In a survey I did recently for a training on personal branding, I was asked, “How does one do an effective job of personal branding when what you do is a commodity?”
I have a feeling there are many of you out there thinking the same thing: “Personal branding is not for me.”
Perhaps we should take a step back and discuss what personal branding really is before I we explore why, yes, it can be for everyone.
Why Personal Branding Matters
Just as businesses use techniques to brand themselves for various characteristics and niche markets, you can, too. What you are known for professionally becomes your personal brand.
Everything — from having a positive attitude and greeting your coworkers with a hearty hello and high-five every morning to being the go-to person for getting things done under tight deadlines — plays a role in building your brand. The best part is, you can craft the image you want for yourself. And as long as that image is genuine, it will stick.
So here’s your chance to really think about what you want to be known for and use it to make a name for yourself.
For example, what would your coworkers say is your most valuable skill? Making the best pot of coffee in the office? Yikes. Unless you’re a barista, you better start making your valuable skills more well-known!
How about making clients feel welcomed and well taken care of? That’s a great thing to have as part of your personal brand, it’s a trait that’s easily transferable to many job situations and it adds tremendous value to your company.
Jessie The BBQ Queen
Let’s take a look at a scenario I like to call “The BBQ Queen” as an example of how a seemingly “unbrandable” employee like a waitress could start to build her personal brand.
Jessie works at a local restaurant in a mid-size town. She also has a passion for barbecue. Just for fun, she gets a personalized license plate that says “BBQ Queen.” Her friends, family and even some customers at the restaurant begin to comment on the license plate and ask her what it is she loves about BBQ.
Jessie realizes she knows quite a bit about BBQ, and that people are actually interested in hearing more about it. She decides to start a blog to answer some of the questions she’s been getting and share her love of BBQ with a larger audience. She calls it “Jessie The BBQ Queen.”
She starts to write posts about some of her favorite BBQ restaurants she’s visited on her travels and even adds some photos from these trips. Soon, she realizes the restaurants she’s writing about are linking to her posts and sharing the articles, giving her recognition as “The BBQ Queen.”
Eventually, blog visitors start to ask her questions about recommendations in cities she’s never visited, so she decides to go on a BBQ road trip to visit more restaurants. Again, she takes photos of her travels and taste-testing and sets up a Twitter and Facebook page for her fans to follow her updates. She begins to do short video interviews of the BBQ chefs and customers at the restaurants for her blog posts, and suddenly, her online following is growing more than she ever expected.
She starts doing research on the best cuts of meat for BBQ, different spices to use and styles of BBQ from across the world. She visits other blogs and websites, asks questions of their writers and shares what she’s learning with her online audience.
She becomes good friends with a BBQ expert in another state and is invited to join the judging panel of an amatuer BBQ competition with him. She posts photos of herself as a judge and realizes her credibility in the BBQ world is greater than she thought.
She suddenly finds herself among an inner circle of BBQ connoisseurs and decides to start an e-newsletter for the group to stay in touch about different events and happenings in the BBQ world.
Now, Let’s Analyze What Jessie Did Right…
1. She Clearly Identified Her Brand and Gained Recognition for It
Since she’s established herself as “Jessie The BBQ Queen,” don’t you imagine people are going to assume she makes great BBQ? Even if they’ve never tried her BBQ!
She’s created a brand where she’s considered an expert, and with that comes credibility. People will believe she’s a great BBQ cook even if they have no direct experience with her cooking.
2. She Made Herself In-Demand and Indispensable
Now, let’s say Jessie wants to start a BBQ restaurant. Do you think people are going to try her BBQ restaurant over the one across the street where there’s no “BBQ Queen”? Do you think those BBQ connoisseurs following her online might even be tempted to travel hundreds of miles just to try her BBQ based on the brand she’s created?
She could even do online orders for BBQ sauce, BBQ cookbooks or BBQ Queen aprons! She could do guest spots on the local (or national) news for summer grilling tips.
Do you see how her personal brand developed into a business?
Now, what if she didn’t want to open a BBQ restaurant and she remained a restaurant employee with a passion for BBQ. Does that make her any less credible? No! Wouldn’t you want to hire an employee who was that passionate about their job? I don’t know many HR directors who are looking for people uninterested in doing the job they’re being interviewed for.
Not to mention the potential for that BBQ restaurant across the street (or even in another state) to want to hire The BBQ Queen as an employee. Do you think they might have to offer her more pay and benefits than another employee who didn’t have a reputation for being so knowledgeable about BBQ? Do you think the restaurant she’s already working for would counteroffer to keep her?
When You Build Your Brand, You Build Your Value
Here are a couple more examples of how you can brand yourself in a seemingly “unbrandable” career:
1. Customer Service Representative in a Retail Furniture Store
What if instead of taking the approach of “selling couches,” you took the approach of “creating a home” for your customers? Ask them questions about their lifestyle, and then show them how to choose furniture that will grow with their family, be versatile, and how to mix and match different styles.
If I felt a customer service rep was truly trying to make my shopping experience easier by providing me with valuable information, I would be thrilled to recommend him — by name — to friends and family who also needed furniture.
And if I learned the customer service representative also had a blog where he shared photos of inspiring room designs, videos on how to make your own curtains and advice on how to lay out an awkward-shaped room, I would know that he was truly passionate about his job and would respect his advice. I would visit the store to specifically seek him out when I needed to buy something, and that makes him a valuable employee to the store.
2. Bank Teller
What if you learned that a teller at your bank volunteered to teach Junior Achievement to local grade-schoolers on financial literacy? That she wrote guest articles for the local newspaper on debt management and saving for your children’s college fund? Maybe she was even a board treasurer for a non-profit.
Do you see how involvement in these activities establishes her as a trusted financial expert versus “just another bank employee”? Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable getting financial assistance from someone you trusted? Her bank has every reason to want to keep her as an employee because they know she adds value to the customers and makes the bank look good.
No matter what your current position is, a strong and positive personal brand can help you build your career, put you in demand and make you indispensable. (Tweet this thought.)
Bonus Tip
It is much easier to build a brand that’s authentic and based around a true passion than to try to create a brand around someone or something you are not.
How can you make your position “brandable”? Share your brainstorming in the comments to help other readers!
Image: Flickr
