​by Victoria Rubio, Career and Success Coach, VR Resumes and Career Services

If you are serious about your Career, then you must be serious about your Brand!
Personal branding is vital when it comes to having a lucrative career, not only for long-term success, but also for your earning potential. How you present yourself to potential employers, clients, and customers is crucial if you want to advance within your industry; your brand shows them clearly who you are professionally and exactly what you can offer them, which can make or break your growth and elevation on your path of professional success.
What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding is the practice of marketing your skills, experience, strengths, and passions within your career as your brand, which becomes how others automatically think of you. It is establishing your professional image and using that to leave a lasting impression on people so they remember the value you bring, and want to work with you or have you on their team.
Find out your Why
The first step in establishing your brand is figuring out why you do what you do and why you love doing it. The reason for this is because knowing the passion and purpose behind your profession will help you communicate it fluidly across all platforms, which will assist you to be authentic and genuine in all your communication efforts.
Solidify your Branding Package
Ensure that your professional documents and platforms have a streamlined appearance and consistent language that presents you and your value effectively and impressively. Your career branding package should include, at minimum, a Professional Resume, Cover Letter, Professional Bio Marketing Page, and Optimized LinkedIn Profile. These platforms create a consistent presence that, together, create the foundation of your brand that you will be able to showcase and share with others as needed. I can’t emphasize how important this is for your career success. Make sure your brand documents and online presence have a streamlined appearance and offer a clear value that summarizes who you are professionally and what skills and experience you bring with you. 
Expand your Reach
Networking is imperative to growing your brand. Once you have your branding package established, you are ready to begin sharing your knowledge and expertise with your network. Share everything you know about your industry and advise others about what has worked for you and what has not. You can also write articles and share your knowledge on many online platforms, including LinkedIn, which will help position you as a leader and authority in your industry and help your brand reach grow quickly.
Never Stop Growing
Continue to invest in your industry knowledge and stay updated on relevant trends and happenings. This adds to your professional toolbox and shows that you are informed and passionate about your career. Always keep learning. Take a course, obtain training, brush up on your interview skills, sign up for webinars, attend conferences, etc. Bottom line, stay in the forefront and ensure you are learning from the best and taking the knowledge to propel you to new heights.
Seek Professional Support
If you are serious about growing your career and establishing yourself as a leader within your industry, one of the best things you could ever do for your career is to hire help. A Career Expert can help you discover, define, communicate, and market your personal brand for your career growth in ways you never thought possible. VR Resumes and Career Services specializes in strategies and branding packages for professionals that stand above the rest and help them advance dramatically in their careers. We offer Resumes, Cover Letters, LinkedIn Optimization, Bio Marketing Pages, Professional Portfolios, Interview Preparation, Social Media Marketing, one on one Career Consulting, and more to help you reach your highest possible potential. Contact us for a free assessment and start your journey of purpose, abundance, and success today! 
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Creating a memorable personal brand is not something that happens overnight, but the work you put into it can help you reach your career or business goals and help you scale and grow exponentially!
Your personal brand is the way people perceive or remember you. It’s what you are known for. Having a personal brand can help distinguish you in your career field or business industry.

Whether you are trying to excel in your career or be known for your businesses, a personal brand can help. Creating a brand shows your values and highlights your strengths. When a prospect is looking you up online, your personal brand can give them a snapshot of what you represent. It is a way of expressing who you are and your long-term vision. When your personal brand resonates with you and your values, you attract people whom you can connect and network with.

These days, you can use the Internet to your advantage to build your personal brand. In the long run, the personal brand can help you sell a product or course or distinguish your reputation in your industry. Plus, the work that you put into your personal brand can compound. People will reach out to you knowing your expertise. You may receive requests for speaking engagements. If you launch a product of your own, you could have an audience of people who trust you, which is what having a personal brand is about.

Follow these steps as you grow your personal brand:

1. Start with a story. Stories drive our world. They evoke feelings, take people to another world, and help others associate themselves with you. How did you get to where you are today? What’s the “why” behind your work? Tell a story people will resonate with.
   
   
   
2. Create a brand promise. A brand promise is a statement that communicates what followers can expect from you whenever they interact with your brand or company. It can turn into a tagline on social media. Regardless of the businesses you start or products you launch, what is the brand promise that will tie those things together?
   
