Personal branding - Part4

Self-discipline:

To be able to accustome people, you first have to do it for yourself! And, believe me, this is a real challenge! 
At starting this blog, I was thriving with great ideas, bouncy at making it happen and full of enthousiam about sharing the vision I gained from my international experience.

- That is the cheerful part-

Then, you realise that it is about more than writing as you go. You have to stick to:
- regular flow of posts, 
- sustained presence in forum/professional groups
- make yourself available to the comments/questions of your public.

The frequency of your interaction is (in my opinion) as important as the content itself.

Drive your audience

If you were able to catch the attention of your people it is, a first  great achievement. Not every blog find an audience. It means that you have people interested in what you do, keen to listen to more and may be.. liking you!

Here is your chance!

- Establish with them an even closer relationship by getting a bit more personal and offering your help to their particular case,

- Settle an habit between you and them with a regular meeting. For example, posting on the same day at the same time

- Lead them step by step. Since you have already been through, you know (at least the main lines^^) where you want to end up. 

Let your people follow you confidently by having an organised content planning. Having a clear goal of what you want to achieve will help you divide it into smaller chunks. You can then map the way with milestones, each related to certain topics.

Set an editorial plan:

Frame it with a:
- schedule
- content organiser
The same way as that of planning your job search, you can have to define how you want to gear your people to.

If you do your communication right, your people will find it simple and clear.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet

Personal branding - Part3

Defining your identity gives you the core: where you stand and what you pursue. Now you have to make it alive!

To exist in the mind of people you have to be more than a simple thought, but vibrant, continuously evolving and interacting with them.

Maintaining a consistant presence:

Make sure to feed with frequent publication. Your audience, by noticing you on a regular basis will come to get used to it as an habit. They will then expect an input from you.

This is a first step in slightly stettling into their mind. Moreover, you'll break into their personal sphere and thereby get a grip on their feeling. Emotion is one of the most powerful influencial tool.

A piece of you shines in

Every post is a reflection of me. And thereby participates in my personal brand. Since I want to communicate a professional, useful, effective and consistent message, my blog has to be in that way.

Thus, every single post is demanding of time and effort. What I deliver to you is the synthesis of a long and detailled research, a proven result from my personal experiment and the digest of my understanding.

The art of writting

There also comes the actual art of writing. As easy as it might seems, it took me long to find my style, the right words (specially in a non native language) and how to effectively 'communicate' ideas in simple words; and I'm still working on it. 

Particularly the first months were demanding. Now it tends to come more naturally, as I get used to it.

I'm on the way to finding my voice!

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet

Personal branding - Part2

Building a brand

Although you can define what your brand is, the interesting aspect is that your brand evolves with your career. 
Self-reflection can bring you objectivity, which will make clearer and more consistent your decisions.

Why?

- Be responsible for it
Whether you want it or not, your "brand" goes with your reputation. If you don't want someone else to do it at your place, you would better anticipate

- Integrity 
You can align your image with who you really are and reveal you true-color

- Be unique
Crafting your brand makes you realise where you stand and what you can leverage off. You'll be objective with your strengths and weaknesses. Self-knowledge goes a long way with differentiating you from the crowd

- Be objective
Having a clearer view of your goals will help you keep focused, resilient and aware of where to put your efforts

- Be collected
Integrating all the multiple facets of your personality into one single core, will enhance your communication and identification to others. In the meantime, avoid the rise of red flags pointing misleading messages

- Protect your down side
You can have a better control of the content published about you. In our digital world this has turned to be vital. You will be fortified behind a unified and strong reflection of yourself.
That will also help you learn how and what to express yourself on; avoiding the pitfalls.

- Be strategic
You will dissociate clearly what goes along with your personal brand and could be beneficial to your career, with what could finally cause collateral damages.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet

Personal branding - Part1

Your image, let it work for you!

If there is one efficient, effective, long lasting, influential, valuable and core asset for your career, your image is it. You mold it with personal branding.

This series of articles is to clue you in to what personal branding is and to reveal you the secrets and relieve assumptions you may have about it.

Distinguish the "image" and the "brand"

1- Brand

Personal branding marks you as a brand: "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service" - Wikipedia

Applied to an individual, in other terms: the entire package, outside and inside, that makes YOU unique and distinguishable from the others.

2- Image
This is the perception of you that others have. The perception of your brand. All the emotions instigate, the consequences of your actions, the subsequence of your behaviour etc in other words: your reflect in the eyes of others.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet