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Personal Branding:   Know Yourself

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The first step is to define who you are (and even who you aren't). Your purpose, your point of view and your values are key components of your brand. This step is about more than just your job; this definition is integral to your career and your life.
​Branding yourself requires being honest and genuine. When done correctly personal branding is something that should come very naturally. 

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Personal Branding:   Distinguish Yourself

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You are different from others - but how? This is not the time to be humble. Even if you can't think of how to describe what you are good at, think about what others consistently say about you - something they appreciate or admire.
Creating your personal brand is also about defining what you want people to say when describing you. Consider the ways that marketing brands distinguish themselves. There is usually a single phrase you can instantly apply to them. That's your goal - to distinguish yourself with your personal brand message.

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Personal Branding:   Communicate your Brand

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The job of your personal branding statement is to 'grab' attention and, within 10 seconds, make a positive first impression. Writing a personal branding statement is like creating a branding statement for a company, product or service. Your goal is to write a statement that is uniquely you, that creates a memorable hook to draw in the reader and expresses the extent of your expertise. It should represent who you are on the inside expressed authentially on the outside.

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Personal Branding:   Use Social Media to build your Brand

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In this age of social networking, a strong brand displays to the world who you are, what you've done and where you exist online. You definitely should consider targeting your online profile to reflect your professional self on LinkedIn - the current site most researched by hiring managers and recruiters. 
If you are a user (and why not?), make sure your profiles on other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, also reflect the image you want shared with potential employers. Utilising privacy settings on your Facebook account is always a good idea. Ultimately, think about all the ways you're represented in the virtual world and if it's how you'd like to be seen. 

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Personal Branding:   Ask for Feedback

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Your personal brand image - the value that others perceive you possess in your role in the workforce - is something you can develop, shape and control. Large companies use focus groups, customer feedback and other sophisticated methods to judge whether or not their brand is having the desired impact. One excellent way you can test the value of your personal brand is by asking for feedback. There are many forms of feedback to get valuable input on your personal brand - most involve asking questions of people (and yourself) to test the value of your personal brand.