The Art of Self Branding in Corporate World

If we go by Oxford Dictionary, the literal meaning of Branding is "the activity of giving a particular name and image to goods and services so that people will be attracted to them and want to buy them". It is unfortunate that this term is only used along with Sales & Marketing streams, and we are ignoring all other aspects of it. The most productive angle to this term is "Self-Branding". Let us talk about this concept in detail.

If we introspect, we will realize that every day we are selling our work and personality to the respective buyers. More effectively we sell ourselves, the more we will grow in the corporate hierarchy. We are sustaining in such a corporate ecosystem where everyday a developer and an analyst are selling themselves to the project lead. A project lead is selling himself to the sponsor. The sponsor is selling to the CEO and ultimately CEO to the market. The thought to ponder here is, why only the management and C level executives are getting the credit for branding and selling the product when most of the work is done at the developer and analysts' level.

If we deep dive into the above thought, we will realize that it has become quintessential to create our own brand in the industry. Many of us are keen to create our own image and name in the market but are unaware about the secret to achieve it. We are set back by the fear, uncertainty, and the politics in the corporate world and think that people will mock us if we try to create our own brand. The truth is - we are living in such a dynamic and vigorous era of the start-up ecosystem where the most highly paid and recognized workforce is working at the ground level. To portray our competencies and skills in this fast-paced environment we need to build our own brand.

We are living in the times where every level of promotion requires marketing of the work done by us. I have listed down 10-point suggestions to create our own self brand that will create enough visibility to be recognized for our work in the industry. These are built on the branding concepts where our personality will create the differentiation and efforts will create values. Our face will be the logo of our personal brand. ?If you try practicing these self-branding tricks, your voice will surely be heard by the professionals across the world.

