The 3 most important Personal Branding skills to have

June 18, 2007 at 1:28 am | In Networking, Personal Branding, Podcasts, Success Methodologies | 9 Comments

 

Personal Branding Skills

When trying to focus on every aspect of Personal Branding, especially in this generation, things get overwhelming and unmanageable. When a corporation releases a new campaign for a product or to promote their own brand, there are various media outlets and styles that need to be accounted for and different audiences that need attention. While some corporations have the luxury of human resource assets and capital for promotion purposes, individuals do not share in that fortune. This poses a challenge that people need to consider and that obstacle is not having the bandwidth to focus on too many objectives and promotional tactics at once. To narrow down this focus, I have presented the top three most significant Personal Branding skills that individuals should practice in order to enhance their brand identity and equity.

The three skills that are most crucial when interviewing, networking or excelling in your career are writing, communication and technical skills. Each skill supports one another and when combined it forms a strong Personal Brand, which is valuable in the marketplace and in life.

  1. Writing skills: One of the most important methods of communication is writing. Your writing may appear in emails, blogs, papers, reports, presentations, websites and other media such as magazines and newspapers. If your writing is unsatisfactory it will be known by those you communicate with and you will lose credibility and respect out of it. Focusing on your writing is vital to a successful career, especially because the world is run by email and if you can’t spell or write in a linear fashion, you will lose opportunities. Learning to write can also be a challenge and it comes with time. To help speed up your development, enroll in classes at school or seek the aid of a mentor. Be sure to be consistent with your writing too and learn new vocabulary in order to have a stronger impact. Through writing, especially in blogs, your brand is highlighted and you touch your readers. Customize your writing to the audience, by conducting research and tailoring the content to the people who will be reading it.
  2. Communication skills: The larger the corporation, the more important good communication is. Also, interpersonal communication is valuable in networking and accomplishing tasks, wherever you are. Communication skills are present during a speech, presentation, day-to-day talk, elevator pitches to executives or between you and a peer. Each interaction is important to showcasing your Personal Brand in positive light. Presenting at work is a time where you can build credibility, network within the corporate environment and be seen as a leader or subject matter expert. Your credibility is at stake during a presentation, so be prepared to answer questions and be concise with your PowerPoint slides and vocals. Presenting is a formal way of letting your audience or managers know that you exist and add value to the business. The difficult part is the pressure that you endure before you present because you are being judged on your verbiage and subject knowledge. This is why preparation is the key to your success. Strong presentation skills are a clear path for leadership, which corresponds to management.
  3. Technical skills: If you thought communication and writing were important, technical skills are not only important but are required for most jobs in society today. Most job listings require experience using software packages such as Microsoft Office. More and more companies use these products, such as Microsoft Excel, for operational purposes in any job function. To be accepted into a position, you should invest time in learning computer skills or other skills that are needed in your field. Today, without these skills, you have a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace and become a commodity. Brand yourself through gaining these skills, especially the ones that are in high demand in your respected areas because it will differentiate you and make you stand out and be distinct.

9 Comments »

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  1. Dan,
    I am a constant follower of your material so I hope you will not mind if I add a bit here. I would add the skill to execute, to get things done. I heard or read somewhere that 82% of Americans think they have a book they could write. Yet, only 200,000 (ONLY?) books are published every year. Why? The rest are not written or written so poorly that they are not published. Wouldn’t it be nice if ad copy had to pass such a standard?

    Any way, great advice as always.

    Comment by Roger Anderson — June 18, 2007 #

  2. I like these tips and ideas. Some good things for me to think about. In my industry (IT) communication is something that needs work, so these have some good starters.

    Thanks for checking out my site.

    Comment by Mark Mathson — June 18, 2007 #

  3. Dan, great tips. As one who has done a fair amount of hiring and am now a consultant, I have been on both sides of the equation. Your three tips are right on target, but Roger’s may be number one in the interview process.

    Comment by Lewis Green — June 18, 2007 #

  4. I agree, those are some useful ideas, especially the emphasis on writing skills, even if your job doesn’t have a whole lot to do with writing. Your writing, in the form of an email, blog, or letter, is often the first contact you have with someone, and we all know how much first impressions matter. In addition, the ability to explain an idea simply and clearly – good expository writing – is an invaluable skill regardless of the position you have or what business you’re in. Blogging is a good way to develop your writing skills – keeping a blog ensures that you write fairly often and that your work is read by others, who can comment, possibly criticize, and generally keep you sharp.

    Comment by Jacqueline — June 18, 2007 #

  5. I agree that all the skills you mentioned are important. I also agree with Roger in his statement regarding action. I believe that’s foundational to anything especially since you made some great recommendations on “what to do” if you need to develop a particular skill area. Remember, to take that valuable information that you learn and implement it. Make the information work for you or else all that valuable time ‘invested” is lost. The personal branding process is three steps: Extract, Express and Exude. In order to Express and Exude, one must implement.

    Comment by Maria Elena — June 19, 2007 #

  6. Hi Dan! Spot on advice, agreed with completely.

    Within the communication aspect, there’s probably room for having a keen political sense of things, like not getting too familiar with subordinates, superiors et cetera. Or just getting a feel for relationships between different people and knowing when not to speak.

    The first two points are indispensable, while the last one .. well, that could be blagged! ;-)

    Comment by Wayne Smallman — June 19, 2007 #

  7. Dan, … let me add a #0, if you don’t mind.

    The most important personal branding skill is “that, which differentiates you from everybody else”. Write on top of that, communicate on top of that and build your technical skills on top of that one thing.

    I agree with the reasoning nonetheless.

    Comment by Alexander Becker — June 19, 2007 #

  8. Dan

    Thanks for your comments on my blog… Good points on this post and all very necessary. Agree on the action comment from Roger, and Alexander’s on first and foremost finding your differentiator. I used to own an executive search firm and in my experience, people buy personalities. You have to be well qualified of course, but you have to stand out for something unique, something that sets you apart from the rest. And it must be authentic…

    Comment by Louise Mowbray — June 21, 2007 #

  9. Dan, I saw your comment at Ovations blog. Your blog is off to a good start. I commend you for your content.

    Comment by TR Rosenberg — June 26, 2007 #


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