competitive landscape and your target audience. Then we will develop a game plan to reach your objectives.

The Key to Personal Branding Success: Define Yourself Instead of Letting Others Define You

You can shape your employers’ and recruiters’ perception of you simply by defining your strengths, values, goals and personality and presenting yourself in a compelling, persuasive manner. Express yourself and what you stand for to everyone you meet – clients, colleagues, friends, neighbors, and strangers. Do this constantly and consistently, and you will create an effective – and lucrative – Personal Brand.

The Eight Laws of Personal Branding

1. The Law of Specialization: A great Personal Brand must be precise, concentrated on a single core strength, talent or achievement. You can specialize in one of many ways: ability, behavior, lifestyle, mission, product, profession or service. [If you are a job seeker and you need help with this, please take a moment to download this FREE job specialization workbook, found here: http://www.itsnotyouitsyourresume.com/product.html#free]

2. The Law of Leadership: Endowing a Online Personal Brand with authority and credibility demands that the source be perceived as a leader by the people in his/her domain or sphere of influence. Leadership stems from excellence, position or recognition.

3. The Law of Personality: A great Personal Brand must be built on a foundation of the source’s true personality, flaws and all. It is a law that removes some of the pressure laid on by the Law of Leadership: you’ve got to be good, but you don’t have to be perfect.

4. The Law of Distinctiveness: An effective Personal Brand needs to be expressed in a way that is different from the competition. Many marketers construct middle-of-the-road brands so as not to offend anyone. This is a route to failure because their brands will remain anonymous among the multitudes.

5. The Law of Visibility: To be successful, a Personal Brand must be seen over and over again, until it imprints itself on the consciousness of its domain or sphere of influence. Visibility creates the presumption of quality. People assume because they see a person all the time, he/she must be superior to others offering the same product or service.

6. The Law of Unity: The private person behind a Personal Brand must adhere to the moral and behavioral code set down by that brand. Private conduct must mirror the public brand.

7. The Law of Persistence: Any Personal Brand takes time to grow, and while you can accelerate the process, you can’t replace it with advertising or public relations. Stick with your Personal Brand, without changing it; be unwavering and be patient.

8. The Law of Goodwill: A Personal Brand will produce better results and endure longer if the person behind it is perceived in a positive way. He/she must be associated with a value or idea that is recognized universally as positive and worthwhile.
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Want more info? Try these articles:

How Personal Branding Works And Its Affect On Your Job Search
Why Get Personal, How Your Online Personal Brand Can Help Your Job Search
Personal marketing and job search: Make an emotional connection.
Stand Up to Stand Out. How Personal Marketing Can Land You Your Dream Career
Oprah Winfrey and Job Search
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Mark Montoya has been working in personal branding for more than a decade for hundreds of online and offline companies, small businesses and individual service professionals. His focus has been toward improving the way jobseekers find employment on the Internet. He has synthesized his expertise by helping job seekers obtain their ideal choice of employment over the Internet on his sites MyOnlineCareerSpace.com and MyOnlineCareerCoach.com, and through his books 101 Tips Every Job Seeker Should Know and The Ultimate Online Job Search eBook. Learn more at MarkMontoya.com, on Twitter, Digg, or StumbleUpon.