Secrets of On-Line Branding, Part 1

This is the beginning of a series commenting on suggestions that others have made which I believe are worthy of your consideration. The ideas should provoke some helpful thoughts.

The first set of points is from a blog that quotes Meridith Levenson in a recent Network World article. Meridith offers six ways we damage our personal brands.

“1. Putting the cart before the horse: There’s no point in using all the online tools to promote your brand until you’ve taken the time to think out who are, what you want, and what it is you have to sell. Go through that exercise first.”

Does this sound familiar? I cannot stress enough how important it is to start with understanding who you are (passions, values, belief systems, life mission…), what you want to do, where you want to do it, and how to package yourself (vision, brand, message, character…) into the brand that fits where you will find your dream job or dream company.

Whether in physical networking or internet networking, all of this must be consistent or you will be sending mixed and confusing signals. Doing so will raise red lights that are concerns of “which person is the real you?”

If that question about you is raised, then a second question is raised – “Can I trust someone whom has more than one persona? Who is the real person?”

People hire and buy from people whom they feel they can trust. Is your message sending out the right signals?