Belief; the key to stronger personal Branding. Create your “Brand Belief”©
I was speaking with an executive the other day regarding my career coaching practice and he asked me what I thought about developing “my Brand”.
Like many of you, I have grown skeptical of lots of many of the career coaching buzz and noise around hot topics like how to use Twitter to market yourself (you need loads and months of tweets), the value of a personal website (you have that on Linked In, right?), tweaking your resume for every job you pursue (HR “can smell” that can’t they?) and other current “hot” ideas.
I replied to him that understanding yourself in great detail through an intensive personal assessment process, translating that information into a strong and vibrant bio (your “story” which should be exciting and persuasive), 60-second elevator speech and other communications including your emails/voice-mails, and directing it to people who can actually help you at companies where you “deserve to work” makes good sense.
If you want to call that “branding”, great. It certainly has worked for many famous products, so why not job-seekers?
However, what is missing from the “branding” idea is your beliefs; your energy, convictions, personality, motivations, desires, and all that makes you a special human being and professional.
I call this important duality of Branding-“Who you are”, and Belief- “Why you are you”, Brand Belief.
Your beliefs bring you alive to the reader, interviewer or person you have just met at a business mixer. Sure, you have to give people a sense of what you are and do- your Brand. But, it is the level of conviction and energy, your belief, that you apply to that branding message that is what people will remember and act on.
You may be a terrific marketing executive, but until someone sees the fire in your eyes when you explain how you drill down to find every fact to support your new product concept, your Brand will just be another brand. Belief brings credibility to your Brand.
Credibility is what people buy, hire and remember. Brand Belief is what I believe you need to write down, refine and communicate to others, not just your Brand.
Good luck!
Peter Engler
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