   
   
3. Research. It might sound unusual at first but doing research will help you get clear on who your brand is for, as well as the brands in your industry they follow. The research you do can create lifelong superfans.

 

• Who do you want to impact? Who do you want to receive your message?
   
• Which brands in your industry does your audience follow?
   

• What words or phrases will you use?
  
  
  
• Ask people to list traits about you that stand out to them. Maybe it’s your openness, yes attitude, extraversion, and more. How can you use that to your advantage in your brand personality?

 

1. Build your online presence. Get started building digital platforms so that when people stumble upon you online, they can learn more about you.

 

• Website. Your website is your digital storefront that tells people about what you offer. It can also be the archive for your blog content.
  
  
  
• Social Media Platforms. Content you post on social media can reach your existing audience, expand your audience, and be shared across platforms.
  
  
  
• Email. Sending newsletters into follower’s inboxes can build a personal, intimate relationship.
  
  
  
• The small details. Use head-shots and graphics that convey your brand personality. Keep that personality in everything, including your email signature!

 

1. Think long-term. Thinking long-term helps you get crystal clear on where you want to take your brand. What is the purpose of your brand? How can building your personal brand help you in the long term? In what way does it align with your goals?

Through creating recognition, branding can be the elevator to achieving your goals. If you are serious about elevating your career and/or business, then you should also be serious about creating a well-crafted brand to help you stand out as a leader in your industry. Our team can help you make a bold brand that won’t soon be forgotten. Book a free branding consultation call today!

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In a competitive market, standing out above the competition is extremely important. These days, consumers get exposed to numerous business brands daily through the internet and social media, which makes the need for impressive branding and marketing vital to a business’ success. Most people think that branding consists only of elements such as logos and colours. In actuality, branding is what gives your business its overall identity and personality. It’s what attracts customers to buy from you and what builds loyalty and retention. So, it goes without saying that if you don’t establish a solid standout brand for your business, chances are it won’t survive for long. 

Considering the huge amount of competition there is out here, businesses really need to go the extra mile to ensure they stand out in a crowd. To do this, businesses should invest in creating a strong brand that will get and keep people’s attention. This is a crucial component to establishing a successful business, so you really don’t want to overlook or skimp on this. 

Cohesive Branding Leads to Business Recognition 
One of the main reasons that businesses need strong branding is that it helps them get noticed often. This is important, because when you have a cohesive brand, it helps people to remember you and when you are consistent with your branding, it always leads to you staying in people’s mind and being one of the first businesses that comes to mind when they need your product or service.  
A business with a well-crafted brand will always be much more memorable. When someone views your brand (even for just a moment) if what they saw touched them in a positive manner and they felt good by seeing your branding message, they won’t forget it. Sooner or later, they will come back to you when they need you. That is the power of effective branding!!

Branding Builds Trust with your Audience
It is a well-known fact that people buy from brands they trust, and a business that’s missing key elements of branding will have a hard time getting people to trust them. Without strong branding, you have very little to show your clients about your business. Think about it, if you had to choose buying from a business with consistent, clear, professional, positive branding or a business who had made very little effort to do so, you would more than likely put your trust in the one that did. Branding helps bring credibility and respect to your business, and helps you showcase what your business has to offer your customers clearly and effectively. When your business invests in improving its appearance, message, strategy, marketing (which are all part of successful branding), potential customers will recognize this, and the more consistent you are, the more of their trust you will earn, which will mean more customers for your business. 

Branding is More Important than Advertising
Many businesses think that advertising is what brings customers to their business. This is not necessarily true. While it is true that a business won’t get very far without advertising, you need a strong brand to be able to advertise your products or services effectively. You cannot advertise without creating a brand first, not if you want to be successful. When you advertise, you want people to see what your business is about, what it represents, what values and identity are important to your business. This is incredibly difficult to achieve without the right branding. 

Branding Brings the Life to your Business
One of the best aspects of a solid brand is its ability to incite certain streamlined feelings and emotions in your business’ audience, which creates human connection and relatability, so they feel more connected to your business. This is always an indication of a solid, standout brand, and builds relationships with your audience and attracts loyal customers. If you can create a brand that people care about and put yourself ahead of businesses that aren’t using this to their advantage, your business will stand out, and thrive.

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If you need assistance creating a solid, professional, and powerful brand that will stand above the rest and elevate your career exponentially, contact us! We’d love to help. 

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