How To Strengthen Your Personal Brand Using Four Product Branding Principles

Effective branding is all about making a product or service desirable by ensuring it comes across as unique, relevant and appealing to consumers. As someone who spent a good chunk of my career focused on marketing consumer packaged goods, I notice many of the principles we used to make a brand stand out in a crowded, competitive marketplace can also be used to help your personal brand stand out in a competitive sea of professionals.

Here are four product branding principles you can apply to your own career to make yourself more memorable to hiring managers, clients, and colleagues.

1. Be Visible

One of the first projects I worked on in my brand management career was a packaging redesign to make our brand of trash bags stand out more prominently on store shelves. Marketers are obsessed with visibility because consumers need to see your product in order to be aware of it, to consider it and eventually purchase it. Visibility helps your brand jump out to busy shoppers, especially when they’re inundated with so much choice.

One reason why a brand like Apple is so successful is that the brand is so visible. From their eye-catching retail store design — including their new flagship store’s roof in Chicago shaped like an actual MacBook — to their products featuring so prominently in blockbuster movies, Apple’s visibility helps them maintain strong top-of-mind awareness.

Similarly, when it comes to your own personal brand, being visible allows you to remain top-of-mind within your own professional network. You can take some simple steps to build your own visibility.

Within your organization, being visible is about making a point to speak at important company meetings, to make yourself known to your cross-functional colleagues, and to share your work with internal stakeholders so they can be aware of the business impact you’re having.

Outside your organization, participating in industry conferences, sharing relevant views on LinkedIn, and maintaining strong relationships with recruiters are just a few ways you can maximize your chances of coming to mind if and when relevant career opportunities arise.

2. Be Distinctive

I once worked as a brand manager on a luxury desserts brand that differentiated itself with its shamelessly indulgent chocolate desserts, seductive tone of voice, and bold packaging. We marketers focus a lot on making our brands distinctive because consumers tend to more easily remember unique products with a unique personality. Being distinctive allows your brand to occupy a special place in people’s lives and maintain a reason to exist in otherwise commoditized categories.

One brand that does this well is Virgin Atlantic. Their brand is all about elevating your flying experience and letting your human spirit fly. From their amenity-rich airport lounges to their onboard bar serving cocktails to their expansive Vera in-flight entertainment system, Virgin Atlantic has focused on reinforcing this distinctive concept of being a clubhouse in the sky.

Similarly, as a professional, you should identify and consistently reinforce makes you unique so you can become more indispensable. Decide on some key skills that set you apart, then ensure you focus your energies on projects that allow you to exercise and showcase those skills. You can also consider what makes your work style different from others who share your same job title, then try to ensure your work constantly reinforces that style.

3. Be Authentic

I spent some time marketing luxury ice cream for a well-known global brand, and since then, my behavior as an ice cream consumer has forever changed. I’m now one of those people who always avoid ice cream stands with neon-colored flavor assortments because I know how much high quality, authentic, natural ingredients can make a difference to not only how a product tastes but also how it affects your body. So these days whenever I buy any food product, the first thing I do consider whether the ingredients are recognizable and authentic.

An example of an authentic brand in another category is Brompton Bicycle. Since 1975, Brompton has handmade all their folding bikes in London, and the design hasn’t drastically changed from the original prototype designed by founder Andrew Ritchie. Skilled craftsmen trained by Brompton for 18 months hand-braze every single bike and leave their initials stamped onto the parts they’ve built. Customers can also fully customize their Brompton bikes to make them feel truly unique and personal.

As a professional, being authentic is all about allowing yourself to showcase who you really are instead of pretending to be someone you’re not. It also means focusing your energies on work you genuinely find meaningful. It means working for an organization with a product, service, mission, or culture that aligns with your own values and beliefs. When you’re doing work you feel really matters, the energy and enthusiasm you bring to that work will be hard for others to ignore.

4. Be Meaningful

Across every brand I’ve managed — everything from household cleaning brands to luxury dessert brands — one of my jobs as a marketer was to convey the precise functional and emotional benefits our products delivered to consumers. Beyond those basic benefits though, we also aspired to help consumers understand the positive impact these products could have on their broader life. For example, a drain opener doesn’t just clear clogs, it allows your life to run more smoothly. A Volvo car doesn’t just get you from point A to point B, it protects the people you love.

One brand doing a great job of elevating its brand communications beyond basic functional benefits is Peloton. Yes, their bikes and treadmills allow you exercise from the comfort of your home while joining live-streamed classes led by top-notch instructors. However, in their recent TV advertising, Peloton has begun shifting from just talking about how Peloton products work to now highlighting the positive impact their products can have on your entire life, in line with their company’s mission of “empowering people to be the best version of themselves anywhere, anytime.”

When it comes to your own career, focusing on the “why” behind your work can give your professional life more intention. When you hone in on a motivation and broader mission that drives you, your work gains more depth, impact, and significance. Doing more meaningful work allows you to do more passionate work that also leaves a more powerful impression on others.

Great personal branding makes you more memorable

Great brands behave in certain ways that make them noticeable and memorable. Similarly, by emulating those same behaviors as a professional, you can make your own personal brand more noticeable and memorable. Start by asking yourself these questions:

• Where can I make myself more visible amongst stakeholders or clients?
• How can I better highlight my unique skills to my colleagues or customers?
• What steps can I take to be more authentic with who I am at and outside of work?
• Which projects could allow me to do work that’s more meaningful to me and to others?

Asking yourself these questions can be the first step toward identifying how you can create a more focused personal brand that supports your aspirations, builds your reputation, and ultimately opens doors to relevant opportunities that continue to reinforce who you want to be.

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Joseph Liu is a career change consultant and host of the Career Relaunch Podcast based in London with a passion for helping people gain the clarity, confidence, and courage to pursue more meaningful careers. Having gone through three major career changes myself, I now share insights from building & relaunching global consumer brands to empower professionals and business owners to build & relaunch their personal brands at josephpliu.com. My unique approach is informed by 10 years of blue-chip marketing experience in the US & UK managing brands including Glad, Liquid-Plumr, Gü Desserts, and H?agen-Dazs combined with 500+ hours of professional career consulting. Check out my TEDx Talk on “Reshaping the Story of Your Career.”

Stay in touch with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, & Google+, Instagram, and Medium.

I originally posted this article on Forbes.