1. Be Analytical And Not Pessimist In The Meetings?- Always join the meeting with a positive outlook and keeping personal egoism aside. We never like the person who disagrees and says no to everything being discussed in the meeting. He basically portrays himself as a pessimist in everyone's subconscious mind and starts losing faith after a certain period. The person who explains everything with a rational and facts is heard the most in the meeting. Learn the art to disagree and put forward your point if you are confident about the same. Start your statement by saying - "You may be right, but I have a different viewpoint to what is being discussed", then you can state your points. Being inquisitive and asking relevant questions throughout the meeting shows your zeal for the topic and increase your understanding about the same. Be punctual in the meetings.
2. Body Posture And Confidence During The Meetings: The most easy and effective way to outshine in the meeting is by maintaining straight and upright body posture. The person should sound vigorous and confident while speaking. Maintain a subtle eye contact while speaking and modulate the facial smile based on the content being discussed. If it is a virtual meeting, turning on the camera is primarily important to create an impression on the audience. It is always good to talk to people face to face rather than black screens. It will create more people connect and build healthy relations.
3. Influential Story Telling:?Eloquent storytelling during the interview and presentations always helps to grab the attention of the audience. The artful description of the content by making it an experience rather than statement is the vital component of the story telling. Narrate your stories like the Bollywood style so that the audience never lose the interest. The next important parameter to make it constructive is the voice modulation while describing different moods while speaking. We can start by quoting our own experiences of the topic so that audience can relate more to it. Eventually when the audience has built interest in the topic, we can elicit the key selling points and facts to be showcased. We can try giving real time examples to win the trust of the listeners.
4. Efficacious Social Footprint:?Social media is the web of millions of personas created by the threads of inquisitiveness. It is an amazing fact that the professionals with whom we are interacting for the first time may know us before we interact with them for the meetings. Our social profiles especially LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook should always be updated with our latest information, professional competencies, and qualifications. Our display pictures should be utterly professional and magnificent. This will create a powerful social footprint when someone is browsing us on the web. Never shy away from sharing your thoughts on the respective handles. This has really helped me personally where one of the interviewers knew me in advance before I started my introduction. He was my second contact in LinkedIn and actively read my blogs. My colleagues got benefited with this social media proactiveness as they got overseas offers directly from their effective LinkedIn Profile. I am not against those who are not active users of social media or introverts. Above suggestion is to boost your personality and make business visibility.
5. General Knowledge And Current Affairs:?Develop the habit of reading the newspaper daily. This will help us get updated with current affairs. It assists us professionally when we want to start a conversation in the meeting. We can start by talking about the trending news and eventually come to the topic. This instils confidence among the panel and helps team building. It also creates a positive impression regarding our learning habits and keeps us up to date.
6. Art of Facilitation By Peer Learning:?In simple terms, the art of facilitation means how fast we learn from our peers during the meeting. Many times, it happens that during the meeting, we do not know even an inch of what is being discussed. At the same time, our seniors want our participation. The easiest trick to champion the meeting is to learn from what our peers are saying and then re-phrase the same words. The key strength is to be articulative and conclusive by just facilitating other’s thoughts by making them your own.
7. Humorous But Focused Attitude:?In the strenuous corporate environment, everyone wants to laugh and create an amicable environment at the workplace. A person with a good sense of humour is affable to everyone at work. It does not necessarily mean cracking jokes, instead keeping the environment cheerful and building a positive mood among all. Always try supporting peers who are in need and create an impression in everyone's mind that you will be there for them even if no one else is there. Build a focused attitude towards work. We should be known for being excellent performers by being playful at work.
8. Extensive Preparation Before The Meeting And Presentations:?We will quickly climb the ladder of success if we always strive to learn. Our hunger to learn and capitalize the learning reflects in all the meetings and presentations we participate in. Never attend any meeting unprepared. We should always do extensive research of the topic with facts before going to the presentation. We should be structured in our thoughts and prepare about the articulation of the facts well in advance. Our communication and confidence will also improve if we have expertise in what we are presenting. If impromptu responses are required in the meeting and we do not know the answer, tell the person confidently that "I am not sure about the answer and I will get back to you after having one shortly". We should make sure to answer him/her afterwards, this shows our commitment towards the work.
9. Being Truthful And Accepting Mistakes:?Honesty is respected everywhere irrespective of where we work. We make many mistakes while working in and out of office and it is okay to commit mistakes. Our biggest learning in life comes by learning from our mistakes and not repeating them. The problem lies when we stop admitting them and hide behind the bush for firefighting. As individuals, we will always be rewarded for honesty sooner or later. Rather than being in denial mode, always have the remedial attitude. Once the trust is built in front of your client, then your self-brand will grow exponentially.
10. Effective Introduction During The Client Meetings And Interviews:?Introducing ourselves effectively is a remarkable opportunity upfront to create an impression in the interviewee's mind. The introduction is the first impression and drives 80 percent of the remaining interview most of the time. It should be given utmost importance. It should be structured seamlessly and should usually last for 2-3 minutes. One of the formats to refer is stated as –

• Start by mentioning the place you belong to if the interviewer already knows your name. Talk about your personality in a couple of lines. You may use your favorite tagline.
• Briefly talk about your professional core competencies, highest educational qualification, and topmost professional certification (PMP, CBAP, FRM etc) which will make the interviewer more interested in you.
• Talk about roles and responsibilities in your current company which are more relevant for the discussion which is happening.
• Before concluding the introduction, talk about the hobby/interest you are passionate about. It can be anything other than work like writing, dancing, painting, acting.
• Mention if you have done something extraordinary to satisfy your passion. This will amaze the interviewer and create an?impression that you are a creative individual who is a self-starter.

As they say, "Rome was not built in a day". Developing the self-brand is also not a one-day activity. The 10-point suggestion above can be the starting point in this direction, and it will grow organically. Everything is replaceable in this world but something which is irreplaceable is our self-identity and image. We should groom it to that extent where we are not known by the company where we work in, but the company should be known by the employees who are working there. Your opinion?