What is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is the art of attracting and keeping more clients by actively shaping public perception. Personal branding is a revolution in the way we manage our professions. It means identifying and communicating what makes you unique, relevant and compelling so that you can advance your career or business. Personal branding is about differentiation. It's about using what makes you stand out from the myriad others who offer seemingly similar services. Many professionals compete for the same jobs and clients, and personal branding helps you stand head and shoulders above the competition by highlighting your unique promise of value.

Personal branding is not about building a special image for the outside world; it is about understanding what is truly unique about you - your strengths, skills, values and passions - and using that to differentiate yourself and guide your career or business decisions. Through unearthing the true you and consistently and constantly living your personal brand, you attract what you need to achieve your goals.

The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters. The makeup of a personal brand has four main elements: personality, appearance, competencies and differentiation. An individual’s total perceived value takes into account these elements and is considered to be his or her core message or elevator pitch to an audience. It is common to divide branding into tangible and intangible. Tangible branding involves associating an individual's name with some specific advantage that they are presumed to offer, while intangible branding involves creating a more general positive feeling about them.

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