Background
Self-branding reflects how we want to be perceived by employers, potential employers, peers, and others; it is a major key to long-term career success. Self-branding occurs when an individual develops and markets him- or herself in the same manner as a brand of a product would be marketed. A “product” is a bundle of attributes that are offered to a consumer. (Evans 2009).
A person must work hard to ensure that he/she is perceived as offering a combination of unique features (product differentiation) and that these features are desired by the target market (prospective employers), thus creating a unique selling proposition. When a job applicant is unknown, he/she must clearly communicate his/her attributes: What is her/his background? How does this person fulfill the requirements for a specific job? How is a person better than the competition (other job applicants)? When a job applicant is known in the marketplace, he/she must proactively reinforce a positive image and communicate why his/her career is still ascending. For a long- term executive in an industry, once marketplace perceptions are formed, they may be hard to alter. (Evans 2014b)
It must be recognized that self-branding by a single person takes many forms depending on the situation and the role being played. Although this article deals with professional self-branding, we also generate different self-brands in our roles as family member, friend, and so forth. The attributes that are necessary to be perceived as an excellent parent are quite distinct from those required to be perceived as an expert in one’s professional field. (Evans, 2014c)
Why do so many people have trouble really understanding self-branding? There are several reasons: Self-reflection is something that we often do not do enough. We rarely recognize the importance of self-branding in our everyday lives. We don’t often ask ourselves: How do other people perceive me? Why? How does this compare to my concept of my self-brand? Many people are unable to articulate–even to themselves–what their self-brand is. People tend to have a tough time responding to this statement: “Tell me something about yourself.” First, this is situation specific. Second, in mentoring numerous people over the years, this author is still surprised by how many of them need time to this statement. (Evans, 2014c)
With regard to the topic of self-branding, there are not only excellent articles in the academic literature (such as Shepherd, 2005); the trade literature is also exceptionally strong. See, for example, Morgan (2011), Brown (2013), Dunnett (2014), Meadows and Buckley (2014), and Price (2014). A great trade resource is HubSpot’s 50-slide presentation on “How to Master Your Own Professional Brand.” It gives many tips, including those on building an online presence.
Figure 2 highlights a number of factors that impact on a person’s professional self-brand. On the left side of the figure are eight factors that affect a person’s perceived professional self-brand. Gap analysis involves the ideal self-brand, the perceived self-brand, and the actual self-brand. Please note: A person’s self-brand is not static, nor is the way others perceive us static. We need to proactively and regularly strive to enhance our self-brand.
As with any brand, perception of one’s self-brand is affected by the target audience engaged with that brand. It could be a present employer, a potential employer, colleagues, peers outside the firm, and so forth. Tangible credentials are objective, easily viewed accomplishments: education, years of experience, positions held, job responsibilities, professional memberships, and so forth. Intangible credentials are more subjective and sometimes more difficult to convey: the reputation of one’s employer(s), skills as a team leader, level of motivation, one’s contribution to the success of an employer, and so forth. The communicability of credentials encompasses two things: (1) Tangible credentials are easier to convey than intangible ones. (2) It is our responsibility to clearly and distinctively communicate our self-brand in every way and medium possible.