You, Inc. Developing Your Personal Brand Ellie Nieves, Leadership Strategies For Women January 2010
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In today’s economy, personal branding is more important than ever. Major corporations and Fortune 500 companies all understand the importance of Branding. Branding helps you to identify a product and know what it stands for. When we talk about personal branding, we’re talking about creating a personal marketing campaign that helps you stand out above the rest. So whether you’re looking for a new job, looking for a promotion, looking to reposition yourself or just looking to re-invent yourself, personal branding is critical.

Personal branding is how you package and position yourself in your career and/or industry. It guides how you are perceived by your managers, colleagues, clients, customers and others in your industry. In a crowded marketplace, branding makes it that much easier for you to stand out in the crowd, it gives you an edge over your competition by helping you to establish your credibility, distinguish yourself from others and increases your value to your organization and/or your Industry.

Every professional has a unique personality and value proposition. Because how others perceive you, your performance and your work product will ultimately shape your brand, it is important that you be proactive about influencing those perceptions. For example, if you are building your brand around your professionalism, your professionalism should come across in your work product and how you conduct yourself. But, if you show up for work wearing a jogging suit and chewing bubble gum, there would be a disconnect between the promise of your brand and your delivery.

As a professional, one of the most effective ways to develop your personal brand is to become an “expert” or the go-to person on a particular subject matter or process.

You can build your brand on:

• Your performance track record
• Your ability to recognize emerging trends in your workplace or industry
• Your ability to spot issues that can cause problems in the future
• Your ability to provide creative solutions to current problems

Ellie Nieves is a Speaker, Writer, and Life and Leadership Coach. Ellie's passion is to inspire, motivate, and challenge women to achieve their best. Before beginning her life and leadership coaching business, Ellie, who is an attorney by profession, gained extensive coaching and leadership experience working in politics, government and for a Fortune 500 company. Now she draws from her professional background, as well as from her experiences as a woman of faith, wife, stepmother, and Life and Leadership Coach to create an environment where women feel encouraged, inspired and purposeful about their lives.

Email Ellie
Phone: 845-401-8299

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