It’s the golden arches on your paper coffee cup. It’s the checkmark on your workout t-shirt. It’s the automatic signature on your smartphone email. Today—whether we know it or not—we are all branded.
For businesses, branding is more important than tangible assets like real estate and available cash. “Brand equity” cannot be measured in dollars. When introduced seamlessly into your business, even personal branding can turn browsing into buying.
Regardless of employees’ age or position, businesses need a crash course in Personal Branding 101. Personal branding is a marketing tool, how individuals sell themselves to audiences. A personal brand is defined by food choices, clothes, career…anything that makes you, well, you. In today’s real-time tech world, this includes social networking.
Personal Branding equals Marketing
Many businesses discourage employees from blogging and tweeting at work, considering social media an unprofessional distraction. This viewpoint, however, actually hinders companies from cashing in on exponential exposure.
From a marketing perspective, personal branding is critical for long-term business success. Many employees that “status update” and “pin” likely belong to other networking communities. Employee personal interests differ widely, although coworkers share a common network: the company. However, the “company” piece of the personal branding pie is relatively small.
Instead of prohibiting social media activity, businesses should encourage employees to build their personal brands. Employee personal branding such as blogging allows a company to extend its reach and gain different audiences.
Make it Work
For businesses to attain wider traffic via their staff, companies should first train employees. Educate your staff on how to build audiences and communicate personal ideas effectively.
Forward-thinking companies like Google have popularized the 80/20 rule. Here, employees are free to explore and create outside the core corporate sphere 20% of the time, on the clock. Personal branding activities like social networking reach diverse audiences.
Most importantly, be memorable. Marrying personal networks with buzz-worthy products amplifies the influence of your business.
Image By: ryan_rancatore
