Leaving Your Mark Through Personal Branding
Posted At: June 12, 2013 11:15 p.m.
by Casey B. Rogers
In today’s celebrity-conscious culture, personal branding has become one of the most useful tools in harnessing the true power of public relations. For many PR professionals, discovering and creating this very type of branding has become one of the biggest assets in promoting clients and growing businesses across the country.
For example, think of any particular celebrity in today’s society. What images or thoughts come to mind when thinking about the individual? Do you automatically have a positive perception of the celebrity or a negative one? That, my friends, is personal branding!
If others have ever referred to you as humorous or intelligent, that description is part of your very own personal brand. It’s important to discover how you want others to perceive you and to create a personal brand based on achieving that impression.
Jason Okuma, CEO and founder of JATI, Incorporated, has been sharing his expertise in personal branding, development and marketing for more than 20 years. His company is a business development, marketing and public relations agency based in Beverly Hills, Calif. that is dedicated to results.
Okuma has become known for influencing the influencers through empowering numerous entrepreneurs, small business owners and professionals in successfully growing their businesses.
In his video, “Personal Branding PR,” Okuma defines personal branding as simply positioning yourself in the marketplace with a unique selling proposition that makes you different from and superior to competitors. Okuma claims that, by pairing personal branding with public relations, remarkable results can be achieved.
Okuma points out particular celebrities in the video who exemplify what personal branding actually is. Donald Trump, for example, typically represents luxury and opulence, and for many people, his famous quote, “You’re fired” often comes to mind.
Celebrities use the power of personal branding and PR to capitalize on endorsements and to increase the value of their name as a brand by leveraging on their fame and exposure.
Just as celebrities embrace personal branding, so can other individuals, groups and businesses. Engaging in personal branding can position a client as an expert and help them rise above competitors, while increasing credibility and notoriety.
Watered down by the increasing number of media outlets, traditional marketing is simply not as effective as it used to be. Personal branding provides an inexpensive way to market that often creates third party validation and proof through social media.
Marketing your personal brand incorporates anything that highlights your brand. Creating business cards, résumés and cover letters are very simple examples of marketing your personal brand on paper. There are also numerous ways to market your personal brand online through websites, LinkedIn profiles, Twitter and Facebook accounts and more.
Most PR professionals know that success is built on perception and visible endorsement. After all, it’s not what you say about yourself; it’s what others say about you.
