You shall never start personal promotion without understanding its objectives, because the answer to this question will define the strategy and promotion tools. There can be a lot of goals. For example, "I'm going to go into politics," "I want to increase the income of my company", "I want to fuel investors’ confidence in order to increase my investors' and partners' confidence in me", "I'm planning to start my own business", "I want to improve my market value as a professional", etc.
Having answered this question, we go to the next step: developing the personal brand positioning strategy. At this stage, the foundation is defined on which to build the perception of the individual by the target audience. In other words, at this stage, you have to answer 2 questions. The first question is quite simple -"WHO are you?"It should be understood that the answer is "I am the CEO of X Inc. "does not quite fit. You need a little more identity. For example:
- "You are a well-known lawyer who advises Russia's most famous people" or "You are a lawyer who wins all divorces"
- "You are a famous fashion designer, who designs the stars' outfits for special occasions" or "You are a designer who sews very comfortable and fashionable casual wear for business ladies"
- "You are an entrepreneur who is constantly investing in new projects, is launching start-ups and make them successful," or "You are a business shark who lifted up his company from scratch and made it a profitable giant" or "You are a successful businessman who invests in social projects ".
The second question is a bit more complicated:"What kind of PERSON are you?". The answer to this question will be the basis for further construction of the verbal and visual platform of your personal brand: appearance, identity, body language, behavior pattern peculiarities, lifestyle, emotional tone of your messages. All these factors will shape the perception of you in the information environment.
Once we have answered all these questions, we turn to the formation of the communication strategy of your personal brand, including advertising and PR tools necessary for effective interaction of the individual with the target audience. The main instruments are:
- Internet promotion
It is, first and foremost, about blogging and your own accounts on social networks. At the same time we must remember that, depending on the target audience, you can choose different platforms, and the content and style of presentation of information will also differ. You can also create a personal website for personal advancement, however, do not rush this, as this tool is not only resource-intensive, but also is not always justified. Sometimes it is enough to limit yourself to social networks, blogs and a Wikipedia page.
- Publications
Of course, within the framework of promotion of your personal brand you need to increase the citation rating. To do this, you must actively cooperate with journalists, provide comments, expert opinions, write articles in specialized publications, initiate information events.
- Participation in events
An excellent tool for personal advancement in the professional and business environment is speaking at various conferences and round tables. Very often, event organizers are not eager to invite "unknown" spokespersons, especially if they represent smaller companies, and don't have an important portfolio. In such cases it is necessary to start taking part in activities as a participant and, as an option, be active at asking questions to the spokespersons and engaging them in a discussion, or consider sponsorship of the events, which often gives the representative of a sponsor company an opportunity to speak.
- Company's own events
In some cases it is good to organize workshops, seminars, and other kinds of events on your own. But you should make sure that such measures make sense and can be effective.
However, one must also bear in mind that the effectiveness of personal promotion depends not only on the well-developed positioning and communication strategy, but also on the willingness of the personality to be open and willing to establish new contacts and interact with people, to be friendly, positive and interesting to others.
