You see, a brand isn’t just defined by a fancy logo, a snappy strap line or a great marketing strategy, it’s about knowing what that brand stands for. Promoting what makes that brand unique. Creating a reputation that makes that brand stand out against all the other brands.

No matter what stage you’re at in your illustrious career, you’ll need to concentrate on your ‘personal brand’ if you want to keep moving. Keep progressing. Keep impressing. Because how other people see you can have a pretty big impact on your future.

So, how do you build your personal brand?

Become the indispensable one:

This is all about the image of your brand – and being noticed for the right reasons. You don’t want to be the one who rocks up late with a hangover, the one who gives the bare minimum or the one who avoids expanding their remit like the plague because “that isn’t in my job description”. To boost your value you need to be the one who is always looking for ways to up their knowledge, the one who works hard to build great relationships and the one who proactively takes on new projects to showcase their passion for what they do.

Become the well-known one:

Raising your profile is essential if you want your personal brand to carry clout. Networking can be a little daunting at first (we’ve all been there: room full of strangers, sweaty palms, doubting your intrinsic ability to make even the most basic of conversation) but the more you do it, the better you get. Networking can be done via LinkedIn of course (you can make some seriously great connections that way), but you’ll build relationships a lot faster (and get a lot more out of them) if you get out and meet people. Be it corporate social events, industry networks or professional forums, networking will do wonders for your brand.

Become the positive one:

To (loosely) paraphrase Ru Paul, if you can’t believe in yourself how in the hell can someone else believe in you? Get used to talking about what you do, what you’re learning, why you enjoy the challenge and where you see yourself in five years. If you show passion for your work and confidence in your abilities it’s going to make it that much easier for an employer to see that you really do deserve the job, the promotion or the pay rise you’re campaigning for. Positivity begets positivity, so even if you don’t have lofty ambitions or a burning desire for extra cash, you’ll be helping to make your workplace a whole lot happier. We’d say that’s win-win.

Become the focused one:

Work can sometimes feel like a massive drag. We get it. We totally get it. But it’s important to keep in mind that work does a lot more than pay the bills and fund your monthly Netflix subscription. Work keeps you active, it keeps you learning and it keeps you meeting people. We might look longingly at the weekend, but imagine life without challenges, without structure, without constant opportunities to shine. Estimates show that most of us work at just 65-70% of our potential and on a Friday afternoon it’s pretty easy to see why. But if you want your brand to be synonymous with dedication, you need to be present. Be focused and be your best possible self.

Be the evolving one:

However good you are, you’re never too good to keep on learning and sometimes lessons are given to us in the form of feedback. Good or bad, feedback can be one of the greatest stepping stones to personal growth. Why? Because very often other people have a very different perception of you than you have of yourself. You might think you’re assertive; they might think you’re confrontational. On the other hand, you might think your presentation skills are pretty poor; they might think your presentation skills are pretty awesome. Point is, you won’t know unless you open up those channels of communication. So ask your boss for regular appraisals, debrief after every piece of work and just chat to your colleagues about your strengths and weaknesses. You don’t think Apple got to where it did without a little user testing, do you?

So, that’s how to build your personal brand in a nutshell. But we don’t like to teach and split, so if you want to go through anything in a little more depth, drop us a line.

Or if you feel ready to be unleashed on the world, check out our latest job vacancies.