New Year, New You.
Refreshing Your Brand In 2018.
By Frances Reimers
It’s a new year, and like many others you’re likely
refreshing everything from your health and finances to
your relationships. But what about your personal brand?
That’s the one asset that stays with you your entire life
and its success or failure rests solely on your efforts.
Pretty serious, right? It is. Today, with everything going
digital, and everyone’s personal profile steadily growing
online, it’s more vital than ever that you have a working
knowledge of personal branding and how you can
control your destiny.
I know what you’re thinking. “Frances, I’m not
comfortable being overly promotional.” To which I say,
“It’s not about being promotional, but rather about
highlighting and sharing your competency.” It’s not spin,
it’s reality.
Still not convinced? Try this on for size. According to a
recent Entrepreneur article on personal branding, 95
percent of recruiters surveyed believe that the job market
in the next several years will remain or become more
competitive. Meaning, if you don’t stand out online, your
competition will. In addition, 75 percent of HR
departments are required to search job applicants online.
If you can’t be found; or worse, your online profiles are
incomplete and/or inappropriate, you are going to get
passed up for key opportunities.
And if that wasn’t enough motivation. If finding
forever love online (and off) in 2018 is on your agenda,
you better pay attention to your personal brand. Dating
apps and websites abound. That means a lot of choice,
which can be awesome. That also means a lot of
competition, which can be daunting. How will you
differentiate yourself from all the other well-educated,
attractive, dog/coffee/baseball-loving guys and gals out
there?
Before you break out into hives, I do offer manageable
tips and tools to get you started on the right path.
Before we begin, I want to be very real about one very
important fact: Your brand is not stagnant. It’s a living,
breathing thing that needs frequent evaluation and
evolution. You need to commit yourself to this process,
as this is something that will continue for the rest of
your professional career, perhaps longer. I know you
can do this. If you’ve committed yourself to multiple
seasons of The Bachelor, you can commit to improving
your own brand.
Let’s start with the basics. The following tasks are low-
effort steps you can take to get your personal brand
moving in a positive direction.