The media has been jam packed with coverage of the passing of music maestro Michael Jackson. To some he was a pop legend, to others hard to work out with his fondness for a childlike lifestyle.
Michael Jacksons personal brand varied over the years.
The good? He is being remembered as the king of pop with over 40 years of achievements in the record charts.He created unique dance moves and will be renowned for his moonwalk.
The not so good? He had a quirky passion for a continual change in his appearance.His love of childhood was magnified in the press with many curious and sometimes disturbing stories from Never Never Land.
So how do you develop a positive personal brand?
What is it that makes me stand out?
Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors or your colleagues.What two words would your colleagues use to describe you or your greatest strengths? What about your boss or previous bosses? Finally people who work for you – how would they describe you if asked?
When you’ve done that, sit back and ask yourself one more question to define your brand: what do I want to be famous for? It’s time to give some serious thought and even more serious effort to imagining and developing yourself as a brand.
So how do I market myself?
The sky is the limit when it comes to marketing yourself and your profile brand.Get involved in projects in the business, introduce yourself to new colleagues, showcase your skills or work on new ones. Start identifying your business champions, the people that will champion your career on your behalf.
Imagine a meeting being held with the senior management team and a new project being discussed and the question is asked: “Who should manage this?”You want your name to be said, over and over.
The second important thing to remember about your personal visibility campaign is: it all matters. When you are promoting brand, everything you do and everything you choose not to do communicates the value and character of the brand. Everything from the way you handle phone conversations to the email messages you send to the way you conduct business in a meeting is part of the larger message you are sending about your brand. This is even more important for those working from home.
The key to any personal branding campaign is word-of-mouth marketing. Your network of friends, colleagues, clients, and customers is the most important marketing tool you have got. What they say about you and your contributions is what the market will ultimately gauge as the value of your brand. So the big trick to building your brand is to find ways to nurture your network of colleagues.
How do I know if I am doing it?
Put together your own support squad. Ask colleagues, friends, peers, managers, and recruiters for honest, helpful feedback on your performance, development, and your value. Its the only way to know what you would be worth on the open market. It is the only way to make sure that, when you decide to move up or on, you will be in a strong bargaining position.
Michael Jackson was many things to many people. Fortunately the press are being kind to him and remembering him for the huge achievements he had in life, not digging up the dirt of his past.
All of us have a chance to be a brand worthy of being remembered and talked about in a positive way.
How will you be remembered?
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