Brand Thyself - By Al Kags
Brand Thyself - By Al Kags
Friday, 10 February 2006 04:03
In today’s world, where globalisation is the driving force of modern day life and the demand for competent personnel in virtually every field (even the low skill areas), soars while the competitiveness of that same pool of skill continues to rise in level amongst most people, the people are more and more the same.
In light of this, it has become imperative for us to go a step further to brand ourselves largely in the same way we turn products into brands. Speak to any soap maker and they will tell you that soap is soap – the right mix alkaline solutions and oils, period. Yet people buy one kind of soap instead of another because, according to them, one cleans better, one has more foam than the other, one has a better colour, one is easier on the hands etc.
The perception that makes these consumers buy one kind of soap instead of another is simply, branding. Same to you, the brand. Your brand is a reaction of who you are and what you believe, which is visibly expressed by what you do and how you do it. It’s the doing part that connects you with someone else, and that connection with someone else results in a relationship. In reality, the image of your brand is a perception held in someone else’s mind. As that perception, through repeated contacts between you and the other person, evolves and sharpens, a brand relationship takes form.
You are a brand. The reason that you must go through the branding process – turning yourself from being a product to a brand is done by first defining explicitly and the communicating constantly:
· Who you are
· What you do
· What it is that makes you superior to your competitors.
Think about this: you have applied for a job and you are sitting in a lobby waiting to be interviewed for your dream job. The person sitting across from you has the exact same qualifications as you, right down to the number of years of experience.
What is it about you that will make you get the job and not that person? If you can articulate it, you are halfway to branding yourself. If it is the truth and what you say you are is in fact what you are, then you have branded yourself.
This means that you can answer this question without a thought: when someone thinks of you, they immediately think…? If you had to take a moment to think about this question, I have two words for you: brand thyself.
