What distinguishes the top companies from their competitors? They successfully market their business. Organizations spend millions of dollars on their branding to acquire and retain customers. If these corporations are willing to spend so much on their brand shouldn’t you take the time to invest in yours? Although building a professional brand is not the same as a business’ consumer brand, the results are the same. In the same way that well-known establishments get buyers, well-known people get opportunities. If you’re interested in learning more about building your brand, keep reading and hopefully, you will learn a thing or two.
Network! Network! Network!
“It’s all about who you know” is a very popular saying used to describe connected people. In the working world having connections is essential in building your professional brand. As I write these words I know people who have followed my content are thinking: “this again.” Well yes, I am going to continue to say this because it is the best advice I can give. The more people you can connect with, the more opportunities can arise from those relationships. Becoming connected can serve multiple purposes, such as mentoring, job opportunities, business leads, and many other ways to propel your career. Want to get better at networking? Here are a couple of tips:
Connect with 10+ people on LinkedIn a week in your field. Apply this for 12 weeks and you will see your connections grow steadily.
Join a couple of LinkedIn groups and connect with people in senior roles within the group
Reach out to 3-5 people weekly for networking conversations. Don’t ask for a job but learn more about their career journey and what they do in their current role.
Determine 1-3 people to maintain mentoring relationships with. Connect with them once a month on different challenges you’re facing in your role.
I guarantee that if you apply these tips over a sustained period of time you will develop great networking habits and a few connections along the way.
Have An Online Presence
I am going to be honest, I do not like to post on any social media platform unless it’s about sports. I am a private person by nature and don’t love the internet knowing what I am doing. Starting my consulting business has made me realize the power of having an online presence. Most of my clients are generated from LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Because of my posts, videos, articles, and general engagement I have been able to draw a small following. Many of my friends or former co-workers have reached out for my career advice. Due to my engagement on social media, connections have come to know me as the “career guy.” To grow my business, I have to utilize the tools provided to me. The same applies to building your professional brand. Imagine a scenario where a hiring manager within a marketing department has a new role opening. They let their teams know that they are opening a new position and are looking for referrals. One of the team’s members has seen you post about a successful marketing campaign you just drove for a new client. They go to your profile and find that you have created an Instagram related to driving successful marketing campaigns. Based on your previous experience as well as your online presence they reach out to you about a new role within their team. You are interested, go through the interview process and get the role. The job was never posted, and the only way you would have known about this opportunity was through your former co-worker. Consistently posting online made your co-worker think of you for this new position. Where you have a presence varies by industry, however, the power of being known makes a difference in opening new opportunities. You’re probably thinking okay Jonathan this is great advice but where do I start? Here are some tips:
Post about a recent project you are working on/completed on LinkedIn. Talk about 1-2 things you learned from it that you can apply later on.
Post about an article/book you read recently and one thing you took away from it. Look to post this within a group related to your field (Slack Channels, LinkedIn groups.)
Create personal projects to develop a portfolio. Publish some of the different work you have done and explain what you learned from it. Post new things every couple of weeks so that your connections can stay up to date on what you’re doing.
Write your own articles. LinkedIn is a platform that allows anyone to write articles. Pin them to your Linkedin profile so that every time someone goes on your page they can see your content.
Building a presence allows you to grow your experience, as well as display your skills. I have a lot of confidence that doing this will open new opportunities for yourself.
Find Opportunities
As I mentioned in the first point and in previous articles, known people get opportunities. However, there is also power in finding opportunities to display your expertise. Whenever someone learns what you do, it opens up another door. The more known you become is the larger your professional brand grows. Finding opportunities to display your skills might not be as hard as you think. Below are some tips to help:
Reach out to the career center of your alma mater and see if they are doing any career panels. If they are, ask to be a panel member.
Reach out to any community centers in the area that have adult learning classes and volunteer to teach a course.
Research upcoming conferences within your field and submit a talk to present.
Volunteer for nonprofit organizations that are looking for members with your expertise.
Join a local networking meetup and volunteer to take on responsibilities with the organizers.
Searching for different opportunities does require dedicating your time. However, long term opportunities like these can lead to new roles, clients, and business.
Conclusion:
By networking, building an online presence, and finding opportunities any person will be able to enhance their exposure to new people, places, and connections. Many companies value employees who have a strong brand. Google is famous for recruiting the smartest and the most well-known technologist in the world. The main reason is that if their brand becomes associated with Google, it builds the credibility of their company. I challenge you if you don't have a strong professional brand, make it a goal to create one. Constructing your brand takes consistency, focus, and effort, but anyone can do it. Like anything else Rome wasn’t built in a day but brick by brick, you can construct a brand that can help you sustain your career growth!
Comments