Ask an Expert: Get personal with your branding efforts
— -- Q: I continue to lose business to a couple of competitors who are better known than me in our industry. They don't do better work, but they are better known. How can I get potential clients to realize that I am as valuable as they are, and charge less, even? — Ronald
A:I think you are asking the wrong question. The question is not how to get people to realize you are as valuable as the higher priced competition, rather, the question should be how can you can you become as well branded as they are, so that people think of you in addition to them.
Because once that happens, once you build your personal brand to the point where you are spoken of in the same breath as those at the top of your field, then you do not have to charge less. In fact, then you can charge more, because you too will be considered one of the best in your field.
That is but one value of a great personal brand. A great personal brand sets you apart and makes you special. In addition, it
• Gives you an aura of success
• Creates credibility
• Keeps you top of mind
• Produces more consistent business
• Increases your income potential, and
• Adds to your perceived value
Now, the fact is, you already have a personal brand, whether or not you know it and whether or not you like it. Your personal brand is what people think of, what impressions they have, when they think of you in a professional sense.
Martha Stewart's personal brand is so powerful that she could go to jail, come out and not miss a beat. There are thousands of real estate companies out there, but few are as successful as The Trump Organization because Donald Trump knows the value of a great personal brand.
Having a strong personal brand is even more important for the rest of us at this time when job security is a thing of the past, when online reputations travel fast, and when e-networking plays such an important part in our lives and businesses.
Yet creating a great personal brand need not take a long time. Just ask Dan Schawbel. Dan is a leading Gen Y expert on personal branding, with a very popular blog (The Personal Branding Blog), a successful book, Me 2.0, as well as scores of interviews and speeches under his belt. Not bad, not bad at all — for someone a mere three years out of college.
