At the beginning of this course, we defined the concept of Branding as the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product or service in the consumer’s mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme.” We also looked at the transition of branding from products to individuals - professionals and entrepreneurs, making Branding more personal and a strategy for career and business management. We ended up with a definition of personal branding as :

“The process of creating a narrative or story about ourselves built on our personal vision, values, convictions, strengths and weaknesses in order to advance our careers or personal endeavours.”

We looked at how your personal brand goes way beyond your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile and Twitter. To build a successful and sustainable personal brand, you need to call into action your Personality, your Strengths and Weaknesses, but also you need to know what really drives you as an individual and finally your convictions. The moral standards and beliefs that will get your audience to rally behind you. In a nutshell, your personal brand is deep and calls for a deep reflection in order to prove successful. We also looked at a simple implementation strategy that would allow you to reach your targeted audience, how you can start to communicate with them and most importantly how you can add value to the challenges they seek to solve.

If you do not appear on a Google search, believe me, that the internet has it that you do not exist, which also means that the people looking for your specific knowledge, skills and expertise do not know that you exist. In some ways or the other, you’ve got to put yourself out there if you have a message, service or product you would like the world to know about. We can have all the tools in the world to represent our business, skills and expertise, but unless our audience knows of our existence, we are really doomed to fail.

You are the commander in chief of your personal brand. It is not the responsibility of your parents, colleagues, manager or friends to let others know about you and what you have to offer. What they can do is endorse who you say you are and what you do. In that case, you need to own the narrative of your career, business idea and the story you wish to share. Take control, guide the discussion about who you are and what you can offer. After all, your sole responsibility is about you and no one else.

REMARKS

Thank you for trusting us to share this knowledge with you. We hope it has empowered you with the knowledge you need to build a strong and authentic personal brand. We know that everything takes time before it picks up and so will your journey to building your personal brand. However, you are on the right path and we will be here with you throughout the journey.