“Don`t compare yourself- you are all you`ve got.” – Janice Joplin.
Today everything seems to be branded, so why not build your own brand? If that seems a good idea, where do you start? “Brand” in this context means the impression you make, the way you behave and the image you project. You need a powerful brand to reflect a positive image, and a positive image gives you overall confidence.
Building your brand starts the minute your feet hit the floor in the morning; it is as much a matter of attitude as anything else and you have to show respect for others to earn respect for yourself. Today the image of physical fitness and mental alertness is an important one to project, especially at work. A person’s weight, for instance, can send out different signals. To some people, carrying a lot of weight says, “This person does not take an interest in themselves or care what anyone thinks of them”. To others it might say “This person is obviously steady and secure in themselves”. The problem is that you don’t know the effect your brand is going to have, so you have to be aware of all possibilities.
What goes into building a brand?
We talk about clothes and shoes because that is what people notice the minute they see you. A good brand also needs good manners, and the following rules will reinforce your brand through these courtesies:
- Offer to carry a heavy bag or suitcase if you see someone having difficulty.
- Stand up when somebody enters the room.
- Hold a door open for someone coming through behind you.
- Offer an elderly person or a pregnant mother your seat in a train or a bus.
- A man should settle his partner into a chair before sitting down to dinner and should also open a car door for a woman.
Build your E-brand
Your web presence must be professional. It is essential that your website be easy to navigate; there is no point in having the most dazzling looking website if prospective customers and clients can’t find their way around it easily. On the other hand, it should also stand out from the crowd. People trawl the net and visit hundreds of websites, so try to make yours different. Here are some key points to remember:
- Text is more easily read on a white background, so resist the urge to make it different by making it almost impossible to read.
- Don’t make your pages too cluttered: less is more when it comes to looking classy and upmarket.
- Keep the site up to date and change key words, images and videos regularly, to keep the search engines interested.
- Your logo is a vital part of your brand, so scrutinise it carefully; does it truly reflect your brand? Does your email signature include all relevant information?
- It’s not only about what your website looks like but also what your WhatsApp pictures say about you or your facebook activities. You don’t want to be caught liking your own status and picture; cause what that says is – you are too full of yourself / a loner. Sorry but that’s true.
- Try and not keep very provocative pictures of yourself or for that matter pictures of others or things that don’t represent you.
- Make sure whatever picture you do use is of a good quality and not pixilate.
Ps: Just because they say “profile” doesn’t mean all your pictures have to be like passport profile pics! Smile a bit! Your smile is your personal logo!
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit”. Aristotle. '
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