“Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos 

Last week I had the privilege to moderate a company-wide session on ‘Personal Branding’ with my esteemed colleague, Nischala Murthy Kaushik. Nischala is not only the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Fresh Gravity, but she is also among the Top 20 voices in India on LinkedIn, a content creator (writer, speaker {industry, academia}, podcaster), a mother, and an Indian Insitute of Management (IIM) alum. She is someone who has successfully built a personal brand for herself. 

The session revolved around Nischala’s journey in building her personal brand, the benefits of having a strong personal brand, and some key tips to keep in mind while building a personal brand. 

Here were my key takeaways from the session –  

1.Know your why 

Before you even begin building your personal brand, you should answer the question why you want to build a personal brand. Is it to attract the right kind of employers, or express your thoughts and ideas, create a legacy or a network, or pay it forward? What do you want the outcome to be? The clearer your why is, the easier it will be for you to achieve your goal.  

2. Know your who 

What kind of audience do you want to target? It will be easier to answer this question if you are clear about your why. 

3.Begin with the end in mind  

Ask yourself what you would like to be known for in the next 12-18 months (about 1 and a half years) and walk backwards from there. Think about the future, not the past.

Create a comprehensive plan to authentically share your ideas, insights, and experiences in channels that are relevant to your brand creation. For example, if you work in the technology sector and aspire to be known as a thought leader, your plan can encompass publishing content (blogs, infographics, points of view, videos, etc.), speaking at events, open source contributions, filing for patents and contributing towards the technology community. 

4.Put in the effort 

As per the plan you have outlined, work on developing your own insights and content to create and strengthen your personal brand. Earmarking time on a regular basis to work on your plan will be critical. If you do fall off course, nudge yourself to get back on track.   

5.Give it time  

Like most things, building a strong personal brand takes time. To paraphrase from the documentary on the book, ‘The Secret’, we often stop watering a plant just before it is about to germinate thinking that nothing is happening, when in fact, it is just on the brink of growth. Don’t do that to the seed that is your personal brand. Be patient.  

6.Consistency is key 

In the beginning, you may feel like Sisyphus*, wherein carrying forward this task of building your personal brand, without seeing many results, may seem meaningless and futile but if you stick with it and are consistent in your practice, it is bound to bring you desired results.  

Bonus tip: Make sure you track your progress every few months to see if your strategy is working or not. Then, continue doing the things that work and replace the things that don’t work with something different.  

While you may contemplate whether personal branding is for you or not, the benefits of building a strong personal brand for professionals in this day and age cannot be disputed. 

Personal branding, if done right, can open many doors such as – 

• Building a strong professional network  

• Opportunities to speak at events 

• Invitations to industry events as a jury member 

• Awards, recognition and exclusive memberships 

• Newer career prospects 

What are your thoughts on personal branding? Share with us in the comments section below.  

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*According to the Greek myth, Sisyphus, a mythological hero, was condemned for eternity to roll a rock up to the top of a mountain, only to have the rock roll back down to the bottom every time he reached the top, leaving Sisyphus to start over. Albert Camus, a French philosopher, suggests that Sisyphus’ ceaseless and futile labor is a hideous punishment.  

[Src. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus/]